WP3

Summary

          For this assignment, I chose to write about Motivation and Connection: Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Composition Classroom by Michael Bunn.  This article examines how/if writing instructors teach the connections between reading and writing, and the extent to how effective this teaching method is.  Bunn asserts that explicitly teaching this connection is beneficial in creating an environment where students are more motivated to complete readings assigned for their course.  This argument is tested by conducting surveys to writing teachers and their students, all of which examine reading-writing teaching methods and the responses by their students, which mainly focus on their motivation to read the assignments.  By gathering data through the survey questions and written responses, Bunn sticks with his claim that teaching reading-writing connections effectively through model texts increases a student’s motivation to finish their assigned reading.  For the two genres – for the younger audience and for the older audience – I chose to write specifically about why it is important, and how it should be implemented. 

Transformation for a younger audience: Comic Book

Click here to view the comic book.

Transformation for an older audience:  Cover Letter

Johnny Pham
1234 Del Playa Rd.
Goleta, CA, 90385
555-111-5555

March 6, 2022

Boris Smith
UCSB Writing Program
South Hall 3432, UCSB
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Dear Mr. Smith:

This is an application for the open teaching position as a Writing 2 TA at University of California, Santa Barbara.  I learned about this job opening from a past workmate of mine, Bob Bryant, who currently works in the UCSB writing department.  After working as a high school writing teacher for the last five years, I feel like it is time to step up my game and I would love the opportunity to work with college students. I will be a great asset to the writing department because of my past work experience as a high school teacher and my ability to leave a positive impact on my students.

I am interested in working for you because I want to be able to fully educate college students about the importance of writing.  The fundamentals have to be taught in the right way, because writing is one of the main components necessary to excel in the professional world.  As a teacher at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, I learned very important techniques and skills.  The main technique I focus on teaching is about the connection between reading and writing.  Many students are not motivated to read their assignments, but in my classes, students are more likely to complete their assigned readings because they will need the knowledge gained from the readings to be able to complete the course.  I assign them model texts to read and analyze, and I emphasize reading in my class a a way to improve upon writing skills.  Through my teachings, the students fully understand that they can use techniques the author uses in each assigned reading for their own writing, and they know that they can use the readings as an example of the genre they may write in the future.

With my unique skill set and teaching methods, I believe that I am qualified for this teaching position. I hope I can meet up with you and elaborate on my capabilities as a college TA.  My schedule is flexible and I am available to meet up at anytime.  Thank you for the opportunity.

Sincerely, 

Johnny Pham

Enclosure: Resume

Self Analysis:

          I had a great time attempting to transform the genre of this article for a younger audience and for an older audience.  This assignment required a lot of creativity, so it was a lot different than the other writing projects I have done this course.  As stated before, the article I chose was on the connection between reading and writing.  In the process of creating these genres, I used important “moves” that made each a genre for an older audience and a genre for a younger audience, while using the actual context of the article to help me create them. 

          For the textual genre for a younger audience, I chose to write a comic book.  The targeted audience for my textual piece is high school students who are about to take a writing course.  I am pretending that I am the teacher of this writing course, and also the creator of this comic book, who is trying to introduce the connections between reading and writing that they will be learning by handing the comic books out to these students at the start of the course.  I wanted to be really specific about who the audience was in this situation.  Creating a comic book makes it easier and more appealing for high school students to read.  The use of images on each page gives a good visual of the events happening, and using captions for the texts changes the display of words students are used to reading.  Instead of long paragraphs and many words, the comic book uses these word bubbles to shorten the length of the texts, while conveying enough information so that the high school students will still understand the importance of the message sent. 

