Blog #5 - Reaction Paper

Here is the link to my Reaction Paper on Response to Writing by Richard Beach and Tom Friedrich, One Approach to Guiding Peer Response by Kim Jaxon, and Writing Comments on Students’ Papers by John C. Bean.

For the Final Project, I went over the digital tools list and found some interesting possible ones I could maybe use for my vignette. I have some notes for my vignette and I think that this list is really going to help me develop my vignette further.

Final project

I liked how we discussed our ideas further in class last week and we were able to come up with a theme. What I liked the most about our idea is that we’ll all be able to share something that is unique to each of us.

I am still developing my idea for my vignette. Essentially, I would like to compose a reflective piece where I’ll be sharing part of my experience as a writer. Part of the purpose of me writing this is to inspire other writers. Perhaps to help them believe more in themselves or just inspire them to write.

I'm excited about how we’ll be working on this project together and I wonder how that actual final product will look like.

Regarding the DigiWriMo, I think it would be a great way to gain attention towards our final project. It’s an exciting idea as well. 

Blog # 4

“Bi, Butch, and Bar Dyke: Pedagogical Performances of Class, Gender, and Sexuality” by Michelle Gibson, Martha Marinara, and Deborah Meem & “Voice in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries” by Peter Elbow 

Both essays this week talked about voice.

“Bi, Butch, and Bar Dyke: Pedagogical Performances of Class, Gender, and Sexuality” by Michelle Gibson, Martha Marinara, and Deborah Meem was an essay where the authors got really personal and talked about where they stand in terms of their class, gender, and sexuality. These are all areas that form part of our voice. I liked how the authors came through with a voice that was perceived by me as clear and authentic. They mentioned how their voice in the academia world was different due to what made them who they are. I found this interesting because I’ve always thought about the uniqueness of voice and how it can say so much based on who we are.

The authors didn’t have any problem sharing personal facts about who they were. Their “labels” shaped their voice and they weren’t afraid to say that. They admitted to know that their voice was different than the one in the academia world and I found that inspiring. We are all different and I find that that’s the beauty in diversity. This essay by Gibson, Marinara, and Meem makes me think that we should all bring our voice forward while respecting those that sound different than ours.

The authors mentioned that their backgrounds and the way they lived had played a role into the voice they developed for their academic writing. I liked how they truly showed that who they were was reflected in their writing. This makes their writing authentic. They are not mocking someone else’s voice to fit the standard in the academic world. They are coming as who they are and that is reflected in their writing.

In the essay “Voice in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries” by Peter Elbow it seem to me like he didn’t write towards or against voice but rather for both. I can see what he means when he says that both could be important but I find it really hard to separate the two. Even when I am reading something from an author I don’t know I can sense their voice. Even when that voice is dry and boring, I am able to get that from the reading and in return, it makes me feel a certain way towards the author and what they are saying in the reading. It is not like I can hear their real voice, like when I read something from someone I know, but I can hear their tone and what’s coming through the words they are choosing or the way they are saying what they’re saying.

I think that voice is so connected with writing because for instance, when we read something by a male or a female we tend to, at times, read it differently. We also tend to read things differently when we know something or a lot about the particular author we are reading about. 

Ideas for Final Project

For our final project, I think that the anti-theory idea has some potential. It we elaborate more on ways to expand that idea we could create something really different. What I was not in love with about that idea was the brainstorming we came up with in class. After thinking about it, I thought that we came up with a useful list of genres (narrative, persuasive, expository, poetry etc…) yet it is the same old we’ve been taught for years. These genres are important --- don’t get me wrong, but if we go with that we won’t be creating something different.

Idea #2 is good too but I am not sure that creating lesson plans will satisfy all members of our class. As a writer, I’ll be interested in being part of this project but I won’t feel like I’m truly doing something that connects with me.

Being that idea #3 still needs to be discussed further --- I’ll leave it at that and maybe we can talk more about it in class tonight.

Thinking about something different for this project that I could connect with I thought about creating a book for writers. It could be a section of the original handbook for writers that we talked about or a new one. A book where I would write reflective pieces or prompts, or both… one where I would write about my own experiences as a writer, what I’ve learn… something that can help and inspire younger writers to continue going. Perhaps some of the topics we’ve talked about in class like the comments teachers make on students papers or the importance of grammar could be incorporated in this books. Perhaps this idea can blend with Laura’s idea about the “collaborative narrative story/book”… not sure but it sounds exciting and DIFFERENT.

Looking forward to discussing more of this tonight in class J. 

Blog # 3 - Peter Elbow and Patrick Hartwell

Responding to: Ranking, Evaluating, and Liking: Sorting Out Three Forms of Writing by Peter Elbow and Grammar, Grammars, and The Teaching of Grammar by Patrick Hartwell

From this week’s readings I truly enjoyed Elbow’s essay. In his essay, Elbow talks about three different acts we call assessment. He focuses on talking about Raking, Evaluating, and Liking. By ranking he means “the act of summing up one’s judgment of a performance or person into a single, holistic number or score.” By evaluating he means “the act of expressing one’s judgment of a performance or person by posting out strengths and weaknesses of different features or dimensions.” He then says that “evaluation requires going beyond a first response that may be nothing but a kind of ranking (“I like it” or “This is better than that”), and instead looking carefully enough at a performance or person to make distinctions between parts or features or criteria.”

