As I promised yesterday, I wanted to post on how the writing process is messier than the prewriting, drafting, revision, proofreading, and review rubrics may make it seem at first glance. As I noted in the last post, the theory of process writing was developed out of the process taught by Greek and Roman rhetoricians to would be rhetors--that is, those who wanted to learn to use rhetoric. As it came into being in the 1970s and 1980s, process writing was seen as the panacea for all writing ills. While it can help you solve a host of writing problems and improve the efficiency of your writing process, it turned out that few writers actually follow the step-by-step process folks were taught to teach. This is especially true of successful, professional writers.
When folks began actually studying the processes used by profession writers, here's what we found:
1) Professional writers write regularly, usually on a daily basis. They set up a schedule to write and usually try to go for production of a set number of publishable words per day. Often, they draft for one to two hours a day, and they reserve the rest of their time for other aspects of the writing process. Indeed, many writers will get antsy if they don't follow their writing schedule.
2) Professional writers consider the most difficult aspect of the writing process the drafting stage. When they set up a writing schedule, they reserve their most productive time--my time is early in the morning, but many folks draft best late at night--for getting words on paper. When they do this work many strive to find a time will little or no distraction. I know more than a few blog writers, for instance, who draft early in the morning before spouses and kids wake up.
3) Professional writers spend a lot of time on revision, but their final prose is often governed by the prose they write during the drafting stage. In other words, they often revise and even proofread during the drafting stage. That is, as they find themselves stuck, some writers will move on from the section where they are stuck to a section of a text with which they feel more confident. Some writers will get stuck and move into review of what they've already written as a means of getting further ideas; and, as they move through what they've written, they'll often take the time to spell or grammar check. In any event, the movement from drafting, to getting stuck, to review or revision, and then back to the section on which they are stuck is part of a set, conscious process which is followed with almost a religious fervor.
4) Many of new ideas "flow" from areas already written, and many writers will start or end a writing session by reviewing (re-reading) what they have just written. Often this review dredges up new ideas to add into the writing.
5) Professional writers aren't afraid to cut. One motto which comes up again and again is: "The most powerful end of the pencil isn't the lead; it's the eraser."
6) Another motto which one hears again and again is: "Good writing is re-writing." However, this rewriting is usually set into a session at a time different from drafting.
6) Professional writers aren't afraid to move text around. If a section of a text isn't "working" where it is, writers often cut, paste, and smooth out the transitions rather than discard. They look for opportunities to improve their text by moving a section or by incorporating a section written for another project.
7) Professional writers try to have a plan for each writing session. They end one day's writing session with a review and try make a plan for where they'll start the next session. Most write down where they'll start. Some don't. In either case, they're trying to limit the time spent fumbling for a starting point.
8) Professional writers schedule in specific times (sessions) for research, blocking out new projects (texts), and playing with angles and different approaches. They will do the same for proofreading, but often they don't schedule different sessions for revision, considering revision part of the drafting stage.
9) Professional writers write, and they know how they write. They study how others write, and they work to pick up tricks to make their own process easier. This sounds trite, but one of the things which was found when folks began studying how successful writers write is that successful writers don't by necessity like writing, but they do write regularly and often and in various genres. They practice the craft.
10) Professional writers let their subconscious do work for them. Rather than trying to force a creative session, many successful writers will often just move on to another aspect of the writing process and let their sub-conscious work on the problem which has them stuck. They'll schedule enough time that they can sleep on a problem, let their subconscious come up with a solution, and implement the solution in the next writing session.
11) Most professional writers keep several projects going at once, and they move between these projects as they get stuck on one.
Student writers can learn a lot about process from these "post process" studies of successful writers. Think about the following hints:
1) Pay attention to your own writing process. Learn how you write and develop a process which plays to your streghts.
2) Break large writing projects down into smaller writing sessions. In doing your WPA outcomes inventory, for example, you'll be writing and revising on a regular basis, but you'll be paying attention to writing on individual bullets. Over the course, you'll end up writing a tremendous amount, and the writing will be pretty solid. Why? Because you'll have thought about, revised, and proofread each bullet several times. This same process will work for your senior portfolio, the one which will help you get a job.
3) Figure out when you're at your most productive, and schedule drafting of new material for your most productive and creative.
4) At the end of each writing session, review what you've done and figure out a specific job for the next session.
5) Keep your writing sessions short. Rather than try to finish a paper in one evening, start earlier and give yourself the chance to work in one and two hour increments.
6) If you start earlier and write in shorter sessions, you can give your unconscious a chance to do much of the creative work for you; but, you have to allow time for such incubation to work.
7) Focus on one aspect of writing at a time. Recent work on productivity has proven that multitasking results in less and worse work than does uni-tasking. I'm firmly convinced, though I don't have the research to back it up, that writer's block, particularly among students, comes from trying to cram too many of the steps of writing into drafting.
Finally, I wanted to take a moment and point out how many of the things we found out about successful writers apply to other folks who create a given product on a regular basis. Many of you program, design games, implement network security protocols, etc., and you can speak to how productive work in these area carry over (or doesn't) into your own experience. I encourage you to start a thread on the Q&A where you can discuss how you write, work, and maintain productivity.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Rhetoric, Discourse Communities, and What Makes Writing Good
Writing involves you in producing a product. The product is called a text. Now texts can be approached and understood differently via any of the nodes on the author/audience/message triangle. Like the whole author/audience/message triangle and the rhetorical situation it models, texts exist in culture, community, and society. Culture, community, and society are subtly different ways of thinking about groups.
Communities are groups which come together for various purposes. Those of us who study writing spend a lot of time talking about discourse communities. At the simplest level, discourse communities are groups of folks who share a discourse or conversation. The discourse can be oral, written, printed, digitized, etc. Folks may or may not meet in order to share a discourse. Those of us in this class constitute a discourse community. We share guidelines to make talking to one another easier, things like this blog, email, or the Q&A section of the class blackboard site. We share expectations about the subject matter and content of our discourse. Think, for instance, how odd it would be if I suddenly started sending you posts about, say, sailing. We share expectations about what constitutes a reasonable investment of time in this discourse. Would you, for instance, accept ten emails about writing a day, all on different aspects of writing and requiring, in sum, several hours to process? There are discourses, like novels, newspapers, trade journals, RSS feeds, etc., where such an investment of time and energy pay back and are expected. You get the idea.
A discourse community is a group which comes together to hold a conversation and shares expectations about matters such as content, format, kinds and numbers of communications, ideas of evidence, a power structure among its members, genres in which communication will happen, etc. et etc.
Discourse communities are often governed by the attitudes of the societies in which they are embedded. Societies are groups of communities. These various communities share to some degree experiences, knowledge, rituals, technologies (ritualized ways of doing things), tools, and ways of looking at and understanding the world. For example, consider the American society. We share a government, a technological infrastructure, many (but not the same) attitudes, etc.
Now, think for a moment about how our discourse community is embedded in and governed by our society. We come together within an institution--the college--which reflects and is governed by many of the attitudes of society. Education as a means of obtaining and improving one's social status is a good example, but others would include how this class is structured, the basic notion of student and teacher, our roles...I could go one, but one last word about society: many times, when you talk about culture--the American culture, for instance--what you're really talking about is society. Culture is best thought of as the world view, knowledge base, and practices shared by a community or society. Cultures can interpenetrate different societies, but a society would be impossible to construct without, at some level, a shared base of cultural practice.
OK, here's the breakdown so far: communication is limited by the accepted practices of the society in which it takes place. Most communication happens among specific subgroups within a society called discourse communities, and discourse communities develop a set of shared expectations and practices--that is, a culture specific to that discourse community. Write if you have questions, as you just got thrown an overview of the basic terms in the sociology of communication.
What does all this have to do with good writing? For a hint, take a moment and read the following quote: "Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, 'It depends.' And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is" (Kenneth G. Wilson, usage writer).
The reason why professors shouldn't offer easy answers for what constitutes good writing is these answers are specific to the rules of discourse and society in which the writing is embedded. What constitutes good writing depends on the culture of the discourse community in which the writing takes place, and--most importantly--it depends on the rhetorical situation in which the writing takes place.
Good writing is, hence, a relative term. What is good writing for the author may not be
good writing to their audience. Good writing in one discourse community may not be good writing in another. Good writing in one society usually isn't good writing in another.
Keeping all of the above in mind, my own working definition of what constitutes good writing is defined from the author's point of view on the rhetorical triangle. That is, good writing is that which effectively accomplishes the author's intended goals. Notice this definition still is relative to the rhetorical situation, discourse community, and social expectations in which it takes place, but I can imagine a rhetorical situation where I wasn't a member of my audience's discourse community and didn't share the culture or society of the person with whom I want to communicate and where I am still able to achieve my intended goals.
From the author's perspective, all that matters are intentions and goals, that is, your purpose. This is another reason we have the notion of the discourse community. It makes our lives as author's easier. It's easier to learn the practices and assumptions of the discourse communities of which we are a member than it is to learn the practices and assumptions of every person with whom we want to communicate. If we have a good idea of the expectations of the discourse community with whom we want to communicate, we can cubbyhole this a whole set of readers. Because people are endlessly variable, we won't understand well enough to know exactly how each member will interpret us, but, by-in-large, we will know well enough to do what we intend with the audiences as a whole.
Communities are groups which come together for various purposes. Those of us who study writing spend a lot of time talking about discourse communities. At the simplest level, discourse communities are groups of folks who share a discourse or conversation. The discourse can be oral, written, printed, digitized, etc. Folks may or may not meet in order to share a discourse. Those of us in this class constitute a discourse community. We share guidelines to make talking to one another easier, things like this blog, email, or the Q&A section of the class blackboard site. We share expectations about the subject matter and content of our discourse. Think, for instance, how odd it would be if I suddenly started sending you posts about, say, sailing. We share expectations about what constitutes a reasonable investment of time in this discourse. Would you, for instance, accept ten emails about writing a day, all on different aspects of writing and requiring, in sum, several hours to process? There are discourses, like novels, newspapers, trade journals, RSS feeds, etc., where such an investment of time and energy pay back and are expected. You get the idea.
A discourse community is a group which comes together to hold a conversation and shares expectations about matters such as content, format, kinds and numbers of communications, ideas of evidence, a power structure among its members, genres in which communication will happen, etc. et etc.
