English 1301 students:
For our blog on Friday, October 19th, please submit a comment during our class time, 12:00-12:50 or 2:00-2:50 p.m. depending on your section, of at least two well-developed paragraphs. A well-developed paragraph is about 8-10 sentences.
In your comment, please answer the Style and Structure questions on p. 421 in our textbook, which are about Ellen Laird's article, "I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider" (417-20). You should answer questions 1, 2, and 3 in the first paragraph and questions 4 and 5 in the second paragraph of your comment.
After you submit your comment, please submit a reply of one well-developed paragraph to at least one of the other students' comments. Please reply thoughtfully to the selected comment (rather than just stating that it is a good comment).
Draft Workshop Reminder: HAVE YOUR ROUGH DRAFT OF THREE FULL PAGES READY (ALREADY PRINTED OUT) AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 22!
DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR B (OR HIGHER) CONTRACT GRADE ON THE FIRST OF THE TWO PAPERS WORTH 20% EACH OF THE COURSE GRADE BY SKIPPING THE WORKSHOP OR SHOWING UP WITHOUT A VALID DRAFT!
DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR B (OR HIGHER) CONTRACT GRADE ON THE FIRST OF THE TWO PAPERS WORTH 20% EACH OF THE COURSE GRADE BY SKIPPING THE WORKSHOP OR SHOWING UP WITHOUT A VALID DRAFT!
Have a great weekend,
Dr. K
Ellen Laird's paper is about internet learning versus up close and personal learning. She discusses the distinctions of taking on the web or up close and personal courses. A considerable lot of her online understudies don't pursue task due dates, needing her to expand her due dates. Try not to treat her like the grown-up and specialist she is, however like simply one more understudy. Expect way less work than the normal classes and having to understand everything on a website.All course segments don't work at the speed of the Internet. As loose as my online understudies are tied in with meeting due dates, they start the course expecting prompt administration. The speed of Internet transmission allures them into looking for and expecting speed as a component of the course. Normally, understudies' accentuation on speed neutralizes them. The long, hard, in the end fulfilling work of reasoning, doing exploration, perusing, and composing has no relationship to data transfer capacity, processor speed, or link modems.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, it sets aside me a long opportunity to react astutely to understudies' work, especially their composition. Every semester, online understudies require help in understanding that holding up keeps on being a piece of educating and realizing, that the teacher isn't another form of an Internet-specialist co-op, to be made a decision about palatable or not by handling pace and all day, every day accessibility.
I like that you used your experience of online classes to help reinforce her statement. It is true that the speed of the internet can neutralize data transfer. I also like that you stated the differences that Laird seen between her classes. I would imagine that taking a online class can be confusing. So it is probably a good idea to ask for help to understand what to do in the online class. you are light that a online teacher is not a internet specialist. you are also right that online classes is a class so learning form that class is still important. It is very true that having a online class is a decision about palatable or every day accessibility.
DeleteI think that Ellen Laird organized her article by subject-by-subject. In the article she makes two separate paragraphs about the differences on online students to her personal students. I think she uses this strategy to show the reader the differences of online classes and personal classes. I think Laird put these headings in her article to show the problems she faces when she teaches an online class. I believe that Laird favors having face to face classes more than teaching online courses. In her article it is very clear that she is very pessimistic about online classes. I say she is pessimistic about it because through her article she explains why she lost her “spark” for online classes. She even explains that her personal classes are better than her online classes.
ReplyDeleteI think Laird indicates that her online students feel that having an online class means they can be lazy. An example she gives is that her online students “would prefer to surf from one module of material to the next and complete what appeals to them rather that than what is required of them.” She even says that her online “students seem to extend the freedom to choose the time and place of their course work to every aspect of the class.” I think she could explore this issue by coming up with ways to fix these problems she is having. I think that Laird should list some of the ways to make online teaching enjoyable. I think that she did not list the strategies because she has lost interest on online teaching. I say this because she has thought online classes for a long time and the same issues keep popping up. After so much of the same problems coming up, she has enough of online classes.
I agree with the point that it makes others able to feel lazy. By not having a driving force, like a physical teacher to push you to work, it makes it difficult to focus and succeed in class. I also agree that she just has given up on online teaching, it just has completely drained her of her energy and will to even teach.
DeleteI also agree on the lazy part. I procrastinate more when it comes to doing stuff online. I feel that i can get the online assignments done faster so i can give myself less time to finish it. This means i do everything last minute and sometimes not get it done on time.
DeleteGreat job on your response, I find all you said to be true and right. She does highlight how online classes just don't function and how easy it is to be "lazy" in that scenario. Also emphasize that the students really don't care much about a due date or not.
