Bartholomae Course Reactions

Comment on the course. What do you like? What do you have questions about? What is problematic? What will you include in your own unit design? How does the course fit with the principles and strategies that we've been discussing this semester?

What I like about the course and which I would try to include on some level in my own course:

• The rigorousness of the course. The expectations are high, and the students are expected to meet the academic standards set out by Bartholomae. (The course is trying to meet "cognitive" standards).
• Many opportunities for student writing, and subsequent review and revision/discussion.
• The desire to move students from simply summarizing a text to truly engaging with the meaning of text, themes, irony, and making conclusions to the students' own lives. ("socio-cultural", meaning-making)
• Treats students like adults, by putting them in a seminar style course/structure.
• I like the journal, both to reflect on readings/annotate but also to connect readings to personal life.
• I like giving students one hour a week to read in class and also the autobiography assignment.
• I like the reading assignments, I think they are good reads.
• I like the topic and making it relevant to the students ("adolescent development"). Some students might not like the topic, however. (It is "expressive" in this way).

What I have questions about/is problematic:

• I don't see much in the way of scaffolding the strategies, skills the students are expected to acquire by the end of the course. They are expected to learn by doing, by making mistakes, and by editing, but I can see students continually making the same mistakes over and over again without much in the way of guidance. In this way, the course seems designed as a "sink or swim" proposition from the start, and I think it will cause some students to give up and fail at the start of the course.
• I think peer review and editing is a double-edged sword. It would be helpful to see what other students are doing and compare to yourself and perhaps distance oneself from their own writing, but I think it can hurt self-esteem to have peers edit your writing and also seeing the same mistakes over and over again can be frustrating. I would proceed with caution here.
• The reading seems a bit heavy to me. Perhaps it would be better to warm the students up by reading some articles and short stories and then build to actual novels. I think giving students a week to read an entire book is asking too much from them.
• Although I like for students to reflect on their own lives, the course presented may make students feel uncomfortable sharing intimate details about their lives.
• It will be a challenge for students to complete an in-class final exam. I would allow them to take the exam at home and turn it in later.