Guest Presenter- Reflections

In our Educ 504 classroom, we've been so lucky to have hosted three excellent educators, who have enlightened us about new ways to gain the intrinsic motivation of students in the classroom, through things like cell phones, videos, and new ways to teach lessons in English and Math. I have benefited very much from hearing about their experiences and their thoughts on how education is evolving.

The first speaker in the series was David Theune, an enthusiastic and really intelligent English teacher in a high school. It was evident from the moment he began his presentation that he was an educator passionate about his work, and always seeking ways to improve his own practice as well as enhance the learning experience for students. The primary focus of his presentation, along with delivering inspiring quotes and anecdotes displaying the importance of teaching, was a tactic he had begun using with students when writing, denoting it as "Writing to Audiences." Now that idea isn't all that new, where different writing pieces done by students should be done with the specific audience that typically reads such pieces in mind. However, Theune took the concept to a new level by actually sending the work that students were producing to different audiences, whether they were peers, friends, parents, teachers, or other people. The students would be made aware that what they were writing was actually going to be read and reflected upon by another person, which he said drastically shifted their writing process.

In many situations, students dislike the process of continually developing their writing and writing multiple drafts. However, when they knew that someone real besides their teacher was going to be looking at their work, it is understandable that they would want to present something they are really proud of. And that's what happened, the writing made huge gains, and the students put their passion into their writing. As an english intern, I attempted to do something similar with the students I have been working with at TCEC. During our Professional Writing Unit, I had them produce cover letters, and instead of just teaching them the basics and writing one generic letter, 4 scenarios were created where they would be writing to a specific person at a specific type of business or workplace. What resulted was a lot more thinking about how to best address that person, and market oneself to that specific person's liking. It didn't click with everyone, and I wasn't able to actually send out their cover letters to companies for jobs, but I really love the idea and hope to use it moving forward.