Blog #5

While I am unable to recall my secondary course syllabi or outlines. I do recall postsecondary syllabi and outlines that proved to be a tremendously useful aid. In postsecondary courses, I used the syllabi to prioritize my work load. I would complete all my reading assignments before tackling the homework and if time permitted I would squeeze extras readings or homework to try and stay ahead the course calendar. The course calendar was by far the most important aspect of the syllabus that I utilized. I provided me with all the information that the course was going to cover, which meant that I could pre-read chapters. This allowed me to complete homework assignments in a timely manner and begin working on the subsequent assignments. It was because of this that I was able to achieve my goals and graduate a year earlier than expected. This is no longer the case, but I hope to transition back to this mentality again.

In order to design a literacy course in which the focus of the course is to develop writing skills; student’s need to be instructed to read and write as if it were their job. This means designing an effective writing development course to have real world application both personally and academically. Taba (1962) step one, in the seven step process for curriculum development, instructors need to diagnosis the students’ needs. Instructors can then construct appropriate courses and select appropriate content. Student’s sociocultural backgrounds and educational experiences need to be acknowledged. Students’ can then make connections to larger more complex concepts and symbols.  Whether its finding similarities or differences between writing expectations and production, instructors need to construct a course design that allows students to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboards.

Course plans should reflect an educational institution’s requirements and philosophy in the course goals of a syllabus. It is here that students will read what the institutions requires of them as students in order to succeed academically. The institutions philosophy will express what the institution believes are most vital aspects of learning, how learning equals success and attributes to the community in which a student resides. In the course syllabus students are reminded of the institutions goals and hopes for them as they embark on their academic voyage.

In a L2 composition course, instructors must diagnosis their student population. Instructors in a writing course students need to understand new concepts, apply concepts and generate work depicting concepts in the appropriate format. For example, in essay writing students must learn several kinds of essays. An argumentative essay differs from a narrative essay and students must learn the differences between them. While on the other hand, instructors in other areas, such as Chemistry needn’t diagnosis their students’ abilities nor various concepts. Students simply learn a process to arrive at an answer. They will more than likely be learning formulas or memorizing terminology.

As a student I believe the essential components of a successful lesson are in the application of the material that was covered. It’s important to see student produce work based on whatever the lesson was about. Students should complete daily writing assignments to build writing-confidence. Instructors need to introduce new vocabulary daily and have students read outside of the classroom setting for personal and academic fulfillment. Lessons should be sequenced in the order of which the instructors presents information, provides examples; while interacting with students and guiding students through application activities. This ensures that instructors are meeting the needs of the students and hopefully accomplishing the course goals.

As a student, the hallmarks of a productive classroom instruction was the instructors’ enthusiasm about the material we covered and the time spent practicing in classroom with time for instructor feedback. I believe that effective classroom management requires instructors to demonstrate and communicate what students need to accomplish. In addition, instructors need to be flexible, because anything could transpire.