Teaching to (the) text

Was skimming through something one of my students wrote for an ongoing blogging project (more details to come, perhaps) which led me to an interesting piece on the NY Times entitled Teaching to the Text Message. Essentially, the article suggests that essay-writing is not a particularly useful skill in itself these days, with the opinion that we should focus more on authentic (and relevant) tasks such as writing YouTube comments, Amazon reviews, and cover letters.

This isn’t a particularly new idea – it’s the purpose of the functional writing component (aka letter writing) of EL exams, except vastly updated to better suit the new generation. Essay-writing probably isn’t going anywhere just yet, but I do think there is merit in the idea, and that even though current exam requirements do still require students to be competent in essay-writing, such authentic tasks certainly have a place in practising grammatical structures, particularly for the weaker students.

Although I can’t quite think of a way to integrate it just yet, perhaps even text messaging should have a role in such a syllabus!

Marking with technology

Hey, the computer gave me an A for my essay (The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2011, full text) talks about how some schools are already using computer software to help reduce their marking load. While I was aware that such technology existed already, I hadn’t realised that local schools were already utilising it.

English teachers’ jobs are still secure (for now) – as mentioned, style is something that machines can’t handle just yet. Still, I do think it’ might be a useful marking aid, if the software is able to help correct lower-level mistakes.

(That said, I wonder how different the system is from Microsoft Word’s grammar check? Is it merely a more powerful/precise version of that?)

Supporting digital writing in EL

It’s been awhile since my last post, but since I’ve got a little time on my hands before the mid-year marking frenzy begins, I thought I’d write a little on the practical aspect of bringing in technology-appropriate writing into class. I can hardly claim to be an expert in this matter, since I’m currently not giving my students many opportunities to write using computers, but hopefully I’ll get to do so next term!

Having recently gone through summary writing with my classes, I was musing to myself that this component of the English examinations is remarkably suited for computer-aided writing. Whether for extracting text from the original passage, re-ordering and revising points, or even conducting the final word count, it seems to me that using a computer for the task would only aid the summary writing process. Of course, the major stumbling block in this is that assessment is still conducted using pen and paper, so ultimately it is still beneficial for students to continue practising using the dated, inefficient method (the QWERTY keyboard comes to mind here).

In fact, many of the concerns I’ve sensed about digital writing have to do with its lack of relevance to the mode of assessment, so that’s one thing that will need changing if the intent is to further integrate technology into education. Aside from that, here are some other common concerns I’ve come across (and my comments on them):

• Ease of plagiarism. While it is a lot easier to copy-and-paste text off the internet, tools such as Turnitin help to combat this by cross-checking responses with internet sources, as well as other students’ work.
• Difficulty of marking. While I actually rather like Microsoft Word’s review functions, I would have to agree that it’s a lot easier (and effective) to just make swipes on the paper with your red pen and to annotate accordingly. More powerful annotation tools such as crocodoc allow for more versatility, though, and with a tablet PC you would be able to easily do the same using a stylus.
• Eye strain. It’s great to be saving the environment by reducing the amount of paper used, but not if it makes teachers go blind (from overuse of computer displays) in the process! I don’t have a solution for this yet (my own eyesight’s getting worse everyday), but I’m sure technology will catch up (I’m still rooting for E Ink, despite the iPad’s apparent success without it).
• Devices. It’s troublesome bringing the students to the computer lab for something that can be done in class, so it might only be feasible if the students already have devices (laptops? netbooks?) of their own to use for this.

Perhaps we aren’t ready to implement all-out digital writing in classes just yet, but if we don’t go about attempting to tackle these issues (including mode of assessment), we’re not going to get anywhere – especially if solutions already exist out there!

Teaching and elitism

(Elite Teachers Supply would probably be a rather unfortunate name for a Singaporean company)

Reading the blog post From an elite school really stirred a chord in me. I’ve been recently thinking on a similar issue myself – I am currently teaching in an ‘elite school’, and have had a fairly ‘elite’ educational background all my life. If I were to be posted to a neighbourhood school to teach, would I be able to handle it? Would I be happy there?

It bothers me the amount of criticism the beginning teacher is receiving, since I can see where he is coming from. Teaching at a neighbourhood school and an ‘elite school’ is a different ballgame altogether, with a greater emphasis on classroom control and pastoral care in the former, and a somewhat more academic focus for the latter. I find it quite understandable for a teacher to prefer one over the other, and his statement didn’t seem particularly judgemental to me – “我是XX初院出身的，不能适应这种环境。” I am from XX Junior College, I would not be able to adapt to such an environment (of course, the printed word fails to convey tone, so I can’t judge if he was indeed being condescending with that statement, but that’s probably beyond the scope of this entry).

So I have been thinking about this issue recently, and I think that if I do intend to stay in education for the long-term, a stint in a neighbourhood school will certainly be a good experience for me, at least to better understand what happens at other schools that I am less familiar with. However, I do have reservations about being unable to connect with the students, and being rather frustrated at the nature of teaching I might need to focus on (e.g. pure drilling for the O-levels). Even on the pastoral side of things, would I really be able to offer much for the students? Would I be able to advise them if they are embroiled in gang problems, for example?

Although it would probably be a beneficial learning experience for me, would it be a beneficial learning experience for my students?

If a teacher’s personal interest and aptitude do not tally with his assigned posting, I think perhaps the blogosphere should avoid such harsh judgement when he expresses his preferences. Somehow I suspect if it’d been a non-’elite’ teacher expressing his personal preferences, the responses would have been much less harsh.

Introductions

I’d been blogging on a personal basis for some time now, but recently I’ve decided that I’m past that and should attempt to write on more professional matters. Since education and technology are both matters that I enjoy and care about greatly, I’ve decided to try writing on those matters (and interactions of the two) on a semi-regular basis, perhaps a minimum of once per week?

Will this work? Who knows! I’ll just give it a whirl and see how it goes.