DeleteThe style of this essay is written point by point. The reason that she wrote the essay in this style, was to individually focus on each of her points that she wanted to get across to her audience. The functions of these bold headings, is to convey what section she would be covering next. For example, when she gave the title “ The syllabus is not a restaurant menu”, she was trying to convey her next point, that when students take online courses they tend to pick and choose. The syllabus states all of the requirements and that is not an option. Either you complete it or you fail. She appears to focus teaching in class rather than online. She appears to be pessimistic about the future of online teaching. The reason for this because it has become less personal and people feel like they are entitled to certain privileges when they take these classes.
ReplyDeleteShe does indicate how she thinks students feel about online courses. They tend to indicate a feeling of entitlement and when they don’t get their way they get upset. She could have spent a little more time on the topic. She could have elaborated on the reasons for them feeling their sense of entitlement. She definitely could have listed some of her strategies. This would have helped to give the audience a better feeling for where she was coming from. She most likely didn’t because she wanted people to figure it out for themselves. Either that or she feels so hopeless that she feels no matter what it wouldn’t make a difference.
In the essay “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet Service Provider” Ellen Laird uses a subject-by-subject comparison, she goes into depth about every issue that she has with her online students and classes in general. I think she uses this comparison to show the main differences in an online class and its students compared to a face-to-face class and its students. She gets to really tell her views on both sides of each subject.
ReplyDeleteThe function of bolding those four sentences throughout her essay was to show the main points of her essay clearly. By bolding those sentences she is able to point out her points easily and then go into detail on each one of them.
I feel that Laird does favor face-to-face teaching over online teaching. She does seem a little pessimistic towards the future of Internet teaching, she says more negative things on the Internet teaching points.
Laird does not really spend time talking about how her internet students feel, rather she discusses how they act towards the internet school concept. I don’t really think that she could have spent more time discussing the way that the students felt towards Internet teaching because since it is over the Internet that is not really knowledge that she has.
I think she does not mention strategies so that the reader can think of the solutions themselves. I don’t think she should have listed any strategies because that would be more of an introductory approach rather than a conclusion.
Loved your take on this article and also your last statement. I wrote pretty much exactly the same thing as you did. Letting the reader think of their own strategies is a good way to leave the essay open for discussion.
DeleteI love your responses to the essay. I now see how adding the strategies would made it more of a introduction rather than a conclusion.
DeleteThis is a good take on it, I like your response. I agree with you on all your points but I especially agree on your last two. She cant discuss the way students feel towards the internet teaching because it isn't really knowledgeable, but she can go in depth on how she felt when she was a student. She did kind of leave it off weird by saying "of course there are," the thought that she could be leaving it up to the reader to think of strategies is a good thought.
DeleteEllen Laird uses a subject-to-subject comparison in her essay. She is comparing how online classes and face-to-face classes are different. Each of the boldfaced headings marks what the next paragraph or paragraphs are going to be about. In each of the sections, she talks about how different online classes and face-to-face classes are. In the essay, I would say that she prefers face-to-face teaching because of how the internet course can be more of a hassle for both students and instructors. I would also say that she is optimistic because the internet should only get better as technology advances and time goes on.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about the students when it comes to online teaching, she generally states that they are not the same as in class teaching. The students tend to see her as a friend online rather than an instructor. She also talks about how the students just think they can choose what to do off the syllabus rather than all of it on time. I personally think she could have spent more time with it. Also, i think she could have stated the strategies that there are to manage the online courses better. Given this, I think she decided to leave it out because other instructors, maybe even herself, probably have to figure out what will work best for an online class.
I forgot to sign in before commenting, but this is my response.
DeleteI like your point that she could have listed more strategies to help manage an online class better. I think that by listing some ways to help she could have helped both teachers struggling with some of her same issues and also it could have been beneficial to a students looking into online courses.
DeleteI do agree with your point that she added extra strategies to help support her point. You made very solid points.
DeleteThis story was written point by point and I believe the author wrote it that way to help the audience better understand the POINT of the essay. Explaining how students take advantage on online classes vs in person classes. The author makes it seem as if she doesn't like online classes because of how careless the students are.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, "I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider," the author uses a point by point because she makes a point about what she thinks about online classes and immediately rebuttals it with why face to face classes are better. The function of her headings is to show specifically how she feels about the online classes compared to the face to face classes. For example one header is, “there are no sick or personal days in cyberspace,” showing that even though something drastic might have happened you are still supposed to check in and do the work. Yes, even if you are attending a funeral later that day. Laird does seem to favor face to face teaching over the online classes. You can tell her points are simply about just getting to know the student having that personal connection instead of words over an email.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell the Laird does not like internet teaching just by the negative connotation she associates with it. But then at the end of her article she goes on saying she loves challenges within her job which is why she continues to teach! I feel like she shouldn’t have listed them because it gives the reader a time to be creative and think critically when reading her article instead of it being so black and white.
I agree Laird uses point by point to organize her article. She uses this method to sort out the differences and it is appropriate for the article because it can be considered to be on the longer side. Throughout the essay she compares online students to traditional classroom students by point by point.
