Expectations

As a member of this Online Book Club, you are expected to post to the book blog at least once per week between now and July 11 -- that's six weeks. You should finish your book before then, and you will meet during the Institute in your groups to extend the discussion and plan how to present the book to the others in the Institute.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2016

First! (Do people still do that in comment sections anymore?)

I've already started reading the book, but in the interest of not posting spoilers, I thought I'd muse a little bit about why I chose this book.

I was drawn to Uncommonly Good Ideas for basically the same reasons that I was drawn to the class. I feel like I am entering the second phase of my career. The first two years have been very sink or swim, but now I feel like I have finally learned to tread. In these two years, I've learned a lot about reading and teaching reading, but any honest appraisal of my writing instruction would come up short. It's a little embarrassing, honestly. I feel like I plan the assignments but somewhere between my brain and my students' pens or keyboards, everything falls apart. This frustrates me to no end because I love writing, and I want my kids to love writing. So I'm here, and I'm reading this book looking for better ideas than the ones I currently have.

So what about everyone else? Why did y'all pick Uncommonly Good Ideas?

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I was drawn to this title for the same reason, Maureen. I think I am a decent writing instructor, but I am very eager to hone my practice and close the gap between my ideas, what I have been taught, and what works. I am hoping, this summer, to add more tools to my "belt" with this class, as well as AP English training at the beginning of August.

    I am excited to meet everyone!

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  3. Hi All!

    I chose this book because the other titles didn't seem to pertain to my interests. However, as a FYC instructor, I feel I can use some of the information from this book to help my students as they ease into college writing.

    I've already started reading the book, (well, just the first chapter), and I'm excited to see what insight UGI has to offer. I find myself excitedly writing in the margins and looking forward to learning new techniques. I like that these authors already understand the importance of fun in the classroom.

    I look forward to a fun summer together!

    Best,

    Meg

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  4. Hello!

    I decided to go with the book because I want to establish a good foundation in my writing instruction. There are so many trends (including standards) that I wanted to see if there is something I can rely on. Like Meg said, these people value fun in the classroom and also that teachers have to maintain a sense of humor too.

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  5. I found myself most interested in this book option due to experiences this year in reworking writing curriculum at the high school level. I'm looking to expand both my understanding of quality writing and quality writing instruction in a vertical sense, because my focus has thus far been only on the 9th grade. I know what I need and can get them to do, but I want to learn more about how all of that fits organically with the demands and developmental opportunities of subsequent grades.

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