{"id":849,"date":"2015-09-20T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2015-09-20T15:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849"},"modified":"2015-09-20T11:46:47","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T15:46:47","slug":"reflections-on-interpersonal-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"computer-313841_640\"<\/a>This week was a particularly exciting one on #langchat.\u00a0 The topic of Interpersonal Communication had everyone so engaged that I couldn\u2019t keep up with the rapid-fire pace of the Tweets, especially given the free-for-all format.\u00a0 In fact, Thursday evening\u2019s chat left me wanting more\u2014more insight, more opportunities to reflect, and more time with the amazing professionals that contribute each week to this amazing resource.\u00a0 As a result, I logged on for Saturday morning\u2019s session, too. The question\/answer format of this session was a little easier for me to follow and also gave us an opportunity to begin a discussion on Interpersonal Writing\u2014a topic which never came up on Thursday\u2019s chat. While some contributors pondered whether written communication allows for the negotiation of meaning which takes place in face-to-face conversaton, the ACTFL description<\/a> of the Interpersonal communicative mode clearly includes writing.\u00a0In fact, as some users noted, #langchat is an excellent example of a forum in which there is an \u201cactive negotiation of meaning,\u201d in which \u201cParticipants observe and monitor one another\u2026\u201d and \u201cAdjustments and clarifications are made.\u201d<\/p>\n

As world language teachers, I think that it is vital that we provide our students with opportunities to engage in this same type of written interpersonal communication. After all, while some of our students may never have the opportunity to actually speak to a member of a target culture, but they can all follow native speakers on social media and comment on their Tweets, YouTube videos, Vines and Instagram photos.\u00a0 In fact, many of my students have begun to do so on their own, without any prompting from me.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t get much better than that!<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the prevalence of Learning Management Systems and Google applications makes it very easy for us to develop opportunities for our students to engage in this type of communication in a way that supports our curricular goals.\u00a0 My own district has recently adapted Canvas and their discussion boards are easy to create and evaluate. Each student\u2019s post and replies are grouped together in the \u201cSpeedgrader\u201d and both a \u201cScore\u201d and \u201cComment\u201d box are included so that I can quickly provide feedback and assess each student\u2019s overall contribution.<\/p>\n

Given the user-friendliness of this new system and my own reflection as a result of the #langchat discussion and this blog post<\/a>, I\u2019m planning on incorporating a lot more interpersonal writing into my curriculum this year.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ve included the frequent use of online discussion boards in my annual professional SMART goal. Not only will these assignments provide the students with an opportunity to practice a real-world skill, they also supply an audience for the students\u2019 writing. When I assign a presentational writing task, I am usually the only one who reads their work. By assigning contributions to a discussion board, rather than a paper\/pen writing assignment, I enable the students to receive feedback on the comprehensibility and quality of their messages from their classmates\u2019 comments and questions. An additional advantage of these discussions is that they prepare the students for oral in-class discussions. Because the students have had an opportunity to look up important vocabulary and structures, formulate their opinions, and read others\u2019 ideas, they are more confident in oral discussions on the same or similar topics.<\/p>\n

My first two discussion boards for the year were assigned to my upper-level students who have been watching Entre les Murs.\u00a0 <\/em>In the first, the students discussed whether M. Marin was a good teacher.\u00a0 Each student had to write one post in which she gave her opinion and then reply to two classmates\u2019 posts, as well as to comments and questions on her original post. I used this rubric (Online discussion rubric – Intermediate<\/a>), which I will no doubt modify for future discussions, to assess their contributions. While I was thrilled with the quality of the students\u2019 responses, I wish I would have avoided assigning a due date that was before the end of the film.\u00a0 I did so in order to be able to provide feedback before their summative writing assignment, but many students\u2019 opinions evolved as the film progressed and they were a little frustrated that they couldn\u2019t go back and add their new understandings on the discussion board. The second discussion board was created for the students to share their own \u201cauto-portrait\u201d using the questions provided by M. Marin in the film.\u00a0 While I had originally intended that this be a paper\/pen assignment in order to protect the students\u2019 privacy, when I gave them a choice, the students preferred to use the online forum.\u00a0 Their enthusiasm provides even further evidence of the value of this type of assignment!<\/p>\n