DeleteIn the article "I'm Your Techer, Not Your Internet-Service Provider", the author uses point by point because she talks about certain things that has her opinions about. She talks about students taking online courses in the article. She talks about the syllabus and says "The syllabus isn't a restaurant menu". Basically she is saying students tend to think they can just choose what requirements they want to follow on the syllabus, but that's not how it works.
ReplyDeleteThe author gets her point across that everything that is stated in class and on the syllabus are required and not optional. The author is obviously against online courses and internet teaching. This is another point she gets across in the article. Even though she has a lot of negative points about her job she still loves teaching.
The style of the essay,"I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider", that I was able to see was that it was going, like most of the commentators have said on this page, point by point or example by example. From what I have found in the book, she is comparing the differences between online-classes and face to face classes which obviously there are quite a number of differences. For example, in page. 419, in traditional classes you usually get sick days but when you are doing them online, most sick people still use technology since they are easier to get, so it makes less excuses. From what I am able to see while I am reading her essay, she probably prefers face to face because its somewhat easier and you have more attention and less distractions from the student. In the book, she keeps on talking about how online teaching and face to face teaching are not the same and sides more with face to face learning even with the titles of subject leaning on siding with face to face learning and how learning has nothing to do with the speed of the internet.
ReplyDeleteLaird looked forward to her encounters with her online students. She enjoyed preparing and posting all assignments, even the basic ones. She was hopeful when her friends and colleagues wished her well. This is what she means when she says she used to have a romance with distance teaching. It became something she had a passion for. Internet teaching and classroom-based teaching were different. So different she compared them to a rave and a wedding reception. In campus classrooms, the student regard the syllabus as a fixed set of requirements, whereas online students enjoy the choices on the Web. In traditional classes, the students recognize deadline as real and absolute. Online students disregard the fancy fonts or colors of a due date and sometimes request extensions. She even had a student tell her she missed the due date and would submit the late assignment in a couple weeks. The web is fast and up to date. Students often require the teacher to be just the same, however it takes time to respond with the same feedback as in campus classrooms. Online classes are not as smooth functioning as face to face classes. When Laird said potential online instructors “would be best served by an unfiltered look at what really happens when the student logs into class” she means that before knowing about the behaviors and differences between online teaching and classroom teaching paints a prettier picture than the reality of the two. Someone who is served the unfiltered look, or simple look of how online teaching works would be as optimistic as she was in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteClassroom based teaching limits students’ choices by making them complete the same assignments in the same sequence throughout the course. Online students expect to have the option to download the handouts that appeal to them and get a head start on the semester’s final project without instruction outside of the syllabus. Laird also says, “The long hard, eventually satisfying work of thinking, doing research, reading and writing has no relationship to bandwidth, processor speed, and cable modems.” When she says this, she means it takes more than the parts of a computer to be successful in an online class. It takes real thinking, doing research, reading and writing. The same requirement as classroom teaching.
In Ellen Laird’s “I’m You Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” she uses subject-by-subject. Throughout the essay, she talks about problems she has with classes and also online classes. She shows the readers differences between the two classes. She also explains the differences of what it’s like to have a class online instead of being face to face lecture classes. I think the function of the headings that are in bold is to point out the main subjects that she talks about. I think she likes teaching in class rather than online. She is pessimistic about the future of teaching online classes. She says very little negative things compared to what she says about the online classes.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn’t really talk much about how the students feel about online classes. She tells us about the way they act when they do not get their way. I don’t think that she needs to spend time discussing the way they feels about Internet classes. I think she could have mentioned some of her strategies in her conclusion. Mentioning them would have been a great put into her conclusion to wrap everything up on how it’s solved. However, she didn’t use any of these strategies. Instead, I think she wants readers to figure out what she could have done to solve her problems.
I believe that Laird is using a subject by subject comparison. She does this by starting with the topic of face to face teaching and giving some information on that then switches to online teaching. The boldface headings are there to give a small overall "summary" of what the paragraph will be about. Laird certainly favors face to face teaching over online you can tell by her overall expression of online teaching she talks about it very negatively. She is pessimistic over the future of internet teaching saying it is degrading the student teacher atmosphere and teaching bad habits. She believes that students who take online classes are the ones who feel they could not take the actual class on campus because something is holding them back whether that is work or life and personally I feel she should have spent more time on that subject. No she should not have listed the strategies I feel the way she ended it was very satisfactory and worked well with her writing. She does not need to add any because they would all pretty much add up to what she already wrote about and to give a summary of your entire writing in the ending paragraph again is not necessary.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, I believe that the author organized it subject-by-subject. I believe she did it this way to better capture the two different types of classes. The heading that she uses are to show her feelings toward her online classes, and it's showing specifically what she is talking about. The author defiantly enjoys her in classroom classes more, however I do feel that she is open to online teaching however just at the moment it is no longer for her.
