Under Construction Chapter 16: Yancey's "Theory, Practice, and the Bridge Between"

How to figure out what teaching methods work through reflecting on them. I like Yancey because she is a scholar and a teacher.

She starts by pondering what works in the classroom, and how she knows it works. She is going to describe her method of practice-reflection-theory.

Reflective transfer:
1. Observe and examine our own practices
2. Hypothesize about success, failure, and reasons
3. Shape the next experience accordingly
4. Begin the cycle again

This is what I do with every unit I teach, but I never put it in that outline form or thought about it specifically in those terms before. She says delivery and experience of curricula is different. Yup. That's why one of the options I'm considering for my thesis project is to work through my own "Writing Research" course, so I can reflect as both teacher and student.

At the end of the semester she evaluates data. One way is to use individual students as case studies. Another way is to take a particular assignment and read across the class to evaluate what was learned. Note to self--I'm going to do that. I want to use two particular students: Brandon (or Adam) and Sahar (or Laura) as case studies. I want to use the Progress Report unit to read across both classes.

This is a great paper, because she uses the learning of her own students to learn about her own effectiveness. She reflects upon the written reflections of her students to inform her practice. Love this. I've done similar, but she is very methodical. Writing out the results would be so valuable, instead of just thinking about them. I'd like to do it, too. Will take some time after the semester ends to evaluate HUM 102 at portfolio time based on how Yancey did.

She sees the differences between the strong and weak students, and asks questions about how she can improve the experience for the weak students. Going to reread this chapter, too. So useful.