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ENGL388V PORTFOLIO

SAYEMA ZAKIYA TAREQ
ENGL101 BL01 Teaching Assistant
Spring 2014





















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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
LESSON PLANS 4
LESSON PLAN 1: RHETORICAL TRIANGLE 5
LESSON PLAN 2: TOULMIN THEORY 6
LESSON PLAN 3: ROGERIAN ARGUMENT 7
LESSON PLAN 4: QUOTE SANDWICHES 8
DISCUSSION POSTS 9
DISCUSSION POST 1 10
DISCUSSION POST 2 11
DISCUSSION POST 3 12
OBSERVATION 13
DIGITAL PROJECTS 14
TEACHING AIDS 15
VOICETHREAD 15
POWERPOINT: CONCISION LESSON PLAN 18
POWERPOINT: VISUAL RHETORIC 20
MY WEBSITE 23
REFLECTION 26
















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INTRODUCTION

This portfolio is a collection of some of the work I have done as a teaching assistant for the
University of Marylands English Department. For the spring semester from January to May
2014, I assisted Lyra Hilliard and her hybrid English 101 class. In addition, I also completed
the English 388V course, which is a writing internship class that helps students refine their
teaching skills, understand their roles as undergraduate teaching assistants, and gain the
knowledge to perform at the highest level in their classes.

Although I am a teaching assistant for an English class, I am an economics and
communication double major with aspirations of attending law school after I graduate. My
career plans include becoming a professor, and working as a teaching assistant and taking
English 388V helped me gain a better understanding of what it takes to do just that.

Being a teaching assistant for a hybrid course is different than any other course. A hybrid
course incorporates face-to-face classes, live, online classes, and other technology into one,
cohesive course. In my English 101 class, we have incorporated Adobe Connect, Twitter,
Voice Thread, Google Drive, and Weebly into our class. Both Professor Hilliard and I believe
that an English class is not just about writing essays, students should be able to use the
writing skills they build throughout the semester elsewhere and in a public setting. Thus, a
new project was added to this semesters class, which was to build a website that displayed
the argument students had made in a previous paper. Alongside the students, I also built my
own website, which you will be able to see towards the end of this portfolio.

In this portfolio I have included lesson plans I have created for various classes, discussion
posts responding to readings for English 388V, an observation of another teaching assistant,
other work I have done throughout the semester, and a reflection of my growth as a TA. I
hope you enjoy reading through my portfolio.




















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LESSON PLANS


























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LESSON PLAN 1: RHETORICAL TRIANGLE

Objective: Students will understand what the rhetorical triangle, how to identify the
different parts of the rhetorical triangle in a text, and how the parts of the rhetorical triangle
interact with each other.

Assessment Techniques: This will be a discussion-based class. First, the class will watch a
video and simply discuss the video. I will ask questions that may prompt students to
ultimately talk about the speaker, audience, and message purpose of the video, such as,
what are some things you noticed in the video? or who was this video intended for?
Once it seems like they have hit all three points I will show how they themselves have just
identified the parts to a rhetorical triangle by drawing it on the board and filling in their
answers. After briefly explaining the importance of the rhetorical triangle and how its parts
interact with each other, we will change the audience in the rhetorical triangle and see how
it affects the other parts. Through the ideas students contribute, I can assess whether or not
they understand the concept at hand.

Materials:
- Chalk board/white board
- Chalk/white board marker
- Computer with internet access and projector program
- Screen for the projector
- YouTube video for discussion

Agenda:
- Watch YouTube video (Grammys video)
- Primary discussion (pull up projector screen while doing this)
- Rhetorical Triangle on board
- How do the audience, speaker, and message interact with each other? What happens
if the audience changes? (Change audience to conservative congregation) What if the
speaker changes?
- Secondary discussion
- Second rhetorical triangle on boardconclude lesson

Reflection: The reading that inspired me for this lesson plan was the Brookfield and
Preskill reading, Keeping the Discussion Leaders Voice in Balance. This lesson plan is
mostly discussion-based so I wanted to make sure my voice was not too overpowering but
not nonexistent either. I actually presented this lesson plan a few hours ago and it seemed
like the students understood what was going on because they themselves identified the
parts of the rhetorical triangle. The video I chose to show them in class was a clip from the
2014 Grammy Awards when Queen Latifah married 33 gay, transsexual, and interracial
couples. I felt it was a topic that most people had some background knowledge on and with
the rhetorical triangle we made, changing the audience to a conservative congregation
would show an obvious need for change in the message and speaker. Although students
were eventually interactive and seemed to understand the rhetorical triangle, it was
difficult to get the discussion rolling at the beginning of class. No one was raising their
hands to speak although just a week ago they were very talkative. I called people out by
name to get them to start contributing, then as the class went on everyone was more and
more active in the discussion.