ReplyDeleteHer students tent to view her more as a friend rather than a teacher in her online classes, and they seem to feel a bit more entitled when not in front of their direct teacher. In her conclusion, she ends it off by letting the reader figure out on their own what the strategies are. She makes the article more in depth rather than telling the reader everything directly and upfront.
In “Im Your Teacher, Not Your’e Internet Service Provider,” Ellen Laird clearly structures the article in a point-by-point format, tackling the many aspects of teaching an online class compared to teaching a physically-present classroom in college. The boldface headings that are encountered in the essay serve the purpose of giving an idea of what the next paragraph will be discussing and comparing. I personally feel as if Laird prefers in classroom teaching. I also believe that she is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the future of teaching. She has just a realistic view on the design of the class seeing it as something that teachers should prepare for when considering teaching an online course.
ReplyDeleteLaird should definitely spend some time researching the actions of students so she can have a better understanding on the reasoning behind some of the things they say or do. I feel as if Laird is justified in not explaining what the strategies are as she just got done explaining what the difficulties were and offers advice onto how they should be handled.
This is Johnny Lopez
DeleteIn “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Service Provider,” writer Ellen Laird highlights the use of a face to face classroom to online classrooms and justifies how different they are. By reading this passage I found that she uses subject-by-subject due to how she gave parts of the online classroom and then referred to the face to face experience. I believe she did this to highlight the differences in the two, and also why she could favor one more than the other. The headings that she puts at the top of paragraphs show the stuff that made her feel the way she does about internet classrooms. All of those bold sentences are just causes of her no longer desire towards them and their function. I believe that Laird giving all these bad reasons about online classes shows that she would much rather prefer face-to-face. She seems pessimistic about online classrooms and how they just aren’t as good as a classroom experience.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think in the essay Laird really states how a student feels, but the behavior of one more to say. Students in online classrooms definitely are not going to be engaged, and they aren’t always going to be on the ball. She gives that point by saying, “Not so with my online students. Neither fancy font nor the flashlight can stir the majority to submit before the published deadline.” This shows the the students don’t care as much as they should. I think in her conclusion that she doesn't state the way to fix the problems because she probably doesn't want too. She seems to have given up on the idea of online classes and their functions. So maybe she is leaving the problem up to the readers to solve.
In "I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Service Provider", it compares online classes to a face to face classroom. The writer, Ellen Laird went on and gave experiences of a face to face classroom and then gave parts of a online class. Ellen Laird puts headers on top of the paragraphs to resemble that she doesn't prefer online classes to a face to face experience. She is saying that a original classroom experience is a lot better than online classes because you get a face to face explanation to the subject you are studying. Students that are taking online classes aren't always going to be on the gun, they could fall behind, on the other had students from a classroom wouldn't. Ellen Laird doesn't really state how the students feel about this subject but their behavior. I don't think Laird has given up the idea of online classes and their benefits.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, I believe that the author organized it subject-by-subject because she compares her online classes and her in classroom classes. I think she put it this way to show the two different types of classes. The heading that she uses are to express her thoughts toward her online classes, and it's showing specifically what she is talking about. The author obviously favors her in classroom classes more, I also feel that she is open to online teaching in the future, its just not for her in this moment.
ReplyDeleteHer students seem to see her more as a peer rather than a superior/teacher in her online classes, and they seem to feel more entitled when not face to face with their teacher. In her conclusion, she ends it by allowing the reader find out on their own what the strategies are. She makes the essay more in detail rather than telling the reader everything straight forward.
I would actually disagree with calling her essay subject-by-subject. She writes it by saying both sides of the coin together, not separately. Because her writing is longer, it only makes sense to use point-by-point, like she did. On the other hand, I would agree with you about her preferred teaching style. She does clearly prefer in class teaching, because it keeps everyone on the same page better. Online teaching may not be right for her in the moment, but I could see her getting back into it at some point. Laird does leave a lot of things open ended, which is kind of maddening. It’s hard to go into something without any knowledge or tips under your belt.
DeleteThe essay “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” is organized a point-by-point comparison. Laird Chose this strategy because it is fitting for her essay because it leans towards the longer side. Plus, by using this strategy the reader is able to keep up and remember the comparisons between online classes and traditional classrooms.The function of the bolded headings is to indicate a transition between paragraphs. Also, helps the reader be aware of the change of comparison points throughout the paragraphs. It seems Laird is more in favor teaching in a traditional classroom. She is pessimistic about the future of Internet teaching because in the essay she expresses negative feedback on online students for example when she says that “neither fancy font nor flashing bullet can stir the majority to submit work by the published deadline” (Laird, 419). She is constantly saying how online students have way more flaws than traditional students.