As a result of the positive feedback I\u2019ve received from these students, I\u2019m planning on incorporating discussion boards with my other students, too.\u00a0 This week my French 2 students will be discussing what they like to do when they get together with their friends and my French 3 students will be discussing how our educational system compares to what they have learned about the French educational system.\u00a0 I\u2019ve modified the rubric I created for the upper level students in consideration of the difference in proficiency and task-type. Although I will undoubtedly revise this rubric, this is my first draft:\u00a0Online discussion rubric – Novice<\/a>. I hope that these students will be as enthusiastic about sharing their ideas as the upper level students were!<\/p>\n

I’d love to hear how you are incorporating interpersonal writing into your own classrooms. \u00a0Please share in the Comments box!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week was a particularly exciting one on #langchat.\u00a0 The topic of Interpersonal Communication had everyone so engaged that I couldn\u2019t keep up with the rapid-fire pace of the Tweets, especially given the free-for-all format.\u00a0 In fact, Thursday evening\u2019s chat left me wanting more\u2014more insight, more opportunities to reflect, and more time with the amazing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"yoast_head":"\nReflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week was a particularly exciting one on #langchat.\u00a0 The topic of Interpersonal Communication had everyone so engaged that I couldn\u2019t keep up with the rapid-fire pace of the Tweets, especially given the free-for-all format.\u00a0 In fact, Thursday evening\u2019s chat left me wanting more\u2014more insight, more opportunities to reflect, and more time with the amazing […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Madame's Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shepardwlconsulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-20T15:45:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-20T15:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/computer-313841_640-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"madameshepard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"madameshepard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/\",\"name\":\"Madame's Musings\",\"description\":\"A site about proficiency-based world language instruction\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849\",\"name\":\"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-20T15:45:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-20T15:46:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6fa1e130e8d5cc1a39785d34c4d9e511\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6fa1e130e8d5cc1a39785d34c4d9e511\",\"name\":\"madameshepard\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f083cd3ae4a04748bdda0fb59317df561dcd16a2c20402758e71939c643d0a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f083cd3ae4a04748bdda0fb59317df561dcd16a2c20402758e71939c643d0a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"madameshepard\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/shepardwlconsultant.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shepardwlconsulting\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mmeshep\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings","og_description":"This week was a particularly exciting one on #langchat.\u00a0 The topic of Interpersonal Communication had everyone so engaged that I couldn\u2019t keep up with the rapid-fire pace of the Tweets, especially given the free-for-all format.\u00a0 In fact, Thursday evening\u2019s chat left me wanting more\u2014more insight, more opportunities to reflect, and more time with the amazing […]","og_url":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849","og_site_name":"Madame's Musings","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shepardwlconsulting","article_published_time":"2015-09-20T15:45:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-20T15:46:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/computer-313841_640-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"madameshepard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"madameshepard","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/","name":"Madame's Musings","description":"A site about proficiency-based world language instruction","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849","url":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849","name":"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing - Madame's Musings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-20T15:45:10+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-20T15:46:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6fa1e130e8d5cc1a39785d34c4d9e511"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?p=849#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reflections on Interpersonal Writing"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6fa1e130e8d5cc1a39785d34c4d9e511","name":"madameshepard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f083cd3ae4a04748bdda0fb59317df561dcd16a2c20402758e71939c643d0a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f083cd3ae4a04748bdda0fb59317df561dcd16a2c20402758e71939c643d0a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"madameshepard"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/shepardwlconsultant.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shepardwlconsulting","https:\/\/twitter.com\/mmeshep"],"url":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4SSyG-dH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madameshepard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}