Discourse communities are often governed by the attitudes of the societies in which they are embedded. Societies are groups of communities. These various communities share to some degree experiences, knowledge, rituals, technologies (ritualized ways of doing things), tools, and ways of looking at and understanding the world. For example, consider the American society. We share a government, a technological infrastructure, many (but not the same) attitudes, etc.
Now, think for a moment about how our discourse community is embedded in and governed by our society. We come together within an institution--the college--which reflects and is governed by many of the attitudes of society. Education as a means of obtaining and improving one's social status is a good example, but others would include how this class is structured, the basic notion of student and teacher, our roles...I could go one, but one last word about society: many times, when you talk about culture--the American culture, for instance--what you're really talking about is society. Culture is best thought of as the world view, knowledge base, and practices shared by a community or society. Cultures can interpenetrate different societies, but a society would be impossible to construct without, at some level, a shared base of cultural practice.
OK, here's the breakdown so far: communication is limited by the accepted practices of the society in which it takes place. Most communication happens among specific subgroups within a society called discourse communities, and discourse communities develop a set of shared expectations and practices--that is, a culture specific to that discourse community. Write if you have questions, as you just got thrown an overview of the basic terms in the sociology of communication.
What does all this have to do with good writing? For a hint, take a moment and read the following quote: "Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, 'It depends.' And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is" (Kenneth G. Wilson, usage writer).
The reason why professors shouldn't offer easy answers for what constitutes good writing is these answers are specific to the rules of discourse and society in which the writing is embedded. What constitutes good writing depends on the culture of the discourse community in which the writing takes place, and--most importantly--it depends on the rhetorical situation in which the writing takes place.
Good writing is, hence, a relative term. What is good writing for the author may not be
good writing to their audience. Good writing in one discourse community may not be good writing in another. Good writing in one society usually isn't good writing in another.
Keeping all of the above in mind, my own working definition of what constitutes good writing is defined from the author's point of view on the rhetorical triangle. That is, good writing is that which effectively accomplishes the author's intended goals. Notice this definition still is relative to the rhetorical situation, discourse community, and social expectations in which it takes place, but I can imagine a rhetorical situation where I wasn't a member of my audience's discourse community and didn't share the culture or society of the person with whom I want to communicate and where I am still able to achieve my intended goals.
From the author's perspective, all that matters are intentions and goals, that is, your purpose. This is another reason we have the notion of the discourse community. It makes our lives as author's easier. It's easier to learn the practices and assumptions of the discourse communities of which we are a member than it is to learn the practices and assumptions of every person with whom we want to communicate. If we have a good idea of the expectations of the discourse community with whom we want to communicate, we can cubbyhole this a whole set of readers. Because people are endlessly variable, we won't understand well enough to know exactly how each member will interpret us, but, by-in-large, we will know well enough to do what we intend with the audiences as a whole.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Writing Process
In previous posts about process, I've covered the notion of Kaizen and the writer (you) as an author in the process of becoming a better writer. In these posts, I encouraged you to think about writing and process from the perspective of developing a process through which you can become a better writer. The process I'm encouraging through assignments is that of taking an inventory of your understanding of the skills and knowledge covered in the WPA outcomes and adding to this assessment as your knowledge and use of skills improves. There's another, equally important way to think about writing and process.
Several years ago, those of us who teach composition rediscovered another idea the Greeks had visited first, namely, that of trying to describe the various stages a speaker or writer goes through as they produce a text. The Greek and Roman version of this process was called the Canons of Rhetoric. The modern version developed from these canons is called "The Writing Process" or the "Process Theory of Writing."
Modern process theory encourages writers to see the value of breaking the task of writing down into a specific set of ordered tasks and devoting their full attention to each task. It teaches various strategies for tackling each task and encourages the writer to find the strategies which work best for him or her. The standard division is as follows:
Prewriting--I've mentioned this step in previous posts and in the syllabus. In this step, you do the work needed prior to beginning to draft your text. You decide on what topic you'll write on. You decide which audience you'll write for. You decided on how you will develop your topic. You figure out what you can say. You figure out the order in which to present your ideas and/or to develop them. One reason I have you writing in your individual, metadiscourse blogs is to help you make prewriting a conscious part of your writing process, and I'll be suggesting tactics for answering prewriting questions, doing an audience analysis, discovering what you can say, and organizing your writing.
Drafting--This step involves you in just getting the your ideas down on paper. Often it's the hardest step for beginning writers, and it's where verbal constipation can occur, that is, if you try to cram all the other steps in writing into drafting.
Revision--In this step you move through multiple drafts of your text looking at various aspects of your text. You make sure the text uses the right tone for your audience. You make sure it strikes the right balance between formality and informality. You think about changes to your organization. You look for places to add an example, evidence, an illustration, a story, or further evidence. You cut out places where you repeat. In short, you make changes to content.
Proofreading/editing--One edits another's paper. One proofreads one own. In this step, you look at grammar, usage, and spelling. It's here where you tackle surface level issues which don't have anything to do with content. Overtime, you develop a set of issues for which you know you have to look. Keeping an error log, that is, a list of your frequent errors in usage, spelling, and grammar is one of the tricks of the trade. It helps you keep an index of all the issues for which you have to look. Issues drop out as you figure out how to recognize and fix them, and they are added as your writing process changes, introducing more chances for new errors.
Review--In this step, you take your product or text, and you judge what you've done, what tactics worked and which didn't. In the Rhetorical Canons, there used to be a canon for rhetorical memory. Literally, this was your memory of tricks of writing and speaking which had worked in the past, tricks you could use in producing the text you're working on currently. By making it a conscious step to add to your rhetorical memory, to review your texts and their effectiveness, you develop a repertoire or a library of ways to write (and not to write).
This division makes the notion of the writing process seem very straightforward. "Follow these steps, and you'll produce good writing." It turns out, however, the division of writing into the steps above is useful as a rubric, but most real writers follow a more messy actual process. The upshot? Learn the terms of the writing process. Think about how they apply to the processes you use to produce texts. Become especially aware of places where you can make a simple change to your process by adding, say, a conscious step in which you figure out your organization prior to writing; but, don't try to slavishly follow rubric above. It can be done, but it's a recipe for frustration. Most on how to use the writing process rubric to improve your writing in tomorrow's post.
Several years ago, those of us who teach composition rediscovered another idea the Greeks had visited first, namely, that of trying to describe the various stages a speaker or writer goes through as they produce a text. The Greek and Roman version of this process was called the Canons of Rhetoric. The modern version developed from these canons is called "The Writing Process" or the "Process Theory of Writing."
Modern process theory encourages writers to see the value of breaking the task of writing down into a specific set of ordered tasks and devoting their full attention to each task. It teaches various strategies for tackling each task and encourages the writer to find the strategies which work best for him or her. The standard division is as follows:
Prewriting--I've mentioned this step in previous posts and in the syllabus. In this step, you do the work needed prior to beginning to draft your text. You decide on what topic you'll write on. You decide which audience you'll write for. You decided on how you will develop your topic. You figure out what you can say. You figure out the order in which to present your ideas and/or to develop them. One reason I have you writing in your individual, metadiscourse blogs is to help you make prewriting a conscious part of your writing process, and I'll be suggesting tactics for answering prewriting questions, doing an audience analysis, discovering what you can say, and organizing your writing.
Drafting--This step involves you in just getting the your ideas down on paper. Often it's the hardest step for beginning writers, and it's where verbal constipation can occur, that is, if you try to cram all the other steps in writing into drafting.
Revision--In this step you move through multiple drafts of your text looking at various aspects of your text. You make sure the text uses the right tone for your audience. You make sure it strikes the right balance between formality and informality. You think about changes to your organization. You look for places to add an example, evidence, an illustration, a story, or further evidence. You cut out places where you repeat. In short, you make changes to content.
Proofreading/editing--One edits another's paper. One proofreads one own. In this step, you look at grammar, usage, and spelling. It's here where you tackle surface level issues which don't have anything to do with content. Overtime, you develop a set of issues for which you know you have to look. Keeping an error log, that is, a list of your frequent errors in usage, spelling, and grammar is one of the tricks of the trade. It helps you keep an index of all the issues for which you have to look. Issues drop out as you figure out how to recognize and fix them, and they are added as your writing process changes, introducing more chances for new errors.
Review--In this step, you take your product or text, and you judge what you've done, what tactics worked and which didn't. In the Rhetorical Canons, there used to be a canon for rhetorical memory. Literally, this was your memory of tricks of writing and speaking which had worked in the past, tricks you could use in producing the text you're working on currently. By making it a conscious step to add to your rhetorical memory, to review your texts and their effectiveness, you develop a repertoire or a library of ways to write (and not to write).
This division makes the notion of the writing process seem very straightforward. "Follow these steps, and you'll produce good writing." It turns out, however, the division of writing into the steps above is useful as a rubric, but most real writers follow a more messy actual process. The upshot? Learn the terms of the writing process. Think about how they apply to the processes you use to produce texts. Become especially aware of places where you can make a simple change to your process by adding, say, a conscious step in which you figure out your organization prior to writing; but, don't try to slavishly follow rubric above. It can be done, but it's a recipe for frustration. Most on how to use the writing process rubric to improve your writing in tomorrow's post.
Rhetoric, Kaizen & Process, Take Two
Now you are getting your head around the basic elements of communications---the sender, the message, the receiver, noise, and feedback, it's time to talk some down and dirty about how to improve your writing. The basic notion of how to make improvements in any process (like writing), can be found in the industrial management philosophy of Kaizen.
If you do a quick google of "Kaizen," you'll learn it's the industrial management philosophy which led to Japan being the technological and industrial powerhouse it is. This way of approaching process brings together the best of Western ideas about motion study and efficiency and Japanese notions of how communities and individuals work. It's one of a handful of the most powerful ideas to emerge from the 20th C, and it came into being at the end of WWII.
The US wanted to build a working democracy out of the wreckage of Japan at the end of WWII. Japanese industry was geared up for war, and the US had learned from how it had handled Germany at the end of WWI that for democracy to work, you had to have a certain amount of wealth flowing through out a viable economy; so, the US sent in some of our best industrial engineers to help Japan to build a consumer industrial base.
