102-4. Our first month together

Dear students,

Four weeks of ENG 102 have passed already - time really flies!

I thought I would share some of my observations of our first month together. Of course I am so pleased that 54% of my students are back from previous semesters, but I'm also happy to have met all you newcomers. It seems by now we should all have settled in a bit.

WHAT HAS BEEN GOOD SO FAR

Blogging
I am delighted to report that as of this week, more than half of you have decided to keep a blog this semester. When I started this individual blogging project at the beginning of last semester, I never could have imagined it would come this far. With those of you who are blogging for the second consecutive semester, I really see changes in your approach - your writing is more mature, more thoughtful, and best of all, more personal. You seem to be developing a sense of yourself as writers in English and getting in touch with your audience. That is so wonderful to see. I can really feel that your motivation is not coming from the thought of extra credit, but rather from inside. That's a crucial shift.

Research papers
It seems to me that most of you have been able to find a topic that interests you on a personal level, and I consider that a real achievement from a teaching perspective. Some of you have even expressed genuine excitement to me about our course theme, as well as the conviction that our explorations of identity this semester will help you to make sense of your own identities.

Class discussions
On the whole, these have been impressive. I have heard some sophisticated analyses of our stories, texts and film. I would encourage you to keep striving to find a greater level of precision in your use of language - I'm sure that sometimes it is not the thought or understanding that is lacking, but simply the right words in English to put it into. I appreciate the courage it takes to try to express complex ideas in a foreign language, particularly in front of a group of your peers.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

Class preparation
This has been variable. Some of you prepare regularly and thoroughly, but it doesn't seem like the majority, I'm afraid. I am concerned that when readings are assigned, the main strategy seems to be 'skimming'. The short stories and articles need to be read carefully. You most likely need to take notes, at least in the margins. And you need to check unfamiliar vocabulary in the dictionary. Having a vague sense of a text's meaning can actually be more confusing than helpful. I try not to overload you with reading, as I know you have lots to do for other classes. I try to make it fair and manageable. I do check SU Course statistics to see who is keeping up, which I must confess sometimes puts me in a very gloomy mood before our lessons if it is apparent that only a few people will be prepared. Thanks to Nazlı for reminding me that some students have purchased the Canon photocopy pack, so SU Course reports can be misleading. ;)

Timekeeping and classroom conduct
I was very, very tolerant of late arrivals in the first three weeks of the semester. This was to allow you to readjust to attending classes after the semester break and also taking into consideration the confusion of the add/drop period. But my previous students will surely attest to my insistence on punctuality. I want to start and finish the classes on time. I have seen students arriving to class 20 minutes late, and sometimes even more. This is surely not acceptable in anyone's eyes. We have very little time to spend together, and we need to be as focussed as possible. I want to tell you that I take punctuality into account when determining the final Class Participation grade.

The next point is about mobile phones. For the first time this semester, I have seen students openly texting in class, not seeming to care if I see them or not. Even after I ask politely for the mobiles to be put away, I see this sort of thing carrying on. My view on mobiles is simple: they have no place in our lessons. You are welcome to use them during the break. And if you are expecting a crucial call, simply inform me, and leave the classroom when the call comes in. Otherwise, your social lives and our lessons really do not complement one another. Thanks to Mehmet for pointing out that some students take notes on their phones; if this is the case, can you please just inform me so that I don't harass you. ;)

Finally, I want to mention social interaction. Many times I ask how people are, or I ask for your feedback or opinions on something, and I get absolutely no reply - everyone looks at the floor, and a terrible silence descends. I cannot tell you how awful this makes me feel. I'm a teacher, but I'm also a person. If I ask you a question, it's a genuine one. I do not want to perform my job mechanically; I actually value the relationships I build through teaching. I personally need to interact with my students. You know we English teachers do not follow a lecture format, and we really do want to see interaction, and that applies to student-student interaction as well. Must we always sit with our friends? Couldn't we try to get to know someone else in the class? Let's try to break this "go straight to the back row and sit as far away from the action as possible" mentality. I am really worried about this.