ReplyDeleteEllen Laird doesn’t really include in her essay on how students feel about Internet teaching. She basically only talks about her feelings towards Internet teaching from her point of view. Laird should have spent more time exploring the issue on how students felt. It would have made her essay more interesting and detailed because the reader would be able to compare the two sides of the story. She should have listed a few of the strategies in her conclusion. By adding some strategies she would have showed that she cares and is trying to make a difference on online students. However, she avoids doing that since it is her conclusion. She is trying to wrap up her essay and by including strategies it gives her a reason to keeping talking about the issue.
I strongly agree with this. I do believe that if Laird were to spend more time exploring other sides of the issue it would've made the essay a lot more interesting. When reading it, I found that she was very biased throughout the essay. This led her to not really explore other ideas which would've added more layers to her ideas.
DeleteI agree, the bolded headings are an effective way to transition between points and maintain that comparison between the two types of classrooms. I’m curious about one thing you said—“She is constantly saying how online students have way more flaws than traditional students”—do you think she sees the students as the problem, or the setting? This is maybe a fine line to draw, but I’m wondering what is more to blame. Is it that bad students are more drawn to the online setting, while good students are drawn to a traditional face to face setting? Or is it that the online setting brings out the worst in even the best students? Either way, I also agree that she has a fairly pessimistic attitude toward teaching online classes (though to be fair, I have never had to teach an online class, so maybe it really is that miserable). Do you think this essay would have been more effective if her comparison had been more objective? Or, if objectivity were impossible, if she had at least proposed some ways to improve the online setting?
DeleteWe come to analyze Ellen Lairds article, titled “Im your teacher, not your Internet-Service Provider” and specifically analyze the style and structure. For the first question, Laird chooses to organize her article as a subject-by-subject organization. She chooses to do this organization because she can elaborate more in depth about online classes and in-class learning. The second question, what's the function of the bold headings? She does this so you can get a gest what's to come for the coming paragraph and what the main point is. The third question asks what she sides with more and her feelings towards the internet. To answer she prefers face to face teaching than online classes just cause she feels it's a hassle for both parties. She also feels a little optimistic though for the fact that she says the internet can only get better.
ReplyDeleteThe fourth question asks does laird indicate how students feel and should she have gone more in depth about this. She didn't go on too much about how the students felt but she did say that it gives them less learning and capabilities to actually accumulate the subject rather than in class. She could've gone more in depth because she was once a student herself so she could have given more feedback about that. Last question asks about her conclusion what she could have done to answer a question. She could have listed the strategies in conclusion but it couldve been prolonging her article. That is maybe why she didn't because she didn't want to extend it more than it had to be.
I agree with your answers and you justified your points very well. Like in your answer for the fourth question. Great Job!
DeleteIn “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider”, Ellen Laird uses a point-by-point comparison strategy. She highlights an issue that is going to discussed in the following paragraph and explains how it affects online courses compared to face to face classes. I think she decided to use this strategy in an attempt to make her thesis clear that teaching online is much different than teaching in person. Throughout the essay, Laird uses declarative statements to relate her problems to something well-known, so that people have a better understanding of where she is coming from. This leads me to believe that Laird in fact does favor face-to-face teaching over internet teaching. She is very pessimistic about the future of online teaching because believes that it takes a lot of commitment, patience, and wherewithal if it is too truly succeed.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I feel as though Laird could’ve spent more time exploring how students felt about internet teaching. It is clear she is very bias throughout the essay and she feels as though online students are almost wanting to pick and choose how they do the course and the speed at which they do it. In conclusion, she should’ve listed strategies that she talked about in the final paragraph. This would’ve made it a lot stronger. I believe she does not include it because she is already very bias in her opinion and doesn’t really care to explain further on managing the issue.
These are all great answers to the questions. I feel like you expressed your opinions thoroughly and gave precise detail to tell what was needed.
DeleteIn "I'm your teacher not Your Internet Provider" by Ellen Laird, her structure is set up point by point because throughout her essay she provides a topic and then decides to talk about each one. The function of these boldfaced headings are to give the reader insight on what the gist of the paragraph is going to be about. For example, There are no sick or personal days in cyberspace", Laird explains her personal experiences when she wasn't feeling her best but willingly had to do her best in these type of situations. I feel as if the author is more in favor of the regular teaching style and is more pessimistic about the future of internet teaching because she says its losing spark. She compares the future of internet as a honeymoon and claims that her romance with distance teaching is losing spark.
ReplyDeleteStudents portray the teacher more of a buddy than a teacher. Online some students tend to choose what they want to do off of the syllabus rather than doing what is recommended of them. I feel as if Laird, could've touched up on this subject more because it'll show the reader more on how the students have more freedom throughout there work and how the teacher is treated. In her conclusion, she tells us that there are strategies to manage these similar difficulties, however; she didn't list any in her story. I think she didn't include them because she wants you to know that there ways to manage them but the choice can be up to you to pick out of the many possibilities.
