Whatever Floats Your Boat by Lisa Blansett https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj Made with a wink and a smile en-us 2017-08-13 17:06:40 UTC 2026-03-24 15:41:57 UTC hello@padlet.com Question lisa_blansett https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/180837006 What might the "boat challenge" help us understand about teaching writing classes?]]> 2017-08-13 17:11:00 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/180837006 Collaboration is key https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880018 Just as with the boat challenge, the writing classroom is filled with individuals who are uncertain of what they are being asked to do, come in with a "history" with composition and skepticism about working with others (particularly when a grade is involved).  The first goal needs to be to create the trust environment in which they feel safe to try something, make a mistake, and try again. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:19:04 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880018 I would start in pairs to first design the boat, and then combine two teams to see if they could improve upon the two boats to hold more pennies. This pair to group work could function as a metaphor for the benefits of revision. https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880031 2017-08-21 14:19:09 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880031 Important work/thinking/doing doesn't have to feel like "work"... https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880061 2017-08-21 14:19:17 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880061 Even if your boat doesn't float 'the best,' you still made a boat that floats--students can contribute even without expertise or being 'the best' https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880105 2017-08-21 14:19:33 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880105 Learning is messy - https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880163 2017-08-21 14:19:53 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880163 Engaging with the Unknown https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880168 The "boat challenge" helped me understand how a student might deal with the anxiety and thought process going into an unfamiliar situation. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:19:55 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880168 A Boatload of Possibilities https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880194 The boat exercise was important to explore because it demonstrated how multimodal the processes behind creative- and technical- production can be. Students will have to think and build at the same time, and no one of them will approach the same prompt with the same baseline "habits of mind"]]> 2017-08-21 14:20:06 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880194 Always and forever in dialogue https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880203 It helped me understand the impossibility of leading students to a correct answer, an answer that ends that Burkean conversation. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:20:10 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880203 Encourage students to challenge the rules https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880217 2017-08-21 14:20:16 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880217 https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880236 Students shouldn't be striving to write the "perfect paper" during the first draft. Emphasis is on the process. Writing is all about trial and error. Students should feel comfortable experimenting with different writing styles/methods to find their own voice. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:20:25 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880236 Failure/sinking part of the process https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880240 2017-08-21 14:20:27 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880240 We learn by doing. https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880379 2017-08-21 14:21:09 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880379 In class work is not so much about the end product, but the process. https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880395 2017-08-21 14:21:13 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880395 https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880470 People like to work to their own strengths, sometimes reconceptualizing a problem to make it workable within those strengths. This makes possible a lot of valuable contributions, but it's also worth encouraging students to think beyond these. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:21:40 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880470 https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880546 Get students to engage without time to plan so they get past their quality filters.

]]> 2017-08-21 14:22:06 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880546 Different ways of engaging https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880633 In this exercise I learned to keep an eye out for group dynamics and look for the different levels of engagement with the conversation/project. Not everyone is always a dominant voice in the conversation, but that doesn't mean they are not actively engaging. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:22:38 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880633 https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880797 The idea of not knowing what will or won't work until you start writing. Writing as a collaborative project. Trial and error, revision. ]]> 2017-08-21 14:23:32 UTC https://padlet.com/uconnfirstyearwriting/yp91gx1mu6cj/wish/181880797