Learning Log No. 2

Notes from Nigel McLoughlin’s article; Decentring Everything

Definitions

·         Epistemology – it means the study of knowledge and justified belief

·         Heteroglossia – the coexistence of distinct varieties within a single ‘linguistic code’, diversity of voice

·         Rhizomes – continuously growing horizontal underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots a intervals

The Six Approaches

·         The Atelier Approach – a crafts based methodology where one writes in response to an authoritarian’s work

·         The Great Works Approach – imitating works based on a student’s influences, therefore experimenting different styles of art in writing

·         The Inspiration Approach – placing students in a situation that could help them absorb some inspiration

·         The Techniques Approach – learning the specifics of how to write correctly

·         The Penultimate Approach – where a writer should criticize their own work in order to make it marketable

·         The Embryonic Feminist Approach – teaching the psychological process of writing where the students should be challenged to making a political statement

Learning Log No. 1

For week 1’s assignment we had to read Shulman’s article for discussion next lesson. I’ve written down a few things based on what I picked up on while reading. I find it important that I am able to pick an argument from a topic so that it can help expand my ways of thinking.

Notes on Lee S. Shulman’s article, Signature pedagogies in the professions;

·         Argument, pedagogies of uncertainty

o   Some believe that professional education is a corrupting influence on preserving he purity of the mission of liberal education

·         Signature pedagogies is a contradiction

o   ‘…they survive because they succeed’

o   ‘…some things continue just because nothing deflects them in another direction’

In class we discussed the 3 ways of teaching/learning which are Surface, Deep and Implicit.

·         

      Surface

o   known as the form of discussion and interaction within a class

o   knowing how much authority you should give to yourself and the students depending on what year the group is in

o   learning new information

·         Deep

o   what both students and teachers learn from a discussion

o   how to critically analyse people’s work as well as your own

o   being taught the techniques of how to write

·         Implicit

o   critical thinking

o   knowing our morals and values when it comes to writing

o   why we write

o   why create our own different worlds

o   learning outcomes, the application beyond just sitting around a class

o   plagiarism should play a big part in the implicit structure

Out of the three structures, I personally feel that the implicit structure is the most helpful in terms of approaching a class and the students. During the first two years at university, I was quite soft spoken due to my insecurities of knowing whether I actually have knowledge about the writing industry. But I grew and learnt towards the end of my second year. I learnt to read more, from novels to articles to news. It built my awareness of the general issues our society lives in. With this, I was able to express my personal opinions during discussions with confidence. Talking, learning and sharing have been a big part in my life as a student and I hope to express that in a healthy way when I teach.