Laird seems to be writing in a point-by-point structure. This probably has to do with the fact it is seen as a more professional approach. When writing a paper on academics, it just makes sense. These headlines are meant to both amuse you and catch your interest. “Even Cinderella had a deadline” it witty and relevant to the topic. It reads as though she prefers face-to-face teachings. I agree with that, because it seems easier to pay attention and really listen. She seems somewhat optimistic, as though she’s trying her best to remain so in such circumstances.
ReplyDeleteTo me, she doesn’t speak very much on how her students may feel. It’s as though she has the preconceived notion that her students don’t care kuch, when in reality, it could be quite the opposite. Some students may prefer online learning, or it may be all they can manage. It’s important to think f your students as people too. Yes, I believe Laird should have listed some of her strategies as a helpful guide to others. All she does is state that there are helpful things, without even saying what they are. This is supremely unhelpful to anyone who may need guidance. Perhaps she forgoes helping as a way to let everyone develop their own techniques and opinions.
I must disagree with the notion that Laird has a preference for face-to-face teaching. As the essay itself expresses, she has a deep understanding of online coursework now- particularly compared to when she first began, which would be the beginning of the "honeymoon" period. In the last paragraph she states she will continue online teaching and "welcome both its challenges and its rewards". I would have to say the overall focus of her writing is to express that the honeymoon period has ended and she now has a more realistic grasp on what she's committed herself to.
DeleteIn Ellen Laird’s “I’m You Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” she uses subject-by-subject. Through the whole essay, she talks about difficulties she has with classes and online classes. She shows the readers differences between the two classes and also explains the differences of what it’s like to have a class online instead of being face-to-face lecture classes. I think the function of the headings that are in bold is to point out the main subjects that she talks about. I think she likes teaching in class rather than online because then she can form relationships with the students. She is pessimistic about the future of teaching online classes. She says very little negative things compared to what she says about the online classes.
ReplyDeleteShe doesn’t really talk much about how the students feel about online classes. She tells us about the way they act when they do not get their way. I do not think that she needs to spend time discussing the way they feel about Internet classes. I think she could have mentioned some of her strategies in her conclusion. Mentioning them would have been great insight into her conclusion to wrap up everything on how it’s solved. However, she didn’t use any of these strategies. Instead, I think she wants readers to figure out what she could have done to solve her problems.
Out of curiosity, why do you think she doesn’t need to discuss the way students feel about Internet classes? The argument could be made that including student opinions would have provided a more objective perspective on online classes. On the other hand, it does seem like her essay is directed specifically at teachers, so maybe student opinion wasn’t that relevant. What are your thoughts? Along those same lines, why do you think she wants readers to figure out what she could have done to solve her problems? Again, I think this is a valid argument, I’m just curious why you think this. Maybe this is her way of drawing attention to this problem, and she is hoping that the teaching community will come up with solutions to some of these problems? There are a few different ways of looking at this, and I would be very interested to hear more of your thoughts!
DeleteEllen Laird essay is point by point. I believe she chose this strategy so that the reader can get a direct comparison directly from one point to the other. It's also better organized in this format than it would be in subject by subject.Ellen laird essay is point by point. I believe she chose this strategy so that the reader can get a direct comparison directly from one point to the other. It's also better organized in this format than it would be in subject by subject.Each heading represents a different point to her compare and contrast essay.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Laird is content with teaching either online or in person i believe she finds face to face to be easier and therefore appreciate it more. Laird is mostly in the middle of choosing whether online teaching will get better or not but she will still enjoy the challenges it brings her in the future.Laird does bring up some opinions that students would have over online teaching but she mostly focuses on her problems as an instructor to the subject. I don't find it necessary for her to explore that issue because the essay is about an instructors experience and not the students although she does bring up some points about online teaching that both instructor and student would equally find frustrating.I think Laird does not list the answers to her question because it would take away from the already known subject of the essay which is comparing and contrasting online teaching vs. face to face teaching.
I would with you agree that Laird prefers a classroom setting.
DeleteI like your comment, although I found it somewhat difficult to understand which setting she liked more, your comment kind of gives me more of an idea. In which i have to agree!
DeleteLaird says that her “honeymoon” with distance learning is over because she has lost her enjoyment with it. Laird is not looking forward to each new day to have online with her students but now she just is staying up late at night trying to make it work out with her. She explains that online teaching and classroom instruction are different because of the range in ages of the students from online and the classroom and the ability to know how the student will act and how much effort that they will put into her class. Laird describes it as one of them is a wedding reception and the other one is a rave. What Laird means by saying that potential online instructors “would be best served by an unfiltered look at what really happens when the student logs into class” is that it is not as easy as it seems to be. Online teachers have to deal with a lot more than what most people think it is.