These folks were well grounded in how to set up a factory to mass produce, but they didn't have a clue as to how Japanese culture functions. The upshot was they tried to impose the latest 1930s/'40s motion and process theory and failed miserably. Japanese culture sees work holistically. It tends to see the individual as part of a community, and the function of work not so much as a means of producing a product but as a means of maintaining the viability of the community and the pride and sense of status of the individual within the community. Luckily, the Japanese were able to work with the well intentioned Americans to come up with a theory of industrial process which combined the best of both ways of working.
From the US, they took the notion of process, that is, when you do something over and over (like writing a sentence, paragraph, or email), you tend to follow the same steps and tend to need the same stuff. If you break down such repeatable activities into set steps, you can focus on one aspect of the process at a time and work to improve its efficiency. You might, for instance, make sure the tools you need for a task are at your workstation instead of stored across the room, saving you the time needed to get up, loose your train of thought, and go across the room to get a pencil or keyboard. The idea is as you improve the efficiency of the individual steps, you improve the overall efficiency of the process and your ability to compete.
Now American thought tended to think of process efficiency as a means to an end. You get a factory up to a certain level of productivity per man hour, and you can compete. The Japanese had the brilliant insight---based on Zen notions of work based meditation--that one never reaches a perfect process; instead, one can just improve the process at hand; but, and this is a big but, you can make small, continuous improvements to whichever processes is in place. Literally, one's focus isn't on the end product, but on the doing or the work necessary to a task. You practice and perfect the doing of a task, not the product of the task. The upshot is they created the notion of continual small improvements to process or Kaizen. It's quite literally a continuous focus of improving how the task is done and assuming that a good process will produce a good product which can compete.
There are some additional flourishes. Kaizen rewards workers who come up with a means to improve how their task is done. It creates time in a production schedule to have regular meetings of the workers, management, and sales folks to discuss process and product. The idea is everyone needs to understand the big picture, so they can understand their part. In any event, small groups meet to make decisions about which improvements to process to implement and to judge if a change in process is an improvement or not. There's also the notion of low hanging fruit vs. high hanging fruit. That is, one always begins work on a process from the process already in place. This process already allows you to receive some gain or, to use the Kaizen metaphor, pick the lowest hanging fruit. As you make improvements, you add to your gains by being able to pick the lowest hanging fruit and some higher hanging fruit. The upshot is your return in the investment of improving process is always increased return.
Kaizen can be applied to any process, from coding to writing to your morning routine. Let's talk about writing. You currently use a series of processes when you write. As you write and revise your inventory of WPA Outcomes, think how you produce writing currently and give these processes your attention. Break writing down into the steps you follow as you produce. For instance, how do you proofread? How do you draft? Do you build in time for revision? We'll be discussing how composition and rhetoric has broken down the task of writing and making speeches, but my goal here is to just give you some language for thinking about the processes you use as you create and write. I encourage you to think about processes in the work you do or want to do. Once you begin noticing the steps you follow and can accept the notion of improving how you produce through making small, continuous changes in these processes, you'll be half-way to becoming a writer.
Write if you have questions, comments, or observations.
If you do a quick google of "Kaizen," you'll learn it's the industrial management philosophy which led to Japan being the technological and industrial powerhouse it is. This way of approaching process brings together the best of Western ideas about motion study and efficiency and Japanese notions of how communities and individuals work. It's one of a handful of the most powerful ideas to emerge from the 20th C, and it came into being at the end of WWII.
The US wanted to build a working democracy out of the wreckage of Japan at the end of WWII. Japanese industry was geared up for war, and the US had learned from how it had handled Germany at the end of WWI that for democracy to work, you had to have a certain amount of wealth flowing through out a viable economy; so, the US sent in some of our best industrial engineers to help Japan to build a consumer industrial base.
These folks were well grounded in how to set up a factory to mass produce, but they didn't have a clue as to how Japanese culture functions. The upshot was they tried to impose the latest 1930s/'40s motion and process theory and failed miserably. Japanese culture sees work holistically. It tends to see the individual as part of a community, and the function of work not so much as a means of producing a product but as a means of maintaining the viability of the community and the pride and sense of status of the individual within the community. Luckily, the Japanese were able to work with the well intentioned Americans to come up with a theory of industrial process which combined the best of both ways of working.
From the US, they took the notion of process, that is, when you do something over and over (like writing a sentence, paragraph, or email), you tend to follow the same steps and tend to need the same stuff. If you break down such repeatable activities into set steps, you can focus on one aspect of the process at a time and work to improve its efficiency. You might, for instance, make sure the tools you need for a task are at your workstation instead of stored across the room, saving you the time needed to get up, loose your train of thought, and go across the room to get a pencil or keyboard. The idea is as you improve the efficiency of the individual steps, you improve the overall efficiency of the process and your ability to compete.
Now American thought tended to think of process efficiency as a means to an end. You get a factory up to a certain level of productivity per man hour, and you can compete. The Japanese had the brilliant insight---based on Zen notions of work based meditation--that one never reaches a perfect process; instead, one can just improve the process at hand; but, and this is a big but, you can make small, continuous improvements to whichever processes is in place. Literally, one's focus isn't on the end product, but on the doing or the work necessary to a task. You practice and perfect the doing of a task, not the product of the task. The upshot is they created the notion of continual small improvements to process or Kaizen. It's quite literally a continuous focus of improving how the task is done and assuming that a good process will produce a good product which can compete.
There are some additional flourishes. Kaizen rewards workers who come up with a means to improve how their task is done. It creates time in a production schedule to have regular meetings of the workers, management, and sales folks to discuss process and product. The idea is everyone needs to understand the big picture, so they can understand their part. In any event, small groups meet to make decisions about which improvements to process to implement and to judge if a change in process is an improvement or not. There's also the notion of low hanging fruit vs. high hanging fruit. That is, one always begins work on a process from the process already in place. This process already allows you to receive some gain or, to use the Kaizen metaphor, pick the lowest hanging fruit. As you make improvements, you add to your gains by being able to pick the lowest hanging fruit and some higher hanging fruit. The upshot is your return in the investment of improving process is always increased return.
Kaizen can be applied to any process, from coding to writing to your morning routine. Let's talk about writing. You currently use a series of processes when you write. As you write and revise your inventory of WPA Outcomes, think how you produce writing currently and give these processes your attention. Break writing down into the steps you follow as you produce. For instance, how do you proofread? How do you draft? Do you build in time for revision? We'll be discussing how composition and rhetoric has broken down the task of writing and making speeches, but my goal here is to just give you some language for thinking about the processes you use as you create and write. I encourage you to think about processes in the work you do or want to do. Once you begin noticing the steps you follow and can accept the notion of improving how you produce through making small, continuous changes in these processes, you'll be half-way to becoming a writer.
Write if you have questions, comments, or observations.
Top 10 Pieces of Student Software
Below find a link to Lifehaker's recommended tools for students. I'm pointing you to it because of the bibliography bit, but there are other useful, free tools.
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-back-to-school-tools-for-the-organized-student-296587.php
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-back-to-school-tools-for-the-organized-student-296587.php
Bibliography & Work Cited Generators
Today in class, I mentioned software which helps you research or, at the least, generate a good bib or work cited page. Here's a link to a short article a colleague wrote on these tools:
http://webtoolsforlearners.blogspot.com/2008/01/using-styles-for-academic-papers-zotero.html
http://webtoolsforlearners.blogspot.com/2008/01/using-styles-for-academic-papers-zotero.html
Please enter your blog address on the class list.
If you've created your blog, been working on posts to it, and have entered your blog address on the class list, then please disregard this post. If you haven't updated the class with with your blog address, then read on:
Since the class to date has focused on genres of writing, like notes, summaries, writing responses, etc., which help students learn and professionals become better at their jobs, setting up a blog and making sure others (and I) can see your notes, responses, etc. and learn from what you've written is an essential aspect of this class. If you need help getting your blog started, write. If you're just procrastinating. Get on the ball.
In a week or two, I'll have to make decisions about who to keep on the class roll, and one of the measures I'll use is who has done the reading and work to date. If I can't visit your blog and see the work you've done, that is, if you haven't created a blog and updated the class list with your current address. I have no way of knowing if you're doing the reading and work for the class, and I'll have to conclude you are on the path to failing the class. I drop students who are failing the class, not attending, and/or not doing the work. It ends up being better for them, and it ends up creating a better learning environment for the folks who remain on the roll.
Since the class to date has focused on genres of writing, like notes, summaries, writing responses, etc., which help students learn and professionals become better at their jobs, setting up a blog and making sure others (and I) can see your notes, responses, etc. and learn from what you've written is an essential aspect of this class. If you need help getting your blog started, write. If you're just procrastinating. Get on the ball.
In a week or two, I'll have to make decisions about who to keep on the class roll, and one of the measures I'll use is who has done the reading and work to date. If I can't visit your blog and see the work you've done, that is, if you haven't created a blog and updated the class list with your current address. I have no way of knowing if you're doing the reading and work for the class, and I'll have to conclude you are on the path to failing the class. I drop students who are failing the class, not attending, and/or not doing the work. It ends up being better for them, and it ends up creating a better learning environment for the folks who remain on the roll.
An Exemplary Blog...
I was updating the class list, making sure folks had entered their blog address, and making sure the links worked today. In the process, I came across what I consider an exemplary blog. Here's the link:
A very well constructed student blog.
A very well constructed student blog.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Assignments for Week Four
The main subject for the next week or so will be process, process writing, and Kaizen.
Reading: Read chapter four of Writing for College, Writing for Life. It's the chapter on Narrative or experience based writing. In reading this chapter, pay particular attention to the examples and the discussion of the process each author went through to produce their text. At the end of the chapter, there's also a discussion of the creating a narrative and the writing process.
In addition to the chapter from the text, read carefully the various posts I make this week on Process, Kaizen, and Process Writing. The notion of process vs product is at the heart of this class, so make sure to get these concepts down.
Writing: Take notes on the reading. Update your blog with a reading response to the chapter and to my posts, and update the process section of your writing inventory with what you learn this week.
Reading: Read chapter four of Writing for College, Writing for Life. It's the chapter on Narrative or experience based writing. In reading this chapter, pay particular attention to the examples and the discussion of the process each author went through to produce their text. At the end of the chapter, there's also a discussion of the creating a narrative and the writing process.
In addition to the chapter from the text, read carefully the various posts I make this week on Process, Kaizen, and Process Writing. The notion of process vs product is at the heart of this class, so make sure to get these concepts down.
