The Genre of Multigenre

As the semester starts to wind down (it’s more than halfway through!), my professors are starting to introduce final projects, and projects that I need to complete during my second field experience, which is starting on Monday.

One assignment that I’m particularly looking forward to is an assignment for my EDT 427 class. For this class, I have to write a multigenre paper.

Now, when I first heard about this project at the beginning of the semester, I recall being extraordinarily confused. I’d never heard of a multigenre paper before, but as the semester has gone on, I’ve learned more about it, and I’m really looking forward to writing mine.

The basic premise behind a multigenre paper is to write about a specific idea by utilizing different genres. For example, I could write a piece of dialogue about said topic, and then I could write a poem about the same topic.

What makes a multigenre paper different is how the different genres approach the same topic. When writing in different genres, there’s automatically a shift that occurs, whether it’s in perspective or tone, or any number of things. When these pieces are compiled, it creates a really neat lens to look at a certain topic with.

A picture of some of the different genre
suggestions for my multigenre paper.

Earlier in the semester, I attended a conference at which there was a session on the multigenre paper. During this session, the speaker put up a picture from Cinderella and handed out a different genre to each person. We each had to write about the scene in our specific genre.

The genre I received was lab notes, which is a genre I never would have thought to write in. But putting on this lab notes lens and looking at the picture from a scientific point of view, caused me to analyze Cinderella from a completely new perspective.

After everyone wrote in their specific writing style, some of the audience members shared their writing, and it was, in effect, an example of a multigenre piece written by several different people. This is what really made me interested in writing my multigenre paper.

During my field experiences, I have to pinpoint something I’ve observed and write a multigenre paper on it. When my professor was introducing the topic earlier this week, I couldn’t help but start to think of all the different writing styles I intend to try out for my paper.

A Hidden Gem: The McGuffey Museum

I’ve walked by the McGuffey Museum countless times since coming to Miami. However, yesterday was the first time in my three years here that I entered the building.

A few friends and I were walking on Spring Street yesterday when we decided to make an impromptu visit to the museum. None of us had been there before, but we had always been curious.

To give a little background, William Holmes McGuffey is most known for his creation of McGuffey Readers. These Readers were often used like textbooks in classrooms, and were especially popular in the in the 19^th century, and also in the early part of the 20^th century.

In 1826, McGuffey was hired as a professor at Miami, and he stayed for 10 years. It was during his time here that he wrote the McGuffey Readers.

Photo I took of the Historical Marker outside of the
McGuffey Museum.

The McGuffey Museum is home to artifacts relating to the life of McGuffey, as well as the history of Miami. On our tour yesterday, my friends and I learned so much more than we thought we would about our school.

The museum has several different maps and pictures of what Oxford and campus once looked like, and it was interesting to see if we could guess where certain buildings are now located. It’s incredible how much campus and Oxford have changed over time.

While we were there, we also learned about the evolution of the McGuffey statue that is located in the courtyard area by McGuffey. Before settling on the design of the statue we see today, there were several different plans that had been drawn. In the museum, there’s a picture frame showcasing each of the designs, which was interesting to look at.

Before becoming home to what is now the College of Education, Health & Society, McGuffey Hall housed the McGuffey Elementary Laboratory School, which was both an elementary school and a high school.

The tour guide we had was an incredible resource, and my friends and I were very impressed with his knowledge on Miami and McGuffey. Despite spending an hour in the museum yesterday, I still feel as though there are artifacts I did not get to look at and learn about as thoroughly as I would have liked.

In particular, there is currently an exhibit titled “The Remarkable Stanton’s,” and I wish I would have spent more time looking at this particular exhibit. Robert Stanton was the president of Miami from 1866-1871, and he was the brother-in-law of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Going back to the museum is definitely something I plan on doing so I can learn even more about the campus that I walk every day, because after yesterday, I’m realizing that there is still so much I do not know.

Teaching Avatars: My Experience with TeachLive

As part of my methods block, I was able to utilize a system called TeachLive. TeachLive is a type of software that Miami uses to help teacher candidates practice their classroom management skills in a risk-free environment.

The students are avatars that appear on a screen before the teacher candidate and they will respond to teacher questions, as well as ask questions of their own.

To prepare for my TeachLive experience, I had to come up with a 10-15 minute introductory lesson that would draw on the student’s prior knowledge. Additionally, I had to come up with a way to effectively open the lesson.

For my quick little lesson, I decided to do an introduction to the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. This play lends itself to a quick introduction lesson as it contains an epigraph (a quote, poem, or saying that appears at the beginning of a work to suggest its theme).

Photo I took of one of my peers, Alex Mains, an AYA Math
Education major, during his TeachLive lesson.

In the case of A Raisin in the Sun, the epigraph is a Langston Hughes poem titled “Harlem.” This poem centers around the idea of “a dream deferred” so I was able to use this as a starting point for drawing on prior knowledge.

Standing in front of a screen of five avatar students was definitely a unique experience that was unlike any of my other classroom experiences. Each of the students has their own personality, and within a minute of standing in front of them, it’s quite apparent how to handle each student from a teacher perspective.

I found that I was more nervous for this experience than I was for teaching during field, and I think that is because this was such a new experience.

While I was teaching my lesson, two of my peers and one of my professors were watching me on a screen in a separate room. When I finished my lesson, I was able to talk to them and receive their feedback, in addition to receiving instant feedback from the avatars.

Now that I’ve gone through this experience once, I know that I can improve if I were to do this again since I have a better idea of what to expect.