Assignment 26 - Eli Flomenhoft

I certainly did not find everything done in class to be effective. A majority of the work done was quite effective though. For example I found that the timed writing helped to improve my writing skills in short amount of time immensely. Furthermore I found that the subsequent reading and criticism of our papers helped to make us think about what we were writing. It put the students on the spot and made us care more about what we wrote. I found that the most effective reading and criticizing sessions came at the end of the year. When we gathered in small groups and got to delve a little deeper. Go a little bit more in depth. Also there was less repeated criticism, which allowed us to read through the essays faster and be more effective. So I suggest that you add a couple more of the small group essay reviews. What was ineffective was the Writing With Style book. We briefly reviewed it and then rarely looked back at it. What might be an interesting assignment is to have the students take a couple of the techniques the author expounds on and utilize them themselves in short papers, or even paragraphs. This way the students could familiarize themselves with the writing styles and choose the one they like the most. Overall that was the most ineffective use of our time. But rather than throwing the book out, you should integrate it more into the curriculum. Therefore students will retain its information better. Because I do believe that the book had important and useful information, it's just that little of it was retained.
Another suggestion involves take home writing prompts. These may not necessarily be AP prompts, but essays that allow students to get a little creative. This take home prompt provide students with the ability to edit, which is sorely lacking in the class. I understand the lack of editing was on purpose, but it becomes a little demoralizing at times. So a few take home prompts, even if they're short, that allow editing may help stimulate students. This will help students become better writers. They may take what they learn from editing and use it in the writing process rather than the editing process. Thus it benefits the timed writing as well as students creativity. Again this is just a suggestion.
Overall I found the class to be helpful for my writing, because they only way you can improve is through practice. And that is exactly what this class was. Lots and lots of practice.