Writing: Take notes on the reading. Update your blog with a reading response to the chapter and to my posts, and update the process section of your writing inventory with what you learn this week.
Kaizen and Process Driven Improvment
At the end of World War II, the economy of Japan was in shambles. The Allies had won the war, but winning the peace looked like a more difficult proposition. Folks remembered what had happened in Germany following the peace of World War I. Germany was penalized. We'd provided no help in rebuilding the economy and let the post war German stew in its own juices. After all, they were the enemy? Right? Run away inflation, Hitler, and scapegoating were the result. No one wanted a repeat, but no one understood how to rebuild a country either. What did we do? We looked for industrial experts. Japan's (and modern Germany's) position as world powers and economic power houses was the result.
At the conclusion of WWII, the current vogue in industrial management was time and motion study. During the war, specialists in the field had had a lot of practice, and the success of US industry in shifting toward producing the stuff of war was proof that time and motion study combined with the factory model of industrial production was a very, very powerful combination. Specialists in the field took the complex and seemingly simple and identified the steps involved. They then identified what steps had to be done and what was "wasted" motion. Through each of these understandings, they improved processes.
The QWERTY keyboard is a good example of how the time and motion study combine to make the human/machine interface more effective. The QWERTY keyboard was set up using early ides about time and motion studies. Wikipedia describes the history as:
The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document.[1] A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together.
The keyboard most of you use to interact with the computer was the result. The layout of the keys is designed to solve a problem in a human/mechanical interface--a problem which disappeared long ago. We continue to use the QWERTY layout, because learning to type using it requires a fairly heavy investment in time and energy, and it's the way things have been done for 150 years. Note there are better, more effectual ways to design a keyboard to ease the job of a typist getting English text into a computer, but we still use the QWERTY. Why? Answering this question goes a long way toward your developing a more complex idea of how processes work in human communities, so I'm going to take a moment to provide an answer before returning to the story of time and motion study, industrial management, Kaizen, and your becoming a better writer.
The short answer to why we continue to use the QWERTY keyboard is that it's the way most folks have learned to type. It took a long time for those of us who touch type to gain the skill. It works pretty well, that is, I can type faster than I can think and compose prose. To convince me to change over to a new method of text entry, you have to make the case (persuade me) the new method is worth the trouble of learning it. You have to make the case the new method will make my life sufficiently easier to warrant the investment in time and energy to make the change, you have to justify the capital investment needed to put new keyboards on most desks and retrain the workforce, and you have to overcome the "it's tradition" factor. The "it's tradition" factor is one reason that substantial changes in social practice happen along generational lines, that is, the young tend to have less invested in having learned a particular method of doing something, so they are less likely to resist a new, "better" method on the grounds the work doesn't have sufficient payoff. The young also have the task of establishing an identity different from their parents' and forming social communities outside of the family. The rebellion involved in adopting a new method of doing something, hence, has more appeal to the young. Catastrophe also sets up the conditions through which change will be accepted.
Loosing the war was one such catastrophe for Japan, so while they didn't exactly welcome Western experts into each factory, they saw the necessity of adopting new methods of industrial production. However, the problem involved in getting the Japanese to adopt the new methods of more effective factory labor design involved more than simply making the case that it worked, there was also a less obvious cultural conflict inherent in time and motion, process based industrial management. Those of us in the West had had centuries to adapt our society to the demands of the industrial revolution and, more importantly, to adapt industry and technology to the demands of society. One such compromise had to do with the place of the worker in a western factory.
In western factories, an individual does the same task repeatedly. They move one piece of a widget to another line. They attach one piece of the widget, and the next person down the line attaches the next. Such isolated sub-steps in a process work perfectly with time and motion study. Think about it. If you can identify a way for the individual to use less motion and effort to attach their piece of a widget, you can speed up the whole line. In a similar way, you can identify choke points, that is, points in the process where a single step or group of steps slows down overall production. Once identified, you can apply the know how of mechanical design to automate the task, break it down into more steps, or otherwise make it more effective, and you can make the whole line or the whole process more efficient.
In western culture, we've gotten used to "doing our job," that is, doing our bit of an overall project or doing our job on the line. The idea of single craftspersons doing all the steps involved in producing a product is the exception, not the rule. In the 1940s, the Japanese, however, were just coming out of feudal, crafts based society. Their workers were used to being involved in understanding products as wholes and not parts. They were also used to thinking of work as an end rather than a means. For example, think of Zen meditation practices built around specific kinds of work, like sweeping. Finally, they were used to thinking of communities and not individuals as the center of social and individual action. The upshot was that they adapted process based, time and motion study to the norms of their society. Kaizen was the result.
The notion of "low hanging fruit" is a classic metaphor from the industrial management philosophy of Kaizen. Kiazen also provides some useful language when teaching process, teaching process theory, running a writing program, or teaching folks to become better writers. The basic tenets are:
At the conclusion of WWII, the current vogue in industrial management was time and motion study. During the war, specialists in the field had had a lot of practice, and the success of US industry in shifting toward producing the stuff of war was proof that time and motion study combined with the factory model of industrial production was a very, very powerful combination. Specialists in the field took the complex and seemingly simple and identified the steps involved. They then identified what steps had to be done and what was "wasted" motion. Through each of these understandings, they improved processes.
The QWERTY keyboard is a good example of how the time and motion study combine to make the human/machine interface more effective. The QWERTY keyboard was set up using early ides about time and motion studies. Wikipedia describes the history as:
The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document.[1] A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together.
The keyboard most of you use to interact with the computer was the result. The layout of the keys is designed to solve a problem in a human/mechanical interface--a problem which disappeared long ago. We continue to use the QWERTY layout, because learning to type using it requires a fairly heavy investment in time and energy, and it's the way things have been done for 150 years. Note there are better, more effectual ways to design a keyboard to ease the job of a typist getting English text into a computer, but we still use the QWERTY. Why? Answering this question goes a long way toward your developing a more complex idea of how processes work in human communities, so I'm going to take a moment to provide an answer before returning to the story of time and motion study, industrial management, Kaizen, and your becoming a better writer.
The short answer to why we continue to use the QWERTY keyboard is that it's the way most folks have learned to type. It took a long time for those of us who touch type to gain the skill. It works pretty well, that is, I can type faster than I can think and compose prose. To convince me to change over to a new method of text entry, you have to make the case (persuade me) the new method is worth the trouble of learning it. You have to make the case the new method will make my life sufficiently easier to warrant the investment in time and energy to make the change, you have to justify the capital investment needed to put new keyboards on most desks and retrain the workforce, and you have to overcome the "it's tradition" factor. The "it's tradition" factor is one reason that substantial changes in social practice happen along generational lines, that is, the young tend to have less invested in having learned a particular method of doing something, so they are less likely to resist a new, "better" method on the grounds the work doesn't have sufficient payoff. The young also have the task of establishing an identity different from their parents' and forming social communities outside of the family. The rebellion involved in adopting a new method of doing something, hence, has more appeal to the young. Catastrophe also sets up the conditions through which change will be accepted.
Loosing the war was one such catastrophe for Japan, so while they didn't exactly welcome Western experts into each factory, they saw the necessity of adopting new methods of industrial production. However, the problem involved in getting the Japanese to adopt the new methods of more effective factory labor design involved more than simply making the case that it worked, there was also a less obvious cultural conflict inherent in time and motion, process based industrial management. Those of us in the West had had centuries to adapt our society to the demands of the industrial revolution and, more importantly, to adapt industry and technology to the demands of society. One such compromise had to do with the place of the worker in a western factory.
In western factories, an individual does the same task repeatedly. They move one piece of a widget to another line. They attach one piece of the widget, and the next person down the line attaches the next. Such isolated sub-steps in a process work perfectly with time and motion study. Think about it. If you can identify a way for the individual to use less motion and effort to attach their piece of a widget, you can speed up the whole line. In a similar way, you can identify choke points, that is, points in the process where a single step or group of steps slows down overall production. Once identified, you can apply the know how of mechanical design to automate the task, break it down into more steps, or otherwise make it more effective, and you can make the whole line or the whole process more efficient.
In western culture, we've gotten used to "doing our job," that is, doing our bit of an overall project or doing our job on the line. The idea of single craftspersons doing all the steps involved in producing a product is the exception, not the rule. In the 1940s, the Japanese, however, were just coming out of feudal, crafts based society. Their workers were used to being involved in understanding products as wholes and not parts. They were also used to thinking of work as an end rather than a means. For example, think of Zen meditation practices built around specific kinds of work, like sweeping. Finally, they were used to thinking of communities and not individuals as the center of social and individual action. The upshot was that they adapted process based, time and motion study to the norms of their society. Kaizen was the result.
The notion of "low hanging fruit" is a classic metaphor from the industrial management philosophy of Kaizen. Kiazen also provides some useful language when teaching process, teaching process theory, running a writing program, or teaching folks to become better writers. The basic tenets are:
1) Use existing processes, tools, and infrastructure to "pick the lowest hanging fruit." [NB: Little if any additional investments in capital intensive remachining and work force training are needed.]
2) Use groups made up of management and workers to examine goals, products and existing processes. [NB Tap into the knowledge and skills set of those who do the work and those who have a larger picture, all the while helping to build a better community.]
3) Identify *small* changes in process which might provide a more efficient process or better product.
4) Use the group to identify which changes in process will be made.
5) Implement change(s).
6) Use the group to evaluate changes.
7) If the changes are deemed effective, maintain changes as part of a new process.
8) Rinse and repeat.
9) Pick higher fruits as the changes in process accumulate.
Kaizen is a merging of western process theory and Japanese belief about how work and the worker fit into community and life. Kaizen is accredited for the success and rebirth of the Japanese economy following WWII. They started with what they had--picking the lowest fruit--and used the power of community to create processes governed by the notion one makes small changes over time, changes accumulate, and better process makes better process.
Here's how all this fits into a writing class and your becoming a better writer. Think of yourself as a writer in the process of becoming. You want to use your existing skill and knowledge set about writing, how to write, and how to do things with words to produce texts which accomplish your ends. You pick the lowest hanging fruits, but you also know that your current process and knowledge set isn't the most effective. To borrow a metaphor from the QWERTY keyboard, your writing process does well enough, but it could be more effective at doing its job.