Elbow says that if you take the time to get to know your students as the people they are, liking their writing will be easier. As he says this, I think about the importance between having a connection with your students. I cannot imagine having to grade papers from someone I literally don’t know. It is important to have a relationship with your students so that understanding their writing becomes easier. What Elbow talks about, makes me think back about professors I’ve had when I was attending Essex and Union County College whom had no idea who I was. They wrote “awkward” on my papers and didn’t really give me direction as to where to go from there. They didn’t know what I was trying to say and worst yet, I didn’t know what they meant by “awkward”. It wasn’t until I experienced professors starting to build relationships with me that I felt like they were understanding or liking my writing. Elbow also says that the process of evaluation permits us to make open statements about a piece of writing. Whereas to rank, is to be forced to translate those discriminations into a single number. I agree with what Elbow says because while grades are important it is more important to be able to communicate about pieces of writing rather than to just receive a rank without further conversation or connection.

Hartwell’s essay was a little less enjoyable for me to read. I felt it was dense and not straightforward like Elbow’s essay was. Hartwell talks about grammar and while I think is important, I feel like when a student is composing a piece of writing other aspects are more important than commenting on their grammar. Students should be taught grammar early in their academics. This can help them in their writing but I feel like as they become more experienced writers, grammar should be secondary in their writing. Their focus should be more in expanding their ideas and what they are trying to express in their writing. Rather than fixing their grammar when they are not done yet saying what they want to say in their piece of writing.

I think that perhaps the best way to address this grammar issues is maybe by working on it by sections. Normally, when we are drafting we are focused on the content, the ideas we are trying to express rather than if our grammar is correct. Therefore, I think that grammar should be part of the editing stage rather than the revision stage. 

Ideas for Final Project

Although I am still not sure about the possibilities for our final project I feel like I’m gearing towards the Handbook for Writers as our final project. We do need to keep in mind that with have both teachers and writers in our classroom so this handbook needs to serve both parties if we decide to go with it. 

I don’t think that this is complicated – I almost envision it as having it be sort of like a textbook that’s broken down into chapters and each chapter is approaching different topics/audience. Our handbook could have sections for writers and sections for teachers. 

I also liked the idea Laura had about the YouTube videos. I am not a camera person but perhaps videos with only a voice or graphics could be doable a helpful for our audience. 

This handbook for writers/teachers could be an online source that is also printed. This way, perhaps, we could find a way for everyone to put their own stamp on the handbook and tie it all together in each section.

Blog #2 - Responding to Student Writing by Sommers and On Reflection by Yancey

Responding to Student Writing by Sommers and On Reflection by Yancey

Sommers’ essay talked about comments teachers write in students papers. One of the first things that caught my attention about this essay was when it was stated: “we comment on student writing because we believe that it is necessary for us to offer assistance to student writers when they are in the process of composing a text, rather than after the text has been completed.” When I read this, I thought about classes I’ve taken and where the professor has actually shared how it is hard for them to comment on unfinished drafts because they don’t know how could they comment on something that is not yet finished. The professor shared this with the purpose of letting us know that the comments we were going to be reading from the professor were more to help us develop our drafts rather than to make us change what we were trying to say. The professor knew that what we were trying to say was still being developed. Therefore, the professor encouraged us to develop our thoughts and ideas through the comments. I feel like comments on student’s drafts, without a conversation or explanation, could be confusing for a student because they won’t see the reasoning behind the comments and could feel lost when reading them.

In this essay it was also stated that: “sometimes the students do not understand the purpose behind their teachers’ comments and take these comments very literally. At other times students understand the comments but the teacher has misread the text and the comments, unfortunately, are not applicable.” This made me think about the importance of having a relationship with the students. I feel like when comments are dry on a paper without further conversation about them, they leave a lot of room for interpretation. It could never be clear what is the teacher trying to say with the comments or what is the student trying to say in their draft.

Sommers later stated that students admitted having great difficulty with the vague directives the teachers were giving them in their comments. The students stated that when a teacher writes in the margins or an end comment, “choose precise language,” or “think more about your audience,” revising becomes a guessing game.” I find it ironic how the teachers ask constantly for students to be specific about what they are saying yet their comments are vague. I feel like this does not help the student develop their writing or learn anything about it. Instead, it creates confusion and a desire to write what the teacher wants if the student is able to figure it out rather than to write something the student is content with.

Yancey’s essay is about many theories that focused their study on reflection when composing. I started reading this essay and started to just take in the information in very smoothly but when I read “reflection has played but a small role in this history of composing.” I found this statement very disappointing. As a writer, I value reflection. If I don’t reflect on anything that has to do with what I am writing, then what’s the purpose of me writing anything at all? In my experience as a writer, I’ve found that when I reflect about what I am writing I am able to not only develop my pieces further but I am able to learn more in the process. Whether I am learning about me as a writer or about what I am writing, I am still learning and that is valuable. I valued when it was stated: “When we reflect, we call upon the cognitive, the affective, the intuitive, putting these into play with each other: to help us understand how something completed looks later, how it compares with what has come before, how it seems stated or implicit criteria, our own, those of other.”

Overall, both article stated important topics when it came to writing. The comments that teachers write on students papers form great part of the composing process as well as the importance in reflection when composing.