Thanks for your hard work and contributions so far, and let's keep this up.

Yours truly,
Sonja

24. Virtual blogging awards

Looking down my blogroll, I see that many of you are doing an impressive amount of work on your blogs, far beyond the 'call of duty'. I enjoy reading your blogs so much. You really are a creative and insightful bunch!

At the end of the semester, I will be giving some virtual blogging awards here. These will include the top blogger as well as those who deserve honourable mention for the number and quality of their posts and comments.

What's in the box, do you think? ;-)

'Gift' by mrjoro, made available under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

23. Feedback on my first presentation

I blogged previously about a joint presentation I gave for teachers on the trainer education course in the School of Languages. I told you that I was strangely nervous (probably as a result of not having prepared enough!), but I also think it could be because my boss (tutor) was also in the room. She was writing notes during all the presentations, and at the end she offered to give us some feedback. Well, I hadn't known in advance that she would do that, but who's going to refuse feedback, right?

I have just received her feedback. First of all, interestingly, she recorded her feedback as a sound file. That was a first for me. She has a very pleasant voice. I would like to share her feedback with you, as it may help you with your own final presentations.

Strong points:

• It was good right at the beginning to give a rationale as to why I chose my particular article. Similarly, it was important to mention the article's relevance to our teaching situation.
• I outlined the goals and methods of the research study reported in the article.
  
• The two interactive tasks generated good discussion.
• It was good to weave in stories from my own teaching experience.
  
• My use of Powerpoint was effective - the diagrams in particular were mentioned.
  
• I seem to have an "effective presentation style".
  

Suggestion:

• Since this was a joint presentation, it would be good to refer forward to what my partner is going to present.

I was surprised by all the positive points she mentioned; all I could think of was why I was so nervous and how I couldn't get my voice to work! It just shows how different the experience of presenting and being presented to really is. Always remember that the audience has no idea of what you're going to say... ;-))

20. Pub quiz

I've been inspired by the fact that some of you are blogging about the pub quiz (and I'm under pressure to stay ahead of Beri's impressive blogging spree), so I thought I would share some of my reflections on the pub quiz.

First of all, you can check your team score in the 'league table' below. Out of 40 questions, the final scores were:

31.5 (79%)
30 (75%)
28.5 (71%)
28 (70%)
27 (68%)
26.5 (66%)
25 (63%)
25 (63%)
25 (63%)
21 (53%)

I was happy to see that many groups answered the practical questions correctly, such as those about due dates and blogging requirements. Of course I had a not-so-hidden agenda in including such questions: I'm always trying to promote time management and blogging.

I think short answers were what could be improved. When you answer this type of question, it's important to give an explicit answer without any ambiguity, and to ensure that your grammar and vocabulary are correct. (This is a useful exam tip for our class and for your other classes as well). You should not expect the quizmaster/marker to "figure out what you mean", or to wade through unclear language in search of the meaning. There's an old saying which goes "You don't really know something until you can teach it." Here we can interpret 'teaching' as giving a clear and concise explanation. The other thing to mention here is not to include two or more answers and 'hope' that one is correct. I can tell you that teachers are often trained to completely disregard such answers.

The competition was close in some sections, and this was exciting. However, it was also evident that many of you had done no review at all in preparation for the quiz. I do hope you realise that the main purpose of the quiz was to get you to review the semester, and not just for extra credit...

I must include a final point. I think it's no exaggeration to say that I was astounded that a number of groups who did not win the quiz asked me for an extra credit prize anyway! What exactly do you understand by the word 'competition'...? :)

Congratulations again to our winning teams and thanks to everyone who participated!