ReplyDeleteClassroom based teaching limits students’ choices because the syllabus they are give have a fixed set of requirements. They have to accepted as it is. They can’t have multiple different choices. What Laird means by saying that “The long, hard, eventually satisfying work of thinking, doing research, reading, and writing has no relationship to bandwidth, processor speed, or cable modems.” Is that students should not underestimate how long it takes to get an assignment done through the internet. So many things can happen that can affect the speed such as bad internet or weather.
In the essay “ I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider”, I believe Laird used a point-by-point comparison. She gives personal thoughts and feelings about specific topics in the essay. Perhaps she did it this way to point out her major points on how the way she teaches online classes is far different from being in a real classroom. She gives these “highlights” to transition her way to a new topic. I had a hard time trying to decide her favorite way but i would have to assume , it would be her way of teaching which would be online classes. She seems to be worrisome for the future of Internet Learning because people seem to forget how classroom learning should feel. She expresses her annoyance of online classes
ReplyDeleteLaird does not really go into depth of how her students or students in general feel about online classes. Perhaps if she had done a survey or asked them in a poll what she could do for the course to be taken more seriously. Maybe even what she could do to make improvements to the class. Stating the rules or expectations from the start could also be a huge help. In the conclusion, I understand why she said yes but she should have given some strategies. This would help the reader understand that she is doing her best. Laird probably did not give strategies because she feels like she is stuck and does not know how to go from there .
I agree, she uses point-by-point comparison. But I think that Laird prefers teaching in a classroom setting compared to online.
DeleteLaird's essay is structured as a point-by-point comparison. This makes it easier to discuss the multitude of points being raised. The "declarative sentences" act as a clear divider between these points. Lair doesn't seem to favor one form of teaching over the other and in fact embraces the differences. She even goes as far as to "welcome both its challenges and its rewards" in regard to online teaching. The point in her writing is not that she has come to dislike or regret online teaching. Rather, she simply has a much more complete understanding of both the good and bad and thus "The honeymoon is over".
ReplyDeleteThroughout her writing Laird indicates the many ways in which students mistake web-based instruction for their much more lackadaisical web surfing. She highlights how the students essentially make the mistake of viewing the online course as somehow less academically rigorous than its in-classroom counterpart. To me, it is also implied that the students also believe the web learning to be more akin to a laissez-faire system in terms of how much authority and control the instructor has. There really does not need to be more input regarding the students' views, however- the focus is more on the trials and tribulations of teaching an online course than taking on. Besides, focusing on student attitudes is pointless since, frankly, good luck trying to fix that over the internet. I don't see a need to list strategies she developed to manage the difficulties of running a web-based class. It would simply detract from the overall intent of the writing which is to show the differences between traditional and online schooling; and more importantly, the differences in expectations regarding the two.
Ellen Laird’s paper is about how different internet learning is compared to close and personal learning. Students who are learning online don’t make the due date and have to ask for her to extend their due date. This can refer to one of her subtitle sections, “Cinderella even had a deadline,” knowing that students who are in class can miss deadlines just as well by regarding the deadlines set. The students also realize that their class syllabus states the deadlines of papers and have to except their consequence. “I am not your buddy,” this subtitle section is about how teachers aren’t supposed to be your friends they are there to teach you. Online the chats changed rapidly to inappropriate conversation that as nothing to do with the assignment. She uses the bolded lines to show the major point she is trying to make in her paper.
ReplyDeleteFor her essay she uses a subject-by-subject point, because she uses her subtitles as a method to compare and contrast her online classes to her face-to-face classes. As a reader you can tell that she is not too fond of teaching online classes because these students tend to be lazy. In comparison she also has the same issue in her face-to-face classes but she likes that she can have an actual conversation in person if there is a problem. Although she does not clearly state her opinion you can infer that she would rather work with kids in a classroom than through a computer. She is not very clear on how she reacts to the students online or in class to address some situations, which may been helpful to draw a better conclusion on which teaching method she prefers.
In Ellen Laird’s, “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” we will be going over the style and structure of her essay. In this Ellen uses a point by point comparison to show the differences in an online classroom and a campus classroom. I believe Laird placed those boldface headings in her essay so she could clearly identify the different points she is trying to make. To me Laird seems to lean more towards campus teaching because the students are not as lazy as the online students. For Example, in the section of her essay titled, “Even Cinderella had a deadline.” She talks about how her campus students are usually pretty good about turning their papers in on time. While her online students tend to procrastinate and miss their deadlines. I would see Laird as being pessimistic about the future of Internet teaching. The reason is the students when online, have a different mindset than when they are in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteFor the fourth question, Laird did not express much about how her students felt about online teaching. I think she could have used more time to explore this subject because, it might be a prevailing factor for a contrast or comparison. I think Laird should have listed the strategies for these difficulties. Reason being you as the author do not want to leave out any valuable information that could be critical to the reader. She probably left the strategies out so she could make the reader think about what kind of strategies to use in those situations.