I chose several important, specific moves that I believed would grab the attention of this younger, high school audience.  In terms of character choice, I decided to choose a younger looking boy so he can relate to the audience, and an older looking man as the teacher for the comedic appeal.  His name is Captain Awesome, and this decision was funny, I believe, because he does not look awesome at all.  To keep the attention of the younger audience, I also chose to add in several characters in the middle of the book to add something new.  The plot would become too stale if there were only two characters throughout the entire story.  As for the backgrounds of each page, I had to make sure to change it up from scene to scene to have a diversification of images.  This was done by changing the setting a few times, and sometimes when a character had something important to say I would zoom up just on them so they could say their line.  I used the choice of “framing,” which I learned from the McCloud course reading.  In some scenes, I chose to zoom in just on them if they were the only ones talking in the scene, and in others I chose to cut characters out of the scene.  For the three characters introduced in the middle of the story – the past students – I had to find a way for them to leave without making a big deal about it, since they weren’t a major part of the plot.  I used the choice of image to subtly remove them by placing them back into the background, while changing their colors to black so that they would appear as shadows and then disappear from the next scenes.

 By adding a little bit of comedy to this genre, I chose to stray away from the normal style of teaching.  The students wouldn’t expect it as they read, especially since it would be passed out on the first day of class, and so this comic book would be much more appealing.  I had to use my choice of words effectively so that it would remain funny.  There were words used such as “cool,” or “radical,” or “awesome” multiple times.  Using words such as these for the high school audience would make it seem like a joke to them, adding on to the comedic appeal.  But while they would take this as funny, the message sent about reading-writing connections is still legit and believable, so I would still get my point across about teaching them about the connections.   

Creating the cover letter was a complete different method.  I have never written a cover letter before, but I liked this choice of genre because I was able to utilize what I learned from the article to help me create this piece.  I went online and read examples of cover letters, and used several of them as a template to base my own cover letter off of.  They were used as examples, such as using a professional looking font (Times New Roman).  A lot of the cover letters didn’t use indentations before new paragraphs, instead opting to leave a few spaces between paragraphs.  Also, I was able to learn where to address both the recipient and myself by studying the moves of the cover letter examples.  I learned that my name and contact information should at the start of the paper, with the recipient and his/her contact information following that.  These “moves” that were chosen for the cover letters I used as examples were on my own cover letter, because those “moves” are what make a cover letter a cover letter.  These moves that I followed really helped me create a solid format for my cover letter.

There were several specific choices of moves I made that I want to point out that make this into a more effective cover letter.  In the first paragraph, I felt like it was important to get to the point fast by allowing them to know what I was applying for.  The first paragraph was basically what this letter was and how I knew about the position.  I transitioned into the second paragraph, which allowed me to explain why I was interested and why they would want me in that position.  The third paragraph was a brief conclusion, explaining how I have a flexible schedule and I would be delighted to get to meet up for an interview.  A move I chose to make was to get to the point and write down the essentials without elaborating too much.  A cover letter is to let the employer know who you are, so it is good to show your voice but in a professional style, but there is a limited amount of space.  All of the cover letter examples I read were only one page, so I chose to write down what was important, and not writing too much about either non-essential information or what would already be on the resume, which is already attached to it.  Another move I made was using appropriate, professional-sounding diction.  In contrast to the word choices of the comic book, this cover letter is not meant for giggles.  It is a serious matter, and anything inappropriate would ruin my chances of getting the job.  The letter, written to the UCSB writing department, is a genre that is taken seriously in the professional world.

Creating these two genres was a challenge at first, but once I started and realized the contrasting elements and moves between these two genres, it felt like a breeze to complete.  They both had complete different styles – comedic for the comic book, and professional for the cover letter – yet they were also similar in terms of constraints.  I wasn’t able to include all parts of Bunn’s article, so I chose to specifically write about two sections of the article about why reading and writing is beneficial and how it should be taught.  As for the constraints in length of the genre, the cover letter couldn’t exceed a page and the comic book couldn’t be too long, or the length of the story might intimidate the younger high school audience.  I had to pick out the essentials of the article, and transform them in opposite ways so that a younger audience and an older audience would find interesting.

Works Cited

Bunn, Michal.  Motivation and Connection: Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Composition                          

          Classroom.  496-516. 2013. Web.

McCloud, Scott.  Writing with Pictures.  Making Comics.  William Morrow Paperbacks.  2006.