The Kaizen of the writing process begins here. You make a commitment to improving the processes, tricks, and techniques you use to produce effective texts. You articulate your process, and you then articulate a possible improvement in your process. You make the changes necessary to implement this one improvement, and you then evaluate the change. If the change you've made makes your writing more effective, both in terms of it accomplishing your purposes for writing and/or in making the job of writing easier, then you keep the change as part of your process.
You are already involved in this process. You are taking an inventory of yourself as a writer (that is, responding to the WPA Outcomes and updating your understanding as new concepts, like Kaizen writing are introduced). This week, you'll be writing a paper describing a process you use in creating a product tied to the work you're already doing or hope to do. This paper is to get you used to the notion that process is one key to improvement, and you begin the process of change by getting a handle on the processes you already use.
Quite literally, you are discovering and beginning the Kaizen (the process of small continuous improvement) of your own writing and learning how to apply Kaizen to other aspects of your professional and personal life. Once you get your head around the fact that this class is about process and not product, that is, discovery of the process involved in creating a text and making your process more effective, then you're a long way toward getting the content of the course.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Couple of Other Links to Help with Google Documents
These links are just for your information and to help anyone who's still getting their head around the idea of a web based word processor.
Here's google's introduction to google docs:
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html
Here's a link to a lecture to retired faculty at Berkley on Google Docs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2u9AoBIBs
For the last, youtube link, you also might look in the bottom right of the web page and look at any of the "Related Videos" which catch your eye.
Here's google's introduction to google docs:
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html
Here's a link to a lecture to retired faculty at Berkley on Google Docs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2u9AoBIBs
For the last, youtube link, you also might look in the bottom right of the web page and look at any of the "Related Videos" which catch your eye.
A Good, Basic Introduction to Google Docs
Find below a link to a YouTube video introduction to google docs. It's only around three minutes long. Enjoy.
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0c1b9311cb8f40eb4f25
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0c1b9311cb8f40eb4f25
Notes on Writing Better Writing Inventories.
As I've read your writing inventories, I've noticed a few things I want folks, in general, to work on:
1) Write each response in complete sentences.
2) Edit what you write. At the least, spell check it.
3) Add to your responses as you gain additional information. You should update your responses at least once a week.
4) Rename your file to include your name and section. You've got to remember, I've got several sections working on inventories. If your document is just named "Writing Inventory," then I have a hard time figuring out which class you are in and whose inventory I'm reading. This kind of effort on your part is one way you can think about the needs of your audience and try to meet them. In this case, you're making my life (and your own) easier. I appreciate such effort. You can change the name of your document by going to the "File" tab and following it to "Rename."
The inventories I've found particularly impressive have been those where the writer has added to there responses as the reading for class has given them new insights into some of the outcomes. I've also enjoyed those who write full and complete responses and who use full, well edited sentences in their responses.
Finally, please do use the class list to share your inventory with the rest of the class. Do spend some time reading some of the writing inventories written by your classmates. If you see someone doing something impressive in their inventory. Try to figure what they're doing out and emulate what they're doing in your own inventory. You might also think of helping the community by passing along your observations.
1) Write each response in complete sentences.
2) Edit what you write. At the least, spell check it.
3) Add to your responses as you gain additional information. You should update your responses at least once a week.
4) Rename your file to include your name and section. You've got to remember, I've got several sections working on inventories. If your document is just named "Writing Inventory," then I have a hard time figuring out which class you are in and whose inventory I'm reading. This kind of effort on your part is one way you can think about the needs of your audience and try to meet them. In this case, you're making my life (and your own) easier. I appreciate such effort. You can change the name of your document by going to the "File" tab and following it to "Rename."
The inventories I've found particularly impressive have been those where the writer has added to there responses as the reading for class has given them new insights into some of the outcomes. I've also enjoyed those who write full and complete responses and who use full, well edited sentences in their responses.
Finally, please do use the class list to share your inventory with the rest of the class. Do spend some time reading some of the writing inventories written by your classmates. If you see someone doing something impressive in their inventory. Try to figure what they're doing out and emulate what they're doing in your own inventory. You might also think of helping the community by passing along your observations.
Notes on Writing Better Writing Inventories.
As I've read your writing inventories, I've noticed a few things I want folks, in general, to work on:
1) Write each response in complete sentences.
2) Edit what you write. At the least, spell check it.
3) Add to your responses as you gain additional information. You should update your responses at least once a week.
4) Rename your file to include your name and section. You've got to remember, I've got several sections working on inventories. If your document is just named "Writing Inventory," then I have a hard time figuring out which class you are in and whose inventory I'm reading. This kind of effort on your part is one way you can think about the needs of your audience and try to meet them. In this case, you're making my life (and your own) easier. I appreciate such effort. You can change the name of your document by going to the "File" tab and following it to "Rename."
The inventories I've found particularly impressive have been those where the writer has added to there responses as the reading for class has given them new insights into some of the outcomes. I've also enjoyed those who write full and complete responses and who use full, well edited sentences in their responses.
Finally, please do use the class list to share your inventory with the rest of the class. Do spend some time reading some of the writing inventories written by your classmates. If you see someone doing something impressive in their inventory. Try to figure what they're doing out and emulate what they're doing in your own inventory. You might also think of helping the community by passing along your observations.
1) Write each response in complete sentences.
2) Edit what you write. At the least, spell check it.
3) Add to your responses as you gain additional information. You should update your responses at least once a week.
4) Rename your file to include your name and section. You've got to remember, I've got several sections working on inventories. If your document is just named "Writing Inventory," then I have a hard time figuring out which class you are in and whose inventory I'm reading. This kind of effort on your part is one way you can think about the needs of your audience and try to meet them. In this case, you're making my life (and your own) easier. I appreciate such effort. You can change the name of your document by going to the "File" tab and following it to "Rename."
The inventories I've found particularly impressive have been those where the writer has added to there responses as the reading for class has given them new insights into some of the outcomes. I've also enjoyed those who write full and complete responses and who use full, well edited sentences in their responses.
Finally, please do use the class list to share your inventory with the rest of the class. Do spend some time reading some of the writing inventories written by your classmates. If you see someone doing something impressive in their inventory. Try to figure what they're doing out and emulate what they're doing in your own inventory. You might also think of helping the community by passing along your observations.
A good blog as an example.
I just visited a student's blog from another section, and I wanted to point you to it as a good example of the kinds of information for which I'm looking on your blogs. I liked the "My Comments" section of his reading responses, though I would have liked to hear more. He's doing a good job at summary--without over doing it, and I like the fact he's using the chapter sub-headings to organize his summaries. He's also paying attention to specific ideas he can use. Also notice the "Vocabulary Journal" post he has set up. This he'll update as he learns new terms. All in all, this is a good, solid, craftsman like job. There are improvements which could be made, but this is true of all good writing.
Here's the link:
http://huynhwritingjournal.blogspot.com/
Here's the link:
http://huynhwritingjournal.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 27, 2008
My Response to a Student's Writing Inventory
Often, I use this blog to share what I've said to other students in their writing inventories. Below, you'll find my recent response to the "Rhetorical Knowledge" section of a student's inventory. Read it, as it might give you some food for further thought and some information to put in as you update your inventory this week.
The student's initial responses are in blue. The one's they made this week as they updated are in green. My comments are in red.
The student's initial responses are in blue. The one's they made this week as they updated are in green. My comments are in red.
Rhetorical Knowledge is writing in response of a specific audience. And it's using what you know about your audience and your purpose for writing to guide what you write.
By the end of first year composition, students should
• Focus on a purpose-
-Narrowing down to what the purpose will be for what we are trying to accomplish.
-To focus on a purpose you need to narrow down to the purpose, which means the reason why you writing, in order to persuade, educate, or entertain.
• Respond to the needs of different audiences-
-We need to adjust how we say and what we say to different types of readers.
-You would respond to the needs of different audiences by determining the goal you are trying to accomplish, then what kind of information and how much of that information the specific audience needs to know in order to be convincing. Also remember that you're audience is giving you the gift of their time and attention. Just as you write to achieve different purposes, audiences read to achieve different purposes. For instance, they might want to be entertained, gain information, or try to figure out what you know that they don't. If you need an audience to achieve your purpose, then you've got to meet their needs; otherwise, you'll soon find yourself without an audience.
• Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations-
-Responding appropriately to the person or type of people to whom you are speaking to.
-Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations means responding appropriately to the needs of the specific audience.
-In order to respond to different kinds of rhetorical situations you need to, figure out who your audience is, what you (the writer) are going to write about, the purpose in which you are writing, and why you are writing. You also have to figure out what the audience's needs are and meet them.
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation-
-I don't know how to use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
-Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation means selecting the format and structure to use in order to meet the audiences needs and expectations.
--Here, think of using the structure and format of a love letter when your audience is expecting your to write a letter of interest for a job.
• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality-
-Your voice, tone, and level of formality affect how people respond to you.
-The format and structure you chose to use would depend on the voice, tone, and level of formality you use, which will affect how you get your point across and how the audience would respond.
-To get your point across to your audience you must possess a certain attitude whether it be sarcastic, regretful, informative, etc. --Good! You've got the basic idea here. The words you use. How formal you are, even your tone of voice depends on your goals, your audience, and what you're trying to accomplish. Again think of that love letter. If you're responding to your one and true love, then a formal tone, word choice, and diction would be wildly inappropriate.
• Understand how genres shape reading and writing-
-I don't know how genres shape reading and writing.
-Genres shape reading and writing because you need to understand that there are different kinds or types of genres and how to respond to the different kinds and types.
--Think of genres as the kinds of writing you use in standard writing situations. You use a love letter for your one true love, a letter of interest, job application, and resume for applying for a job, and a term paper for your history class. If you mix up these standard responses, then you find yourself in trouble.
• Write in several genres-
-Understanding how to respond under certain situations.
-To write in several genres means choosing the category of writing to respond to certain situations
--In this class, you've already written in several genres. You've taken notes on the reading. You've written reading responses for blogs, and you've written short responses to these learning outcomes.
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
• The main features of writing in their fields-
-To capture the audience's attention.
-The main features of writing is making sure the purpose in which you are writing is understandable, to the point, believable, supported by evidence and that the message comes across right away.
--The writing done in every profession, discipline, and field is characterized by different genres of writing, different goals for writing and reading, and different expectations. For instance, if you're going to be a good biologist, you've got to learn how to write a good lab report, but lab reports aren't used at all is you're a real estatebroker . To be a good real estate broker, you've got to learn how to write a good email and a good description of your property. One of the things professors and bosses in other fields should do is to let you know what expectations about writing they have. Too often, they won't; so, you've got to learn to do your own research and what questions to ask.Summary of What We've Done So Far.