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LESSON PLAN 2: TOULMIN THEORY

Objective: Students will be able to understand what the Toulmin Theory is and how to
develop arguments using it. They will also understand the importance of considering the
audience when developing arguments and how the audience affects the reasons they use in
supporting their claims.

Assessment Techniques: First, the rhetorical triangle lesson plan will be presented and I
will transition to the this lesson plan by having the students list reasons to support the
claim made in the Grammys video if the audience was changed to a conservative
congregation. They will construct the argument in the form of claim + reason, which they
have already learned about. After identifying the claim, which remains the same, the class
will list multiple reasons they think will support the claim and appeal to the new audience.
The class as a whole will go through each argument and decide if it is effective or not.
Through this they will see that they are making certain assumptions about the audiences
values and beliefs. With this, I will introduce the warrants in an argument and show them
that they just learned part of the Toulmin Theory. Then each student will partner up and
identify warrants from the enthymemes they already made for homework. After group
work, the students will share their findings. Through this group activity, I will be able to
assess their level of understanding of the Toulmin Theory. The backing aspect of the
Toulmin Theory will be brought up in the following class.

Materials:
- Rhetorical Triangle Lesson Plan
- Black board/chalk

Agenda:
- Rhetorical Triangle lesson plan
- (Transition): explain why the arguments do and do not work
- Prompt students to talk about what audiences underlying assumptions are that
would cause the argument to be successful (or unsuccessful)
- Introduce warrants
- Show Toulmin Theory on board
- Group work

Reflection: The reading I chose to incorporate into this lesson plan is the Kids Speak Out
on Student Engagement article. I specifically focused on the part where kids suggested
connecting the real world to classwork. I think bringing in the Grammy video from the
previous lesson plan helped them do so and being able to use their own articles that they
brought into class engaged them as well. I also presented this lesson plan in class, with the
Lyras help, and the transition from the Rhetorical Triangle lesson plan to this one was
awesome; it flowed really smoothly. Students were very engaged throughout the lesson
plan. Although they got a little lost when first learning about warrants, with a little
clarification and group work, they were able to figure everything out.






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LESSON PLAN 3: ROGERIAN ARGUMENT

Objective: Students will understand what a Rogerian argument is and how to apply it to
their semester topics

Assessment Techniques: Students will have a free-write that will be turned in to help me
see if they understand the material that is being presented to the students. There will also
be a discussion and through the students input I will be able to tell if they have a solid grasp
of what a Rogerian argument is.

Materials:
- Ask students to bring in laptops/electronic writing utensil
- Computer/internet access/projector

Agenda:
- Split the class into 2 sections; one section will pretend to be parents, the other
section will pretend to be their children
- The class will engage in a debate where the children will have to convince the
parents to let them live on campus because currently they are commuting from
home
- After the debate we will briefly discuss which arguments worked and which didnt
and the importance of respecting the opponents arguments and finding a middle
ground
- Cue Rogerian argument (briefly lecture about what this is)
- Freewrite: let students take their own topics and choose a debate surrounding the
topic and fill out one of the following formats in context of their personal topics:
Option 1:
In discussions of X, one controversial issue has been _____________. On the one hand,
______________ argues _____________. On the other hand, _____________ contends
_____________. Others even maintain that ___________ . At this stage of my research, my
own view is __________________.
Option 2:
When it comes to the topic of _________ ,most of us will readily agree that ___________.
Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of ____________.
Whereas some are convinced that ______________, others maintain that ________________.
At this stage of my research, my own view is __________________.

