Editor's Note, March 2004
Elizabeth Haller
Instructor, Central Michigan University
E-mail: editoraee@hotmail.com
I look out the window of my office at the two feet of snow that seems to have taken up permanent residence and quietly wait for spring to come. In this frigid weather, it is hard to believe that our spring break is a mere two weeks away. Unfortunately, my spring break, like many other teachers, shall not consist of the excitement that most of my students will be experiencing as they travel to warm and exotically named locations to forget about school for awhile. Instead, I shall retreat to the coldness of my computer to work on some last minute planning for enhancing the education of these same students during the remaining two and a half months of the semester.
Though I will not be traveling far from home during the upcoming break, this is an exciting time for me, nonetheless. It is the half-way mark of the semester. Once my students return to class, this is when I start to actually witness their progress. Each of my students is like a puzzle, some are missing a few pieces academically, and as a teacher I am capable of helping them find at least one of those missing pieces. It is up to them to do the bulk of the work, but it is up to me to show them that they are capable of guiding that piece into place. For me, this half-way mark offers the opportunity of seeing the affects of my assistance as well as the affect their budding self-confidence has had on their academic performance. It is an incredibly fulfilling feeling when I see the student who has struggled finally start to believe in their capabilities. Once they can place another piece in the puzzle, they then know they have the ability to find the rest.
While travel will not be a part of my spring break plans, my "break" lay in knowing that I will see, at least in some, the fruits of my efforts upon my students' return--and the ensuing invigoration will at least partially replace what I lack in "forgetting about school for awhile." So whether you are like me and will be staying close to home or if you are fortunate enough to partake in the travel excitement of spring break, please keep AEE close in mind, and enjoy this month's issue.
This month's issue notes the welcome return of Dan Lukiv to AEE. You will remember him from his humorous and insightful five-part series, "Lukiv's Educational Stew," appearing in the August through December 2003 issues (#1 #2 #3 #4 #5). With this issue, Lukiv presents, "Lived School Experiences That Encouraged One Person to Become a Creative Writer: Study II of VI." According to Lukiv, "Study II, part of a series of six methodologically identical studies, explores the same research question as Study I, but through a different participant. The research question? What, if any, experiences in school encouraged one person to become an adult creative writer? Because creative writing stands as a formal ingredient in Language Arts programs, direction for teachers about what sorts of activities can encourage students to view creative writing seriously merits attention."
Glenn Rideout and Dr. Linda McKay provide our second featured article of the issue: "Visioning Strategy and School Effectiveness: A New Paradigm View." This article deals with "the relationship between the process of building and implementing a school vision (as opposed to the vision itself), as reported by principals, and school effectiveness as viewed by students. Two instruments were used, one to measure the visioning strategy process, and the other to measure the views of senior secondary students concerning whether their schools were effective in meeting student-centered outcomes. Because the data came from a broad base including 638 students who attended 33 Public, Separate (Catholic, publicly funded), and Private schools, this study was also able to compare the 'new paradigm' effectiveness of these three groupings of schools."
Our final featured article of the issue, "Internet Chat Language: A Contact Zone in the Composition Classroom," comes from Seema Mukhi. According to Mukhi, "over the past decade, instant messaging has become an integral means of communication between high school and college students, and instant message software has a language, set of rules, and etiquette of its own. We can use and discuss this language in the classroom to foster a meta-awareness in students of how they write, why they write, and why standard English is still important to them. In this paper, I examine the features of Internet chat language and define it as a distinct dialect, argue that this dialect serves as a contact zone that should not be ignored in the classroom, and suggest approaches the English teacher might take to recognize and value this dialect."
Please review our Call for Papers on this site for details on article, fiction, and poetry submission requirements. If you are unsure whether your contribution would be suitable under the terms of our Call for Papers, please send along an inquiry, and I will be happy to respond forthwith.
On a final note, if you are interested in joining our editorial staff, positions are available. E-mail me for more details.
As always, do not forget to check out Grist for the Mill for possible submission ideas.
Enjoy!
Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.
- Web Editor
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