Feedback on your Amazing Contributions!

Hi Lynn,
Wow! You weren’t kidding when you said that once you get going, you go full-bore! I am so impressed by the sheer volume of information you have assembled here. Where to begin...
First, I have read over the course description section and think it is excellent. I think we should submit that immediately, as I agree with you that it would be cool to have this course fill quickly. Do you want to post that or do you want me to give it a try? As I mentioned, I have not posted elements to the course description section, so you are likely faster at this than I will be.
I love your assignments for math and science! They are so interesting and will elicit critical thinking – always a good thing. As a mathphobic person, I would enjoy these assignments and would feel more comfortable with the idea of creating math lessons for my classroom. I also love this statement from the science assignment: Develop a problem solving activity that teaches the students a process of scientific inquiry that they can adapt to science learning year after year. Share in the forum. There should be a simple 5 step process of inquiry that they can use each and every time. Such a great way to introduce the “scientific method,” even to very young children.
I have an idea that I would like for you to consider. The tenets of high quality literacy education advocate for integrating relevant literacy throughout the curriculum, so perhaps we could ask student to include a few relevant and related books from various genres into each of their initial posts. These books could be chosen to expand the concepts explored in their lesson plans, and/or could be included in their letters to parents about the lessons and used for further exploration at home. Just a thought.
I love the web links for each chapter! I really need to spend some time creating lists for my literature course. Will we place those in one area under a menu heading, or attach them to each week’s discussion board – or both? And may I borrow from these excellent lists for my own courses?
Your course syllabus introduction paragraphs are great. I think they will give a student a good overview of what to expect in the course. In the past, my posted syllabi have been rather minimal, usually only giving the title of the chapter for each week, the assigned pages and any other outside reading, and maybe a brief mention of the assignment – something like “create an annotated bibliography of three books.” I have done this because I have such detailed information in the discussion board instructions for each week, and I may want to switch things around along the way. I only mention this because I have had students print the syllabus early in the semester and try to follow it, only to discover that I have changed the assignment. Now, I keep the syllabus quite general so they have to read the discussion board instructions for more information. What are your thoughts on this?
I am wondering about grading as it pertains to the quality of writing used a student’s posts. I had a great conversation with my dear friend Eric Erwin, who teaches education and psychology courses in Newport. Do you know Eric? He and I worked together for years at the Family, Infant, and Toddler Program, which was under his Early Childhood Ed. Program until recently. When I began teaching for CCV, I asked him if he graded for spelling, grammar, usage, etc., in his courses and he said that he did not, since students often hadn’t taken a writing course prior to enrolling in his courses. (By the way, I am a big fan of requiring students to take writing courses early in their college career, so that they are better able to communicate efficiently and succinctly with peers and instructors. Rarely does that happen, however, and students report that they put off writing courses until the later because of anxiety about their writing skills, but that is a topic for another day…) What are your thoughts on this issue? Will we deduct for ill-written submissions, or is the content what is important? I really need to process this dilemma with other instructors and I value your opinion.
Speaking of grammatical usage, here’s one for us to consider: I use this sentence repeated throughout my courses: By midnight on Sunday: Respond to at least 3 of your peers' posts in a substantial way. According to my Grammar Handbook, I believe the word peer’s should be peers’, since it is a plural possessive. Do you agree with this, or am I interpreting the "rule" incorrectly? Teaching English Composition has only validated my suspicion the English language is fraught with land mines!
I am behind on my weekly interaction with my students, so I will spend the rest of today getting caught up. I will try to build some chapter assignments on Tuesday and Wednesday and will post them to Blogger as I finish each. I thank you for all the hard work you have put into this effort. This is going to be a dynamite class!
Suzanne
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