Hi Marcia!!
So crazy to hear from you. I can't believe you're in Utah, although your mayor in Salt Lake sounds pretty awesome. I'm teaching full-time at the University of Cincinnati, teaching, that's right...mostly rhet/comp. Writing very little these days, though my 6 month maternity leave ends Thursday. (I should restrict my comments to your post about teaching, sorry.)Jamie--I have students who have NEVER read a book. NEVER. I think the Echo Boomers or Gen Y or TV babies or whatever you want to call them need explicit instructions. They are really incapable of anything resembling problem solving. (Just ask my husband when he answers the phone 5 or 6 times the night before a paper's due with students whining "I need to ask Dr. Hammond how to cite a magazine article.") Thus, models, I find, are helpful as a teaching tool but shouldn't replace literary writing.