Applicant to grad school - Literature/English/Writing
Writing is an essential skill for students at all levels, and for some courses of study it is the only skill that matters. Despite the ubiquitousness of writing in schools, teaching and evaluating writing can be a harrowing process for pedagogues and pupils alike. To cut down the time intensive aspects of writing, automated essay scoring (AES) programs are being rolled out at schools and state educational agencies to grade student work; the eventual goal for the states is to use them to grade standardized writing tests. As sophisticated as the software has become, the reality is that human writing is a subjective, artistic process and these software programs will probably never be able to detect both the strength and nuance in writing that we as teachers crave to see in our students’ writing. My hypothesis is that these programs can, however, assist students with the surface level features of writing if they themselves are allowed to use them in the classroom.
Once I complete my MS in TESOL at Florida International University and my thesis project about embedding this technology into writing curriculum for high level ESOL secondary students, I want to further my education at Stanford’s impressive Literacy, Language, and English Education PhD program. This course of study would allow me to expand my pedagogical knowledge of both theory and practice. I would also learn how to develop my current project to include other cultural groups (especially non-ESOL groups) and work with groups such as the SCALE group to help create programs designed for standardized writing rubrics and the ELL program geared toward the same multi-lingual demographics I represent.
My current research project is the beginning of my ultimate goal: reimagining literacy education. During this past summer, I read articles by Janet Bean, Mark Shermis, and others regarding automated essay scoring software as well as the idea of allowing students to write in their home languages and dialects as a way to bridge gaps between teachers and students. I also participated in a summer FLAS Fellowship and took intensive language classes in Haitian Creole, culminating in two weeks traveling in southern Haiti. Through the combination of my readings and language skills (I am fluent in Spanish), I will conduct a teaching-based research project in which I give my students at Miami Central Senior High the option to write notes and first drafts in their native languages, take them through the steps of transposing their ideas into standard English, and then allow them to input their writing into essay scoring software. Instead of letting the software be the final assessor, I will encourage them to use the notes given by the software to include in their final drafts. My belief is that if students could privately choose and incorporate certain aspects of the feedback they agree with, they will feel more confident than if the feedback were tied to a teacher and a grade, easing their apprehension and eliminating opportunities for teacher bias due to any number of reasons. By attending Stanford, I hope to expand this idea to find application with other student groups and cultural atmospheres I would be unable to find in Miami, especially different English speaking groups. Being in the San Francisco Bay Area would also position me in the orbit of writing software programs such as Turnitin Revision Assistant and the Berkeley WriteLab.
With the creative work of professors such as Sarah Levine, Maren Aukerman, and those affiliated with SCALE, Stanford would be an intellectual fit for my specific research interests and would provide me with the tools to become an effective researcher and leader. Prof. Levine’s previous work with using the language of the radio (concise, direct, and a less-is-more approach) directly coincides with my mantra of “simplicity is the key to brilliance”. Her commitment to helping students and schools from lower income urban settings match my own personal goal of helping the students I have served for the past three years in Miami, especially in regard to writing. Part of the new state writing rubric requires students to use “domain specific vocabulary” to the writing task, and while this makes sense conceptually, I am afraid that they are conditioning students to produce writing that would be easier for AES software to grade without their consent or knowledge. Prof. Levine’s similar but more extensive experience with urban youth at schools where students are not only underfunded but usually uninformed would help me conceptualize possible solutions to that problem in addition to what I already bring to the table. Aside from my main research focus of reconfiguring AES from assessment to revision, I also have an interest in alternative literacy media being used by high school students, especially Wattpad and light novels. They are a very popular source of user generated reading and writing for high school students, and I would like to determine if these types of programs could be augmented to boost the assessment scores of those that use them. Her novel approach to using other media to help develop the reading and writing skills with high adolescents would be crucial to helping me develop research questions and design effective methods to incorporate these programs into regular classroom settings.
At SCALE, I would be able to perform research using Common Core aligned writing rubrics as well as develop questions about them potentially conditioning students to write essays designed for AES software. One of the biggest factors in the Florida State Assessment is the use of “domain specific vocabulary”. Critics of AES software frequently malign the programs as only being effective in detecting grammar and lexical features, including topic specific jargon. Though it would be too early for me to ascertain this feature of the rubric, working with Nicole Renner and SCALE could help me come to more solid conclusions and even possibly assist them with innovations on the traditional rubric format. Writing rubrics and assessments need to be student friendly and not obfuscate the purpose of the writing task; working with both Sarah Levine and SCALE would allow me to be perform the work that would most directly benefit the communities I have come from and want to dedicate my career to.
My other interests revolve around the city of Miami and how to improve the education being offered there. Miami has the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world (59% of residents according to a 2004 UN report), and approximately 75% of the population speaks a language other than English at home (according to an MLA report). Due to the statistical and historical facts of Miami, there are few other places in the U.S. that are as hospitable to multiculturalism in general and bilingualism specifically. In the realm of education, I want to harness that mentality and help Miami become the top location for improvement and innovation in literacy education, especially for those who either speak English as a second language or for those who speak a dialectal form of English, such as African-American Vernacular English or Anglophone Caribbean varieties. One way I am attempting to bring my vision to fruition is by forming and working with a team to bring the National Writing Project back to South Florida to train teachers in writing instruction and show them ways to include more writing in their curriculum. If successful, my aim is to do my part in fostering a collaborative environment between professors and teachers and in creating a two-way stream of student data and research application.
Making systemic improvement requires practitioners who are well-versed in pedagogical theory and practice. A graduate education at Stanford would provide me with the education necessary to mould me into an effective leader in literacy instruction and development. Few other institutions create leaders like Stanford, and because of the unique intellectual atmosphere there, the clearest path for reimagining literacy education goes through Stanford.