Reflection: When I was in English 101 I was successful with my Rogerian essay but I know
most of my class struggled. I thought about different reasons why students may not do so
well with Rogerian arguments and I concluded that one reason could be because they do not
see it in the context of their daily lives. Thus, I thought debating a relatable topic would help
students realize that they engage in Rogerian arguments themselves all the time. I also
wanted them to leave the class with some direction as to how to present a Rogerian
argument for their own topics. Lyra really likes the format used in They Say I Say so I chose
to incorporate that into my lesson plan as well. I think this lesson plan could go really well
unless the debate doesnt go as planned, then things may go a little haywire.




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LESSON PLAN 4: QUOTE SANDWICHES

Objective: Students will learn how to properly use quotes in their writing by using the
quote sandwich technique and understand its importance.

Assessment Techniques: There is discussion in this lesson plan as well as written group
work that students will submit that will help me assess their understanding of the lesson.

Materials:
- white board and/or computer with projector
- group work prompt

Agenda:
- Present a short text that improperly uses a quote (to explain that quote is
useless/randomly placed)
- Introduce parts of a quote sandwich
- Discussion: students suggest ways to incorporate quote sandwich components to
the text
- Group work: in groups of 2, students will create their own quote sandwiches for
quotes that are given on their prompts (which will be handed out)
- Groups will present their work

Reflection: I think reiterating proper use of quotes and using the image of a sandwich to do
so is helpful. I have read so many essays where quotes stand alone and are not analyzed or
do not have any background information. I always think introducing a topic to students,
doing an example as a class, and then having them do an exercise on their own is effective in
helping them learn. It also helps me assess their level of learning. The Kids Speak Out on
Student Engagement article talks about how students want to move around and have more
say in their classrooms. Urging students to work with each other and present instead of
having the professor at the front of the class as usual is way to mix things up so students
stay interested in the material at hand.


















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DISCUSSION POSTS

























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DISCUSSION POST 1
Response to From Teaching to Learning by Barr & Tagg

Original Post (February 2, 2014):
In response to the Barr and Tagg reading, I feel that a shift to the Learning Paradigm would
be something beneficial to students and the general population. If students gain the proper
knowledge and understanding they need in the real world (i.e. jobs), that would benefit not
only the students but the people who are influenced by the students. I noticed in both high
school and in college that all too often, some instructors "teach to the test." This means that
these instructors prepare students to succeed in their final exams but not necessarily in that
field. I may be taught that 1+1=2 but not understand how adding two 1s would produce an
output of 2. Shifting from the instructional paradigm to the learning paradigm would also
place the best "teachers" as college professors instead of the most decorated individuals.
There are many people out there who have multiple PhDs and have worked with incredible
institutions but cannot clearly relay information to a student.
Furthermore, the learning paradigm does not equate intelligence with memorization or
good test-taking skills. It takes into consideration that different students think differently
and attempts to accommodate their needs in the classroom. Putting the students first seems
logical because education should be about the students who wish to gain knowledge. I agree
that the purpose of college is to produce learning and not to provide instruction.

Response (May 12, 2014):

I still agree with my response to this reading from February. So many people go through
school, memorize what they need to pass an exam and graduate, but do they really learn the
skills they need for the real world? I have had professors who admit to teaching to the
test, because they only pick out chapters that students need to pass the final exam but not
gain a well-rounded understanding of the material. So much weight is placed on the letter
grades students receive but I believe that sometimes understanding cannot be translated
into points. However, the issue with this is there needs to be some structure to education
and there are so many students pursuing college degrees that it becomes difficult to give
each of them extensive, individual attention. I am not quite sure what the solution would be,
but for now, teachers should find a happy medium to begin to shift from the instructional
paradigm to the learning paradigm. I hated English my entire life until college and I believe
much of that was due to the change in teaching styles. My ENGL101 professor takes the
learning paradigm very seriously and I feel as though I gained more writing skills in her
class than I had my entire high school career.