A student wrote asking, among other things, for a summary of the assignments you've completed so far for the class. In writing my response to her, it occured to me such a summary would be a useful post for everyone. Find it below:
Taking an online course, you'll need regular access to the internet to successfully complete the class. Each week, I'll post assignments which are due the following week, and almost all the assignments will be due on Sunday. You can find all the assignments posted to the class blog: eng111spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com, not on blackboard.
The assignments for the first three weeks were foundational assignments. You read the first three chapters of the text, The McGraw Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life, and you set up the tech necessary to complete the rest of the class. This last means you set up a google account, and you added gmail, documents, and blogger services to the google account. Documents will allow you to do online, collaborative word processing. Blogger will allow you to keep a blog, that is, a web log, and gmail will allow you me to get in touch with you if need be and is the basis for the other two services. For right now, you should be able to check and send gmail, create a google document and add folks as collaborators, and create a blog and post to it. Since you mentioned expenses as a concern, all these google services are free.
All of your assignment from now on will be posted on the web site:
www.eng111spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com, not on the blackboard site.
If you enter this address in any internet brower, it will bring you to a class blog. You'll want to read it all, and you'll want to set up time to read this blog each week on a regular basis, as--in addition to the reading in the text--you'll find much of the content of the course posted to this blog, and much of the learning you'll do is based on what you read here and in the text.
As to your written assignments, I've had you:
1) Set up a google document called "writing inventory." The writing inventory represents a major aspect of the work for the class. You'll update it every week as your knowledge grows. It is based on the "WPA Learning Outcomes," which you'll find published just before the first chapter of the text. These outcomes describe what you are to learn in the class, and what is taught in most 111 classes worldwide.
Each week, as you do the reading and as you do the assignments, you'll update your responses to each learning outcome. Learning outcomes are the bulleted items in the "WPA Outcomes Statement." For right now your the responses you write should be simple. In them, you state in your own words what you know about each outcome and heading. As your knowledge grows through out the class, you'll return to the learning outcomes and update your response with the new information you've learned from the reading, discussion, and my posts to the class blog. For right now, think of these responses as notes on what you know about each outcome. Since you've created them in google documents and shared them using the collaboration feature, everyone else in the class--including me--will be able to read and learn from what you've wrote.
2) I've also asked you to set up a personal blog for the class using the blogger service of google. You'll use this blog for a number of purposes through out the class. For right now, I've asked you to use what you learned in chapters two and three of the text to write summaries and responses to the reading you did in these chapters. For right now, you can think of these posts as reading responses or specific kinds of notes you take on the reading. You'll be posting such responses each week to your blog.
3) Third and finally, I've set up a "class list" document, where you'll leave your gmail address and blog address. You can use the addresses you'll find in this list to look at the blogs of everyone else in the class, and add them as collaborators to your own documents. Like the writing inventory you'll create for the class.
If you've done all of the above, you're caught up and ready to go for the rest of the class, which will focus more on writing and much less on tech.
Write with specific questions about any one aspect of the assignments. You can contact me at prof.brandon@gmail.com.
Taking an online course, you'll need regular access to the internet to successfully complete the class. Each week, I'll post assignments which are due the following week, and almost all the assignments will be due on Sunday. You can find all the assignments posted to the class blog: eng111spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com, not on blackboard.
The assignments for the first three weeks were foundational assignments. You read the first three chapters of the text, The McGraw Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life, and you set up the tech necessary to complete the rest of the class. This last means you set up a google account, and you added gmail, documents, and blogger services to the google account. Documents will allow you to do online, collaborative word processing. Blogger will allow you to keep a blog, that is, a web log, and gmail will allow you me to get in touch with you if need be and is the basis for the other two services. For right now, you should be able to check and send gmail, create a google document and add folks as collaborators, and create a blog and post to it. Since you mentioned expenses as a concern, all these google services are free.
All of your assignment from now on will be posted on the web site:
www.eng111spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com, not on the blackboard site.
If you enter this address in any internet brower, it will bring you to a class blog. You'll want to read it all, and you'll want to set up time to read this blog each week on a regular basis, as--in addition to the reading in the text--you'll find much of the content of the course posted to this blog, and much of the learning you'll do is based on what you read here and in the text.
As to your written assignments, I've had you:
1) Set up a google document called "writing inventory." The writing inventory represents a major aspect of the work for the class. You'll update it every week as your knowledge grows. It is based on the "WPA Learning Outcomes," which you'll find published just before the first chapter of the text. These outcomes describe what you are to learn in the class, and what is taught in most 111 classes worldwide.
Each week, as you do the reading and as you do the assignments, you'll update your responses to each learning outcome. Learning outcomes are the bulleted items in the "WPA Outcomes Statement." For right now your the responses you write should be simple. In them, you state in your own words what you know about each outcome and heading. As your knowledge grows through out the class, you'll return to the learning outcomes and update your response with the new information you've learned from the reading, discussion, and my posts to the class blog. For right now, think of these responses as notes on what you know about each outcome. Since you've created them in google documents and shared them using the collaboration feature, everyone else in the class--including me--will be able to read and learn from what you've wrote.
2) I've also asked you to set up a personal blog for the class using the blogger service of google. You'll use this blog for a number of purposes through out the class. For right now, I've asked you to use what you learned in chapters two and three of the text to write summaries and responses to the reading you did in these chapters. For right now, you can think of these posts as reading responses or specific kinds of notes you take on the reading. You'll be posting such responses each week to your blog.
3) Third and finally, I've set up a "class list" document, where you'll leave your gmail address and blog address. You can use the addresses you'll find in this list to look at the blogs of everyone else in the class, and add them as collaborators to your own documents. Like the writing inventory you'll create for the class.
If you've done all of the above, you're caught up and ready to go for the rest of the class, which will focus more on writing and much less on tech.
Write with specific questions about any one aspect of the assignments. You can contact me at prof.brandon@gmail.com.
Process vs. Product
If you learn nothing else in this class, I want you to figure out the value of process and why learning process orientated thinking and the processes employed by successful writers will allow you to make yourself a better writer, which--in turn--will help you produce better writing.
If you remember the first day of class, I defined good writing as successful writing, that is, writing which accomplishes the goals the author (you) have sat for it. The ability to produce such writing isn't a matter or talent, and it's not something with which you are born. Writing which scores regularly is a product of a long process error, trail, and persistence. This process involves you figuring out what you need to learn to accomplish your goals. It involves practice. It involves developing a system of steps and techniques you can *use*, and it involves hard work.
As you revise your responses in your writing inventory, you'll be adding to the techniques, knowledge and skills about writing you know. Right now, I want you to begin thinking about the difference between product and process. You can add your thoughts to the "Process" section of your inventory.
All of us have admired Olympic athletes, musicians, and even circus performers. They make the difficult, seemingly impossible look easy. Each movement is purposeful, polished, graceful, and their performance--their product--seems beyond the abilities of mere humans. But--and this is a big "but"--each of these performances is produced by a human, who in most respects is just like me and you. What sets them apart from us is years of practice and skill honed by practice and knowledge of themselves and their medium. We "know" this to be true, but in our guts we remain, somehow, unconvinced. We continue to believe that they are more talented than us, and most of us firmly believe we can never, ever match their performance. Maybe this is true. The performers we're taught to admire are at the top of their professions and abilities, and the products we see produce usually don't include their first stumbling efforts, the countless mistakes they made while learning, and the time and energy they put into getting themselves to the point where their performance is worthy of our awe.
Every semester, students enter my class believing that good writing is a matter of talent rather than systematic work and a willingness to fail and learn from their failures. Some tell me, "I don't like English." Some say, "I'm not good at English." Some tell me, "I'm good in math and science, not English." The good news is I teach writing, not English., and almost anyone can learn to write well. Their performances may not, like Shakespeare or Hemingway, we worthy of our awe, but they can learn to write well enough to get most any job done (and done well).
Most of us who ride bikes won't end up being Lance Armstrong, then again most of us aren't interested in multiple wins of the Tourde France. Still, we manage to get from point A to B, and we have fun riding. We don't consider our ability to ride a matter of talent or being born "good" at biking. After all, most everyone can learn to ride a bike. For most, it's a matter of being willing to fall off until we pick up the trick. After we pick up the very, very complicated blend of balance and multi-layered, precise motions which allow us to ride a bike, riding a bike doesn't seem like too big a deal. Why do students continue to think writing is any different? It isn't.
Learning to ride a bike requires you to go through a process of failure, getting hurt, and picking yourself up, and trying a slightly difference set of skills. Writing isn't any different, and--truth be told--I've taught enough students how to write that I've learned the difference between those who go on to be good, successful writers and those who don't involves a willingness to go through through the process rather than quiting or just trying to muddle through. Make no mistake: practiced skills accumulate. One day the various skills "click," and you find yourself riding the bike--writing--with ease a confidence.
Over the years, I've become convinced writing is a craft at which almost everyone can become proficient. My class isn't about judging every detail of your writing; it's about process. I want my students to be willing to fail, that is, produce writing which isn't successful or is only partially successful. I want them to stretch the envelope of their skills and knowledge. I want them to learn how to learn from their falls, dust themselves off, and try out new techniques until their writing begins to do the work they want it to. At this point, just like bike riding, writing can both get you where you want to go AND be fun. Think about this last. When was the last time you had fun writing?
Learning to be a good writer--which is what this class is all about--isn't about the products you produce in the class; it's about learning how to learn from the processes you use to product your writing and integrating this process of learning into how you think about writing and yourself. In short, the most important product you'll produce in the class isn't the papers you'll write, your writing inventory, etc. Your most important product, the one on which I'll base your grade, is a proven knowledge of the process of how to make yourself a better writer.
Think of me as a little league coach. Yes, I'm judging you, but I'm not basing my opinion of you on your products. I'm much more interested in your learning the game, figuring out how best to teach you, and in getting to witness the joy you take from the practice and play. I base my opinion of you on your willingness to show up for practice, work hard at the tasks I give you, how you work with your team mates, and the progress you're showing learning the skills you're practicing. Like a coach, you'll have to trust me that all the seemingly senseless practice will pay off in the big game. Like a coach, I'm working on the various aspects of your game. Unlike a coach, however, I'll make sure I tell you why I'm having you do all the work. After all, you're adults.
