Dr. Hugh Burns in Class

I must say I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Hugh Burns in class. It is very rare to listen to the people we study, so this was a very unique experience. Dr. Burns had many interesting things to share with us concerning writing, but what I really liked was the whole language arts realm. As a teacher of language arts, it has become my responsibility to teach reading, writing, speaking, and listening; but I should not be the only one held accountable for that in my building (nor should the fellow members of my department).

Every teacher is a teacher of the language arts because we all use speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills in all content areas. If more secondary teachers realized that, our students would be 'rockstars' in their specific discourse communities upon graduation.

I also liked the stories he shared about technology. The evolution was amazing; and what was even more amazing, he was a part of it. I have been thinking a lot about how to properly integrate technology into my classroom, and Dr. Burns seemed to clear some strategies for me. However, he did bring to the realization that we are being watched as well as watching using technology.

Burns only reinforced the audience and purpose model. What are we writing and for whom? That is the ultimate question that needs to be answered, along with how do we teach this to our students and have them realize the importance of the final answers? I think it was very beneficial to hear Dr. Burns speak to us, and I think Klayton will be able to shed a little more light on Burns' philosophies.