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DISCUSSION POST 2
Discussing using technology in the classroom

Original Post (April 7, 2014):

Having taken a blended section of ENGL101 and TAing for a blended class, I think the
motive behind shifting to online classes is because we are moving into a digital world.
Students should develop online skills because many jobs will require it, so holding online
classes gives students the opportunity to interact with more digital programs. I know for
the class I TA for, we try to incorporate many online things, such as Twitter, VoiceThread,
website building, AdobeConnect, etc. I do believe that online classes hinder discussion,
however. If we were holding this class face-to-face instead of online, I think it would be
more productive. There is just something special about face-to-face interaction that cannot
be reproduced online. Even with Skype and AdobeConnect, group video chats just aren't the
same as being face to face. That is why I am a proponent of hybrid classes because it
incorporates both.
It is tricky to hold class online because if not done properly, it can become messy and
confusing. I think the Boettcher reading really lays out helpful tips to support online efforts
by teachers. I agree it is VERY important to have an online support group, otherwise,
students may feel very alone in doing their work. Lyra and I try to do this a lot by being
online during asynchronous days and having many online tools to help students, including
the option to ask questions on Twitter by using hashtags.

Response (May 12, 2014):

Once again, I still agree with my initial response. It is important to begin shifting classes to
an online setting because digital media surrounds our world. However, if every class
becomes a fully online class, students miss out on gaining social skills and society as a whole
may even lose face-to-face interaction completely. Im old-fashioned when it comes to those
kinds of things so I think face-to-face interaction is important and should be maintained.
Thus, hybrid classes are the perfect solution to me.

Something we did in the class I TA for demonstrates a nice blend of online and in-class
work. Students had to reproduce their classical argument papers in the form of a website.
We had an in-class workshop day for the websites, we taught students the lessons they
needed to build a strong website in-class, but they used online tools to do so and even peer-
edited online. Now seeing all the submissions, I think this project was awesome and should
be incorporated in all English 101 classes.











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DISCUSSION POST 3
Response to A Formative Assessment System for Writing by Frey & Fisher

Original Post (April 14, 2014):

I think the concept of giving feedback to students throughout their writing process as
discussed in the Frey and Fisher piece is extremely useful. An experience I would like to talk
about actually occurred in high school and not at UMD, but I grew so much from that.
I was in the Humanities & Arts program at my high school and in order to graduate from the
program, we had to write a 20-page paper our senior year and defend it in front of a panel.
We were assigned advisors to help us with our papers throughout the year and having an
adult who was familiar with my argument and with academic writing who was constantly
giving me feedback helped my paper so much. Every time I wrote as section of my paper I
was able to email it to my advisor and she could comment on each individual section and
make sure it fit in with the rest of my paper. I received a meritorious on my final paper,
which is the highest honors, and I think a lot of it was due to the fact that I had an advisor to
constantly go to.
Although I understand that we can't have advisors for every ENGL101 student, making sure
they feel comfortable to always come to you when they are confused or using self-
assessments, peer reviews, and other methods of continuous feedback can be really helpful.
Writing should not be a grade; it is a process that helps us grow.

Response (May 12, 2014):

This semester, I think students felt comfortable coming to me for extra help with their
essays. I think in some cases I could have done a better job editing essays. Recalling the
readings for the April 14 class, I remember one spoke of not critiquing essays at a sentence-
level but looking at it one, whole piece of work. However, I definitely made sentence-level
edits but I tried to make comments about the overall argument as well. I think it is still
important for students to learn proper grammar/formatting so maybe pointing out one
mistake in spelling and letting them fix the rest in their paper would be beneficial.

I think one thing that really hindered my editing this semester was not having papers in
hard copy. I dont like reading long texts electronically; I prefer having hard copies I can
highlight and make side notes on and draw arrows and pictures and do whatever I need to
read effectively. However, with the shift to a digital, greener age, I need to learn to read
online texts.










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OBSERVATION

One of the assignments I had to complete for my ENGL388V class was to observe a teaching
assistant or professor in their own classroom setting. I chose to observe a veteran TA who
also assists Professor Hilliard because I wanted to compare my efforts and see how I could
improve my skills in my own classroom. I actually got lucky with this observation because I
saw both the professor and the TA in action, interacting with each other and the students. I
observed Dionte Harris working alongside Professor Hilliard as they conducted a peer
review in their class that day.