Here's the last major point for today, in every assignment for this class, I want you paying attention to the processes you're using to create the various products I assign. I want you learning from the creating and doing. I want you learning from practice how to be more accurate and effective, and--if all goes well--I want you thinking about what you're learning as you learn. If all goes perfectly--life usually doesn't--you might even learn to enjoy writing. For most students, there will be a day when all the skills and knowledge you've learned clicks, and you'll be ready to play your own game, knowing you're playing it well.
If you remember the first day of class, I defined good writing as successful writing, that is, writing which accomplishes the goals the author (you) have sat for it. The ability to produce such writing isn't a matter or talent, and it's not something with which you are born. Writing which scores regularly is a product of a long process error, trail, and persistence. This process involves you figuring out what you need to learn to accomplish your goals. It involves practice. It involves developing a system of steps and techniques you can *use*, and it involves hard work.
As you revise your responses in your writing inventory, you'll be adding to the techniques, knowledge and skills about writing you know. Right now, I want you to begin thinking about the difference between product and process. You can add your thoughts to the "Process" section of your inventory.
All of us have admired Olympic athletes, musicians, and even circus performers. They make the difficult, seemingly impossible look easy. Each movement is purposeful, polished, graceful, and their performance--their product--seems beyond the abilities of mere humans. But--and this is a big "but"--each of these performances is produced by a human, who in most respects is just like me and you. What sets them apart from us is years of practice and skill honed by practice and knowledge of themselves and their medium. We "know" this to be true, but in our guts we remain, somehow, unconvinced. We continue to believe that they are more talented than us, and most of us firmly believe we can never, ever match their performance. Maybe this is true. The performers we're taught to admire are at the top of their professions and abilities, and the products we see produce usually don't include their first stumbling efforts, the countless mistakes they made while learning, and the time and energy they put into getting themselves to the point where their performance is worthy of our awe.
Every semester, students enter my class believing that good writing is a matter of talent rather than systematic work and a willingness to fail and learn from their failures. Some tell me, "I don't like English." Some say, "I'm not good at English." Some tell me, "I'm good in math and science, not English." The good news is I teach writing, not English., and almost anyone can learn to write well. Their performances may not, like Shakespeare or Hemingway, we worthy of our awe, but they can learn to write well enough to get most any job done (and done well).
Most of us who ride bikes won't end up being Lance Armstrong, then again most of us aren't interested in multiple wins of the Tourde France. Still, we manage to get from point A to B, and we have fun riding. We don't consider our ability to ride a matter of talent or being born "good" at biking. After all, most everyone can learn to ride a bike. For most, it's a matter of being willing to fall off until we pick up the trick. After we pick up the very, very complicated blend of balance and multi-layered, precise motions which allow us to ride a bike, riding a bike doesn't seem like too big a deal. Why do students continue to think writing is any different? It isn't.
Learning to ride a bike requires you to go through a process of failure, getting hurt, and picking yourself up, and trying a slightly difference set of skills. Writing isn't any different, and--truth be told--I've taught enough students how to write that I've learned the difference between those who go on to be good, successful writers and those who don't involves a willingness to go through through the process rather than quiting or just trying to muddle through. Make no mistake: practiced skills accumulate. One day the various skills "click," and you find yourself riding the bike--writing--with ease a confidence.
Over the years, I've become convinced writing is a craft at which almost everyone can become proficient. My class isn't about judging every detail of your writing; it's about process. I want my students to be willing to fail, that is, produce writing which isn't successful or is only partially successful. I want them to stretch the envelope of their skills and knowledge. I want them to learn how to learn from their falls, dust themselves off, and try out new techniques until their writing begins to do the work they want it to. At this point, just like bike riding, writing can both get you where you want to go AND be fun. Think about this last. When was the last time you had fun writing?
Learning to be a good writer--which is what this class is all about--isn't about the products you produce in the class; it's about learning how to learn from the processes you use to product your writing and integrating this process of learning into how you think about writing and yourself. In short, the most important product you'll produce in the class isn't the papers you'll write, your writing inventory, etc. Your most important product, the one on which I'll base your grade, is a proven knowledge of the process of how to make yourself a better writer.
Think of me as a little league coach. Yes, I'm judging you, but I'm not basing my opinion of you on your products. I'm much more interested in your learning the game, figuring out how best to teach you, and in getting to witness the joy you take from the practice and play. I base my opinion of you on your willingness to show up for practice, work hard at the tasks I give you, how you work with your team mates, and the progress you're showing learning the skills you're practicing. Like a coach, you'll have to trust me that all the seemingly senseless practice will pay off in the big game. Like a coach, I'm working on the various aspects of your game. Unlike a coach, however, I'll make sure I tell you why I'm having you do all the work. After all, you're adults.
Here's the last major point for today, in every assignment for this class, I want you paying attention to the processes you're using to create the various products I assign. I want you learning from the creating and doing. I want you learning from practice how to be more accurate and effective, and--if all goes well--I want you thinking about what you're learning as you learn. If all goes perfectly--life usually doesn't--you might even learn to enjoy writing. For most students, there will be a day when all the skills and knowledge you've learned clicks, and you'll be ready to play your own game, knowing you're playing it well.
"Revision and The Art of Being Concise"
Here is a link to a new blog, Writing Til Done, which has a good article on the revision process and what do to during this stage of writing to make your writing more focused and concise. Here's the link:
http://writetodone.com/2008/01/21/edit-to-done-revision-and-the-art-of-being-concise/#more-13
Although the reading has spoken about the writing process, we have yet to talk much about process writing. In the next post, we'll speak about the difference between product and process and how an attention to process can make your writing better, you a better writer, and even make you a better person.
http://writetodone.com/2008/01/21/edit-to-done-revision-and-the-art-of-being-concise/#more-13
Although the reading has spoken about the writing process, we have yet to talk much about process writing. In the next post, we'll speak about the difference between product and process and how an attention to process can make your writing better, you a better writer, and even make you a better person.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
How to Write a Reading Response
Since one of your ongoing assignments will be to respond each week to the reading you do for one of the classes in the LC (You'll do this via your blog.), I thought I'd take a moment and add to what is said in Chapters Two and Three of Writing for College, Writing for Life. In this post, I'll talk about using writing as a means to better understand what you read. I'm also going to make the case for doing the reading in all your classes. Finally, I'll provide a link to an online article which will help you get a handle on the reading response short essay as a genre.
Let's face it, not all the reading you'll do in college will be compelling. Most may not even be interesting. To succeed in college, that is, to get a real education which will help you build a good life as opposed to getting through, you have to do the reading. There's no short cut.
You'll learn that reading doesn't have to be interesting to be useful. In fact, more often than not, you'll wade through 70 percent or more of a text to get only 30% which will prove ultimately useful; and, 30% useful is a high percentage. When I do research, I expect only a 10% (or less) return in terms of ideas I will use in any given project.
I think of non-fiction, professional reading as looking for nuggets of gold in mud. Each useful idea keeps me looking for the next, because each useful idea is really useful, often allowing me to gain insights I would otherwise not have. Getting used to all this, sucking it up, and doing the reading and work anyway is a major part of learning how to learn. Why? Well, you are only a small part of the audience any one published author will address. The author doesn't know your concerns and only has a vague idea of your experience. They are writing for the most difficult of all audiences, that is, a general audience who wants (or is required) to study their topic, and they aren't writing to entertain or persuade. Most of the time they are writing to inform, and their text is fairly densely packed with information and ideas.
Writing about your reading can help you find the aspects of the reading which you will use. Such writing allows you to make connections, improves your retention, and if you approach it as a chance to learn more and better instead of just another task you *have* to do, then such writing is a very worthwhile investment of your time. If nothing else, it forces you to wade through boring material to find the gold, and beginning to form a response to the reading as you read makes the process of reading more active and engaging. These are only a few of the reasons I assign written responses to the reading as a major aspect of my classes.
Other reasons have to do with the fact that without some oversight, that is, some mechanism for checking to make sure students do the reading, some students will avoid the task like the plague. Many students exit high school with the unconscious notion that teachers are the advisory rather than partners in building a better life, and reading is just one more task the teacher piles on to keep you form your "real" life. If students end up succeeding in college, they'll quickly learn that these assumptions are false. To construct a good life, you have to build a foundation of skills and knowledge which will allow you to do rewarding work. There is little about building this foundation which isn't real. Having a good foundation in place insures the life you build won't crumble around you.
Finally, requiring students to write about the reading improves learning. All the data confirms this conclusion. Which brings me to another major reason for assigning ongoing reading responses. Because it's a proven technique for improving learning, you'll see this genre in various guises throughout your college career, and the genre and reading/writing techniques prove useful for later, professional reading.
Here's a link to a short online article on how to write a reading response short essay:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/reaction.html
This article focuses on responding to a literary text, but you can use the basic questions to form a response to most non-fiction (read: textbook reading). Most of the time, the short essay which is your response to the reading are between one and two single spaced pages. In this class, I expect one single spaced page each week. Focus your response on summarizing and or paraphrasing the major points from the reading which you found useful, challenging or compelling, and then explaining why you found these points useful, challenging, or compelling. Another focus for these kinds of short essays is making connections between the parts being discussed in the reading and the picture of the whole which is forming as you read. (Remember : one of the major techniques you're taught in college is break something down into parts to get a better handle on the whole. This way of reading is called analysis.) Sometimes, your responses are along the lines of "I hated reading this text!" and then justifying this reaction. You should work to limit the number of responses like the last. After all, as I said above, in any one text there will almost always be something you'll find useful. Look for it. Discuss it. Connect it. Do these three things, and you're writing a good response.
One last note:
As you pick the class reading to which you'll write your response each week, consider writing your response on the reading or class in which you're having the most difficulty. The writing will help improve your success.
Let's face it, not all the reading you'll do in college will be compelling. Most may not even be interesting. To succeed in college, that is, to get a real education which will help you build a good life as opposed to getting through, you have to do the reading. There's no short cut.
You'll learn that reading doesn't have to be interesting to be useful. In fact, more often than not, you'll wade through 70 percent or more of a text to get only 30% which will prove ultimately useful; and, 30% useful is a high percentage. When I do research, I expect only a 10% (or less) return in terms of ideas I will use in any given project.
