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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dr. Gayle's Visit

I really enjoyed Dr. Gayle's visit to class today. Other than it being beneficial for the obvious reasons (learning about what we're going to do on Saturday), it opened my eyes to a few other things.

1. Dr. Gayle's commitment to the kids and to their success really inspired me. Like she said, we don't have an investment in their paper or their grades. Dr. Gayle is selflessly committing herself to the success of others and her visit made me realize that I really hope my future career does the same thing.

2. Looking at the kid's papers made me think back to our previous discussion on the importance of grades. The kids who wrote those papers would most likely not receive a 4.0 gpa or get "As" written on their papers and tests. However, it was obvious to me when reading their writing that these kids were smart. They were thinking and learning from these passages and really have something to offer. Furthermore, I'm sure Dr. Gayle and a lot of us 383 students who are reading their work ARE "A" or "B" students...yet we are learning from these high schoolers whose grade point average may not even come close to ours. So, maybe grades aren't the perfect measure of intelligence, and maybe we can learn the most in places where we least expect it.

3. I'm excited to work with the kids, and I think it is perfect practice for us. I think we will get the opportunity to use the techniques we have been talking about all semester, such as asking them to talk through their ideas and brainstorm. Probably the most challenging students we will face in the writing center are the ESL students, so what better practice could we get then working with these students?

So, besides learning the logistics of what Saturday will bring, this is what I took away from Dr. Gayle's visit to class. I can't wait to see what this weekend will bring.

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