16. What I've learned so far in ENG 101

'Riverboat' by ebergcanada, made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic licence

We always talk about what students are learning in our classes, but did you know that we teachers learn from you, too? I constantly improve myself through interacting with you, from observing you, from trying to understand you. So I thought I would add my own reflections on what I have learned about teaching in this university so far this semester in ENG 101:

- APA citation format is a lot more difficult than it seems, and we need to practise it as often as possible. I think it requires more knowledge of the research process and the types of sources used in research.
- It was a very good idea to teach you how to find and cite Creative Commons images.
- It was a very good idea to talk about ways to avoid plagiarism and how to use source material properly.
- Blogging can be a daunting task, and we need to start more slowly. We should work on it more in class at the beginning. The notification emails need to be set up straight away. I have learned so much about how to implement future blogging projects, thank you!
- Blogs allow you to express your creativity and show off your analytical, reflective and citation skills. They also enable you to make links with your other classes (SPS, TLL).
-An element of competition can make blogging more lively.
-I feel absolutely delighted when someone comments on my blog, and even more so when one of my posts inspires one of yours.
- We need more writing practice and more exposure to various genres of academic writing.
- We need more practice in avoiding generalisations/limiting our claims in academic writing.
- We need more practice in effectively incorporating source material into academic writing.
- We need more class time to discuss the core essay texts.
- Reading worksheets need to be completed for the core essay texts.
- You are endlessly creative in preparing and delivering your presentations.
- Practice presentations are a good way to prepare for the final presentation, and you value the feedback comments you receive.
- You ask quite good questions at the end of presentations.
- Even when I start projects well in advance and encourage organisation, many students still wait until the last minute to do things.
- You do your practice presentations even though you are not receiving a grade. This shows that you can rise to a challenge, and that you can meet the high expectations I have of you.
- Most likely, classes at Sabancı University are never going to start on time and students are not going to stop arriving late.
- Students are more likely to bring a laptop (when reminded) than pen and paper.
- Some students never seem to check their email accounts, SU Course or my blog.
- Some students actually do take notes!
- Time management remains the biggest obstacle to student success at SU.

No doubt there are many more things I've learned, but I wanted to share my initial thoughts with you.

Please feel free to give me your feedback on any of the things mentioned here.

13. New bloggers and new blogging ideas welcome

Embryonic Journey by onkel_wart, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

This week, for the first time, I gave you a blogging task to complete in class. This resulted in two students posting for the first time, so welcome to Erman Ece and Egemen Kaftancıoğlu. We look forward to reading more posts from you.

Two students have also come up with a great idea: Hasan Can Saral and Beri Pardo have devised a blog 'race'. Why not visit their posts to see what that's all about, and consider trying it yourself? This would be particularly useful for those students who find self-motivation to be a problem; when you race, your friends help you stay motivated. I think it's absolutely brilliant; I never would have thought of it in a million years.

This week in class I introduced you to the idea of Creative Commons materials. Hasan Can Saral and Beri Pardo have expressed strong views on the issue of copyright, and I encourage you to debate them in order to make them think a bit more deeply. :) I was absolutely amazed to see that Onur Olgaç immediately applied his new knowledge of Creative Commons images to his blog, flawlessly citing his most recent image. I would strongly encourage you to follow his example and cite all blog images you use in future.

This week you've all left a lot of great comments on my and other students' blogs. Let's keep this momentum going. Interacting with other blogs is part of your overall blogging grade, and of course from a human perspective, we all love to know what people think of our work.

11. Blog feedback

We are about to have a nice little holiday, so I thought it would be a good time to make a few points about the blogs overall.

• Remember that you are expected to post to your blog at least once a week. In most cases, I'm not seeing this; in fact, some of you haven't posted anything at all.
  
• By the end of this week (Week 5), you should have a minimum of 4 posts on your blog related to our course themes and/or texts.
  
• It is your responsibility to develop a system of reminding yourself to post to your blog. 50-200 words once a week is certainly not too much to ask. Do not wait for me to remind you to do this assignment; at Freshman level, you are expected to direct your own learning to some extent.
  
• This is a graded assignment, worth 20% of your final mark, and if you don't do it, you greatly increase the likelihood of failing this class. If you wait and post all the assignments at the end of the semester, you will fail the Coursework component of this class.
  

A big thank you to the few students who are posting regularly, you know who you are. ;-)

I look forward to reading a lot more blog posts.
Have a good Bayram,
Sonja