Boot Camp 103: It's All About Practice

I have been working with an emergent reader in a Kindergarten class this past three months to finish up my minor in Elementary Education.  I have also had the opportunity to work with some of the other members of the class of 31 children, only ten of them being girls.  (Seriously, if you didn’t groan after reading that last sentence you need to spend some time in a Kindergarten class.)  Needless to say, it has been an interesting experience.  One thing has been made very apparent during this exercise besides the fact that I do not want to teach children of this age.  The children who practice reading and who are read to are much farther ahead phonologically and phonetically and have a greater chance of future academic success. 

            I believe I can say that everyone in this junior college English 103 class who somehow found the stamina to stay the course has improved their writing and critical thinking skills by the sheer volume of work that has been required.  I have experienced both a hatred of all the work at the same time appreciating it all wasn’t the same.  Through the varied forms of writing applications I have become more flexible in my own style of communication.

It has been such a struggle for me to write in a personal manner because the majority of my major classes in the study of child development have revolved around the application of developmental theories and/or observations of children in various settings.   Coursework of this nature is definitely more analytical than critical.   I am afraid the MLA format will forever seem like a foreign language.

I have also been challenged technologically creating blogs.  Sure, I could have just posted my bit on a blank screen, but I chose to add a design.  For the life of me I never was able to pick my design, apply it, and return directly to my post.  I have to hit the return key over and over again to get there.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when I see it work out. 

The timed essay almost caused me to have a panic attack.  And I was prepared!  I do not enjoy writing in this fashion and do not see its reason.  Thank goodness there is only one more of that type of assignment left to do.  At least it is over after a couple of hours, unlike the group work projects that I was always waiting to respond to.

Authors write for a variety of reasons, many of which we have explored this past semester.   Of course, we read and write to be entertained or to entertain others.  But that isn’t what this class is about.  It is about writing to inform or to persuade.  An area of my writing that has drastically improved as the result of constant submersion in our texts and writing exercises is my capacity to be more explicit and thorough in whatever information I am imparting to my audience.  In the past I have tended to either ramble on and on, never really tying up a paragraph.  I used to include vague references to things that hadn’t anything to do with my topic sentence or thesis.  The critiques offered by our instructor and my peers have helped me hone my writing to its purpose.   My writing has definitely improved because of this boot camp.