So many ideas bulbs flashing.

I got really fired up while reading Ch. 5 in our Writing Process book. There were definitely potential summative assessments lurking behind every page. I have become slightly discouraged in Tracey's class this week becuase so much of what I am being told in her class is being trimmed down to only the most essential pieces in my cooperating teacher's class. Marcia is soley focused on getting our students to get their work done, understand the critical approach system they use in class, and, most importantly, pass her class. I don't blame her; ten percent of our in class time is spent getting the students to work on their assignments and get them turned in. This is not to say my student are lazy, or don't care (of course there are a few who have significant motivation problems despite intelligence), but 1/4 to 1/3 do have IEPs and need extra time and help on their assignments.

Because of the issue of completion and attendance I face (I have about 35% attendance first hour, generally), I really loved the various options Ch. 5 gave for research oriented, formal paper writing assignments. I think small assignments such as the listing assignments of main ideas would serve as excellent scaffolding assignments for my students who struggle with writing. I have been given the task of starting up a blog based assignment core for Frankenstein, and am wondering what I can steal, I mean use, from both chapter 5, AND elements of multi genre papers. I am starting to think that, perhaps, I could view the blog as a whole as a multigenre piece that will encompass different assignments I would again be adapting and stealing from our Blending Genre's text. I will do some work planning this weekend and post next week, so you guys (including Rick!) could give me some feedback. I started drafting some things out last night, and actually had a dream about it.