I like your explanation in your first paragraph! I agree, she is definitely a bit pessimistic about online classes, and I think you make a good point that the students have a different mindset when they’re online than when they are in the classroom. Why do you think this is? Do you think it’s harder for students to take a class seriously when they don’t have a teacher in front of them? Or should schools think about restructuring online classes differently from face to face classes? In other words, do you think it is solely the fault of the students, or do you think the school bears some responsibility for correcting this issue? Also, I’m interested to hear why you believe she wants the reader to think about strategies they could use in those situations. What do you think she was trying to accomplish by doing this? Do you think the essay would have been more or less effective if she had included these strategies?
DeleteThe essay “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet Service Provider” written by Ellen Laird, is organized using point-by-point comparison. She uses this organization to reassure that the reader will be able to keep up with and understand the comparisons between learning online and inside a classroom. The bolded heading indicates that a change between paragraphs has occurred. This allows the reader to distinguish where the changes occur in the essay and makes it much more clear. In this essay, the author seems to lean more towards the side of learning in a classroom. She states that special fonts and bullets, along with other functions of online learning, have no impact on students turning in work by a certain deadline. She seems to believe that learning in a classroom has perks that allow better learning and fewer flaws than those who learn online.
ReplyDeleteIn the essay, the author doesn’t state the students view on the topic. She seems to only give her opinion on the subject based on how she feels about it. I think a huge insight that could be included by the author would be the students point of view. Having multiple points of view on a topic allows for a better understanding of where people are coming from when they write and how other people feel about it. If the author would have went into detail about how students are affected or what their opinions are, then the essay would have been stronger and more interesting.
I would also agree that the author is using point by point comparison. In my opinion though, I believe she uses it to help readers understand her train of thought.
DeleteI think that this essay is written by point by point. The reason I say this because the story tells each point for being compared and contrasting each point. The reason to why Larid choose this strategy of writing was so she can made readers understand what she is comparing or contrasting. The function of the bold highlights is to show what she is contrasting or comparing in the next paragraph. Why she uses these highlights is to show what she is going to compare or contrast in her essay. No were in the essay state that Laird favors one teaching style over another. In my opinion, Laird seems to lean more to being optimistic for the future of internet learning. The reason I say that Laird is optimistic about this learning style is because she says that there will be obstacles in the way but they can be overcomed.
ReplyDeleteLaird does touch on the subject of how the students feel but does not go in depth with the topic. I think that she should go more in depth with this topic because it helps show more differences in the teaching style of the internet and a classroom. She would have used this topic to show would teaching style can be more stressful for a student. In Laird’s conclusion she does not go in depth with her statement about strategies to counter similar difference. I think the reason for this is because these strategies would be the same strategies you would use in classroom or on a computer
I agree that the author is using point by point but I think she prefers face to face class room teaching.
DeleteLaird's essay is structured as a point-by-point comparison. She compares online classes to face to face classes are different. I think to uses this strategy to show the reader the differences of online classes and personal classes. She highlights her declarative sentences as boldfaced headings to show what the next paragraph are going to be about. When she compares online classes and face-to face-classes I think she preferers-face to-face because she the internet class is more of a hassle for the instructor and students. I think she is pessimistic because she talks negative about the online classes.
ReplyDeleteI think Laird should have spent more time exploring the issue because she doesn’t give any examples on how the students feel about online classes. I think she didn’t list some of those strategies because it was her conclusion paragraph.
In the article “I’m your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” by Ellen Laird the way she organized her article subject by subject. I say this because when I was going through and reading it all of her examples were being compared and contrasted in a paragraph and not in a bullet point sequence. The function of the boldfaced headings were to let the reader know what the next few paragraphs he or she would be reading are gonna talk about. They also give a clear meaning of what Ellen Laird might be comparing and contrasting for the next few paragraphs. To me Laird seems to favor in classroom teaching more than online teaching. I say this because in the article she always begins each section on how her school classroom class would do certain things the right way but the online class always finds a way to mess things up. Also how for her it takes less work to run an actual school class than an online class. She seems to be pessimistic about the future of internet teaching because of how much she has to put up with in all of her internet class’s.
ReplyDeleteLaird never really indicates how students feel about internet teaching. To me I think she should have spent more time researching the topic. I say this because in her article she mainly goes over her personal experience dealing with an online class and all the bad things she has gone through teaching online. Instead she probably should have also included some benefits of an online class from the students point of view. Like for instance there could be that one student who is physically challenged and just can’t make it to school. So he or she takes an online class to alleviate that burden from them. I do think that Laird should have listed some of the strategies in her conclusion. Mainly because it’s like you’re teasing the audience with very important information that they have been wanting to know. I think she doesn’t list them because she simply does not care for them. She thinks that a class should be taught in school and not online.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete