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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Entry 11

When I began this class, I knew that I did not know everything about every single genre of reading and writing, which made me excited to learn about each genre specifically. I was nervous to explore and present on the expository genre since I did not like it as a child or even now as a teacher. After exploring the genre and learning multiple ways to make it exciting to teach and learn about, I began to really enjoy the genre. I learned that you can really make any genre of reading and writing fun just by the methods you teach about it and the materials you use throughout your instruction.

So when I began this exploration of the expository genre, I was not looking forward to reading about it since I had a feeling it was going to be boring. I had many misconceptions about this genre and one being that it is very boring. Another misconception that I had was that it can only be taught in one way with the same materials that were used when I was a student. But after reading Tompkins (2012), my eyes were opened to the many different ways that it can be taught in an exciting way. I learned that exposure to expository texts should be early on in order for students to be able to read, comprehend and write fluently within this genre. So with this early exposure to expository texts and their specific features, students are better able to read and write within the expository genre. This exposure is so crucial since everyone is expected to read and write within the expository genre throughout their whole life so they will need these skills that begin to be acquired early on for the rest of their lives. Expository texts are what we all learn from, whether we know it or not.

Another genre that I thought I did not know a lot about at the beginning of the semester was poetry, but after the presentation on poetry I began to see that I really do know a lot about it. Also, poetry seemed to intimidate me both as a student and teacher since there are so many forms and interpretations that a poem can take on. Once again, after the presentation on poetry I was able to wrap my head around the genre and see that it truly is not as intimidating as I thought it was.

One genre that still seems a little difficult for me to wrap my head around is the persuasive genre. I do understand the concept of it and why it is important, but the one aspect of this genre that I struggle with is personally writing persuasively. I feel as though I am not a persuasive person in general, so when I go to write it, I am a bit lost. I know with more practice with reading and writing persuasively, I will be able to wrap my head around it more.

1 comment:

  1. Gretchen, your entry clearly indicates you feel you learned a great deal about the various genres. I agree with you, there is much to be excited about when introducing students to these various forms of reading and writing.

    As you think about the expository and the poetry genre, what mentor texts will you want to be sure to have on your classroom shelves in order to educate and entertain your students?

    Also, one piece of advice I would offer given lingering confusion regarding the persuasive genre is to do some further reading on the three appeals and how each is necessary to create to an effective text. Actually, there are some rhetorical scholars who believes that EVERY piece of writing involves elements of the persuasive genre -- including expository. I hope you continue to explore these questions you have.

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