This was the first face-to-face peer review the class participated in this semester because
their last peer review was snowed out and was completed online. The class began with a
free-write to get students into the proper mindset and to warm up their minds. Then the
peer review began, which followed the Iowa workshop method. This method calls for
students to discuss a specific paper while the author is not permitted to speak or comment
until their reviewers are done. Then the author asks the reviewers questions for
clarification or further feedback. During this time the professor and TA walked around to
mediate but did not want to be too involved in the peer review. They explained to me later
that peer review is an opportunity for students to voice their opinions, not an event for
instructors to drown them out.

The final activity of the day was called the Frankenstein draft, which is when groups of two
exchange their papers and the partner cuts the paper paragraph by paragraph and tapes it
back together in an order that makes logical sense to them. This exercise seemed very fun
for the students because it was physical activity for them yet helpful for their final papers.

I recall a reading from ENGL388V this semester that highlighted the importance of
balancing the students voice and the instructors voice. I think it is very important that
during peer review the instructor/TA gives students their space but is available for support,
which is what Dionte and Professor Hilliard seemed to do well. Compared to how my class
got through the lesson plan earlier that day, the class I observed was definitely livelier. Im
not sure why exactly this is, maybe because the class I TA for is in the morning, but figuring
out how to make sure each student is engaged is important.
















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DIGITAL PROJECTS















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TEACHING AIDS
VoiceThread: Visual Rhetoric

VoiceThread is an online program that allows users to interact with videos and voice
recordings instead of through writing. Some homework for English 101 is assigned on
VoiceThread, including the following that I created for students.

In the class earlier that week, students had created their own flyers in groups to advertise
taking a blended academic writing class. In this VoiceThread, students group activities
were posted and they had to critique the effectiveness of each. The url for the VoiceThread
is https://voicethread.com/share/5678265/ and screenshots can be found below.




Title Slide
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Instruction Slide: My image represents a voice recording that is currently being played


One of the group project slides: the square buttons on each side are comment left by students.
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Conclusion Slide


























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TEACHING AIDS
PowerPoint: Cohesion, Coherence, and Concision

Here are a few slides from a PowerPoint I put together with my fellow TAs as a visual for a
cohesion, coherence, and concision lesson plan. We never got to actually presenting this
lesson plan but perhaps there will be time for it another time.







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TEACHING AIDS
PowerPoint: Using Creative Commons

Here are a few slides from a presentation the TAs, Professor Hilliard, and I created for a
lesson plan about copyrights, creative commons, and using images/information students
are legally permitted to use









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MY WEBSITE

This semester, English 101 incorporated a digital remediation project (DRP) into the
curriculum, replacing one of the essays originally assigned. A DRP is basically taking the
classical argument paper and reformatting it to be published online in the form of a website.
All of the student projects can be found on http://lyrahilliard.weebly.com/student-
projects.html.

In order to assist students with this project, teaching assistants were asked to build their
own websites. The url for my website is http://sztareq.weebly.com and below are some
screenshots of my website.

The Home Page: Teaching is a newfound passion for me; I teach young children at a
Sunday school, I am a basketball coach, and I am a teaching assistant at a university. I have
decided to use my website to share information about teaching through these different
mediums, whether it be lesson plans, lessons I have learned from experience, or related
readings and other resources. My website also includes projects I have done on my own,
including my photography project, personal writing, presentations, and visuals, and my
blog. All of these are featured on my home page.












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The About Page:


The Teaching Page:







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My Photography Project:


My Blog:





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REFLECTION

To be quite honest, when I first decided to be a teaching assistant for English 101, I did not
know that taking English 388V was part of the package. It was not until a few weeks prior to
the start of school that I realized I had to take a class. Initially, I was not looking forward to
taking an evening class, especially as a commuter, but it definitely paid off by the time the
semester was over. Furthermore, coming into this class and the experience of TAing, I did
not have an idea of what I wanted to pursue as a career. Although I have already declared
my majors and it seems like I know what Im doing in college, I was still flip-flopping back
and forth between various career choices at the beginning of the semester. This experience
helped me take a step forward into solidifying a career choice for myself.

Coming in as a TA, I wanted to explore a newfound passion for teaching while beefing up my
rsum and building leadership, time management, and other related skills. But what I got
out of it was so much more. ENGL388V never felt like a class to me, it was more like a
support group. The first day Dr. Macri was traveling so two ENGL101 professors came in as
substitutes and made the classroom setting very casual and comfortable. Although I was
nervous to meet Dr. Macri because I did not know what to expect, she also made feel at ease
in the classroom. I didnt feel like a student in ENGL388V, I felt like a researcher and a
learner coming to a support group each week to gain knowledge about how to do my job
better and to understand my role as a TA.

From the get-go I was inspired by many readings, especially the Cathy Davidson video. I
remember I enjoyed that video so much I actually took notes on entire hour-long lecture.
The video and accompanying readings discussed the necessary paradigm shift in modern
teaching. Instead of having teachers act as the bearers of all knowledge, students should be
responsible for their own learning and working with each other to learn. I teach 6 to year-
old students at Sunday school and sometimes their thoughts and perceptions on various
topics inspire me and teach me things, which is how any classroom setting should be. Aside
from being greatly inspired by some lessons from ENGL388V, I also gained skills I could
directly apply to my classroom, such as improving my essay reviewing techniques,
establishing a strong presence in the classroom as a TA, defining my role as a TA, and much
more.

One of the most interesting lessons from ENGL388V for me, which was surprising
considering my tastes, was the grammar lesson. We learned about grammar rants and how
perhaps being grammar police was not the best way to go about teaching students how to
write. I thoroughly enjoyed the Stephen Fry video because I never thought of grammar in
that sense. The purpose of language is to communicate, not to properly place periods, yet
there is still a balance necessary. That entire lesson made me think of writing and language
in a completely new way, to the point where I felt the need to tweet about it. And I am sure
that this reflection and portfolio contains many grammar mistakes, but hopefully you are
able to understand the messages I am trying to convey.

Throughout my entire experience as a TA and in ENGL388V, the most valuable thing I took
away is probably a better sense of what I want to pursue as a career. I am an economics and
communication double major and I have the intention of going to law school, but at the
beginning of the spring semester, I was not quite sure of what field I wanted to go into or
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what, specifically, I wanted to do. However, coming out of ENGL388V I am sure that I want
to teach. I am a basketball coach, a Sunday school teacher, and a TA so I have an idea of
different mediums of teaching. Although it is a lot of planning, frustration, patience, stress,
organization, and effort, it is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.
Knowing that you were able to inspire someone and being inspired by him or her in return
is truly something special. I recall a time when I was coaching and my players were losing
by a lot of points and they did not think they could come back, but I showed them I believed
in them and they ended up winning the game. Its moments like these that make me want to
become a teacher. I decided to put together interests of mine and start working towards
becoming a professor of law. I want to thank Dr. Macri and everyone involved in the UTA
program for this because this semester really opened my eyes.

I have seen incredible growth in myself throughout the semester due to being a TA. I have
always been a procrastinator and having the responsibility of being a TA has forced me to
change that by starting projects ahead of time and managing my time much better. This
portfolio is not due until May 19, so normally, I would have started putting it together May
17 or 18. But I began my portfolio around the 10
th
, which has made compiling my work
throughout the semester much easier. Aside from time management, I have also gained a lot
of confidence in public speaking and speaking to strangers. I am pretty open when I am
comfortable but getting comfortable around strangers has always been an issue for me,
which is something I overcame this semester. I think I figured out my role as a TA in the
classroom as well; I am not the professor but I am not a student either, I am this in-between
person who can really change the dynamic of a classroom.

I enjoyed my experience as a TA so much this semester that I am coming back to TA again
next semester with the same professor. I truly am looking forward to helping out again and I
am excited to work with other TAs. Although I will not have to take an ENGL388V class next
semester, I will miss having discussions with other TAs just like me. Although ENGL388V
was a great experience, I think there is definitely room for improvement that can be
beneficial for students and professors alike. The readings that we are assigned are great and
can be incorporated into TAs work better. Sometimes it feels like the class is reminding us
of what we read but sometimes we could create lesson plans in class that incorporate those
readings. I do love the discussion aspect of ENGL388V, especially when I listen to my fellow
TAs speak of issues they have encountered or ideas that have made their classes better. It
makes me relate their experiences to my own and gives me new ideas as well. Overall, I had
a great time TAing and being a part of ENGL388V this semester and I am excited to come
back as a TA next semester.