I think of non-fiction, professional reading as looking for nuggets of gold in mud. Each useful idea keeps me looking for the next, because each useful idea is really useful, often allowing me to gain insights I would otherwise not have. Getting used to all this, sucking it up, and doing the reading and work anyway is a major part of learning how to learn. Why? Well, you are only a small part of the audience any one published author will address. The author doesn't know your concerns and only has a vague idea of your experience. They are writing for the most difficult of all audiences, that is, a general audience who wants (or is required) to study their topic, and they aren't writing to entertain or persuade. Most of the time they are writing to inform, and their text is fairly densely packed with information and ideas.
Writing about your reading can help you find the aspects of the reading which you will use. Such writing allows you to make connections, improves your retention, and if you approach it as a chance to learn more and better instead of just another task you *have* to do, then such writing is a very worthwhile investment of your time. If nothing else, it forces you to wade through boring material to find the gold, and beginning to form a response to the reading as you read makes the process of reading more active and engaging. These are only a few of the reasons I assign written responses to the reading as a major aspect of my classes.
Other reasons have to do with the fact that without some oversight, that is, some mechanism for checking to make sure students do the reading, some students will avoid the task like the plague. Many students exit high school with the unconscious notion that teachers are the advisory rather than partners in building a better life, and reading is just one more task the teacher piles on to keep you form your "real" life. If students end up succeeding in college, they'll quickly learn that these assumptions are false. To construct a good life, you have to build a foundation of skills and knowledge which will allow you to do rewarding work. There is little about building this foundation which isn't real. Having a good foundation in place insures the life you build won't crumble around you.
Finally, requiring students to write about the reading improves learning. All the data confirms this conclusion. Which brings me to another major reason for assigning ongoing reading responses. Because it's a proven technique for improving learning, you'll see this genre in various guises throughout your college career, and the genre and reading/writing techniques prove useful for later, professional reading.
Here's a link to a short online article on how to write a reading response short essay:
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/reaction.html
This article focuses on responding to a literary text, but you can use the basic questions to form a response to most non-fiction (read: textbook reading). Most of the time, the short essay which is your response to the reading are between one and two single spaced pages. In this class, I expect one single spaced page each week. Focus your response on summarizing and or paraphrasing the major points from the reading which you found useful, challenging or compelling, and then explaining why you found these points useful, challenging, or compelling. Another focus for these kinds of short essays is making connections between the parts being discussed in the reading and the picture of the whole which is forming as you read. (Remember : one of the major techniques you're taught in college is break something down into parts to get a better handle on the whole. This way of reading is called analysis.) Sometimes, your responses are along the lines of "I hated reading this text!" and then justifying this reaction. You should work to limit the number of responses like the last. After all, as I said above, in any one text there will almost always be something you'll find useful. Look for it. Discuss it. Connect it. Do these three things, and you're writing a good response.
One last note:
As you pick the class reading to which you'll write your response each week, consider writing your response on the reading or class in which you're having the most difficulty. The writing will help improve your success.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
FYI: Too good a post not to pass along...
There are so many free resources available on the web to help you be a better, more successful, more stress free student. Rather than list them all myself, a post just crossed my desk which does much of the work for me. Here's the link:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-ultimate-student-resource-list.html
Notice the place given to the various google services you're learning to use. I know it's been a pain getting through the learning curve, but these services are truly *useful*.
In any event, check out the list of services you might use while a student. I especially like the outlining, mindmapping, and bibliography services/programs, which will make writing academic papers much, much easier. Heck, I've used them all, and I still use many of them when I write.
Steve
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-ultimate-student-resource-list.html
Notice the place given to the various google services you're learning to use. I know it's been a pain getting through the learning curve, but these services are truly *useful*.
In any event, check out the list of services you might use while a student. I especially like the outlining, mindmapping, and bibliography services/programs, which will make writing academic papers much, much easier. Heck, I've used them all, and I still use many of them when I write.
Steve
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Rhetoric and BS.
Below find my response to a student's post on the outcome "Know how to respond to a variety of rhetorical situations." He brings up an important point about rhetoric, namely, when does rhetoric end and BS begin.
His response is in green. My response to him is in red.
Steve
I always get confused with the word rhetoric. to me this means having a significant amount of knowledge about a situation and responding in the most straightforward manner. bull shit is a pet peive of mine, so that def. cuts bs-ing out.
Don't think of rhetoric as BS. Sometimes the best way to get something accomplished is BS, but those situations are few and far between. In order to write successful documents, that is, texts which do what you want them to do, you have to adapt yourself to the needs of your audience. If, for instance, you're talking to your boss about getting a raise, this is a very specific rhetorical situation where the stakes are high for you. To respond appropriately, as you've noted, you have to have knowledge of the situation, such as, how your company is doing, what mood your boss is in, how he views your work, etc. Once armed with this knowledge, you can get your raise--if there are raises being had--by presenting your case in a manner which will persuade your boss; so, you should also have some idea of the kinds of arguments which your boss has bought in the past. As you can see, rhetoric isn't about BSing. It's about, as you say, learning enough about your rhetorical situation that you can accomplish your purpose, but sometimes this means not doing so in the most straightforward manner; instead, you do what works. Knowing what works and what doesn't in each situation is what rhetoric is all about.
His response is in green. My response to him is in red.
Steve
I always get confused with the word rhetoric. to me this means having a significant amount of knowledge about a situation and responding in the most straightforward manner. bull shit is a pet peive of mine, so that def. cuts bs-ing out.
Don't think of rhetoric as BS. Sometimes the best way to get something accomplished is BS, but those situations are few and far between. In order to write successful documents, that is, texts which do what you want them to do, you have to adapt yourself to the needs of your audience. If, for instance, you're talking to your boss about getting a raise, this is a very specific rhetorical situation where the stakes are high for you. To respond appropriately, as you've noted, you have to have knowledge of the situation, such as, how your company is doing, what mood your boss is in, how he views your work, etc. Once armed with this knowledge, you can get your raise--if there are raises being had--by presenting your case in a manner which will persuade your boss; so, you should also have some idea of the kinds of arguments which your boss has bought in the past. As you can see, rhetoric isn't about BSing. It's about, as you say, learning enough about your rhetorical situation that you can accomplish your purpose, but sometimes this means not doing so in the most straightforward manner; instead, you do what works. Knowing what works and what doesn't in each situation is what rhetoric is all about.
Process Writing and a Link to a Post on Tricks for Distraction-Free Writing
Another blog to which I subscribe, lifehack.org, often writes about writing. The author also writes about productivity. He is good writer, and you can pick up a lot just seeing how he handles a sentence. In any event, a few days ago, he (she?) posted an extremely good article on distraction free writing. Here's the link:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/tips-and-tricks-for-distraction-free-writing.html
We've yet to spend time speaking much about process writing. As the first chapter of _Writing for College, Writing for Life_ notes, usually experts note five stages in process writing: gathering the information you need to write (pre-writing), getting your ideas out of your head and into the computer or onto paper (drafting), rewriting what you've drafted to say what you have to say in the best way possible (revision), editing for surface level errors (proofreading), and--after you've published your work--reviewing to see what worked in your writing and what didn't (review). The book doesn't speak about this last step, but it's an essential one.
To become a better writer, you have to have a bag of tricks or moves you can make which you *know* will work. It's as you review work you've given to an audience that you figure out what moves work in which rhetorical situations, and you add them to your rhetorical memory--read: your memory of moves you can make next time you need to write or speak in a genre.
Lifehack's post gives some truly useful tips you can use when drafting. Read the post. Take the time to *read* the comments. One of the essential steps in learning to think well--read: critical thinking, reading, and writing--is developing the habit of going to and using the community to gain insights you otherwise wouldn't have. Once you've read the article, add any useful information to your writing inventory.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/tips-and-tricks-for-distraction-free-writing.html
We've yet to spend time speaking much about process writing. As the first chapter of _Writing for College, Writing for Life_ notes, usually experts note five stages in process writing: gathering the information you need to write (pre-writing), getting your ideas out of your head and into the computer or onto paper (drafting), rewriting what you've drafted to say what you have to say in the best way possible (revision), editing for surface level errors (proofreading), and--after you've published your work--reviewing to see what worked in your writing and what didn't (review). The book doesn't speak about this last step, but it's an essential one.
To become a better writer, you have to have a bag of tricks or moves you can make which you *know* will work. It's as you review work you've given to an audience that you figure out what moves work in which rhetorical situations, and you add them to your rhetorical memory--read: your memory of moves you can make next time you need to write or speak in a genre.
Lifehack's post gives some truly useful tips you can use when drafting. Read the post. Take the time to *read* the comments. One of the essential steps in learning to think well--read: critical thinking, reading, and writing--is developing the habit of going to and using the community to gain insights you otherwise wouldn't have. Once you've read the article, add any useful information to your writing inventory.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Assignments for Week 3: 21-27 January
Reading:
Read Chapter 2, "Reading Critically for College and Life," and chapter 3, "Writing to Discover and Learn."
Tasks:
Set up a personal blog. To set up your blog:
1) Log onto your google account, and use the service line--the one with the "more" link--to find the link to "Blogger." Follow that link to set up the blogger service.
2) You will find yourself at this page:
https://www.blogger.com/start
My suggestion is to take the time to "Take a Quick Tour."
3) Follow the link "Create Your Blog Now." Since you are logged into your google account, you'll find yourself at this page:
http://www.blogger.com/create-blog.g
When asked for the name of the blog, try using this format: "YourLastNameWritingJournal."
4) Once the name for your blog is accepted, you'll be asked to choose a template. The template will govern the appearance of your blog. You pick one by clicking on the little circle next to the name and hitting "Continue."
5) If you find yourself on a page saying: "Your blog has been created!," you're ready to start posting; so, follow the "Start Posting" link. This link will open up a page allowing you to create and edit a blog post. It looks a lot like editing page for google docs, and you can use it in the same way.
6) Type in a short welcome post. Use the title "Welcome to My Writing Journal." The rest of the message I leave up to you. When you are done drafting and editing your post, hit "Publish Post."
7) Next time you need to create a post, you can sign into your google account and navigate to the blogger service, and you'll be taken to the Blogger Dashboard. Once there, you have the option of viewing your blog, creating new posts, changing the layout, etc.
As always, if you have problems, write or call with them. I'm here to help.
Writing:
OK, you now have a brand spanking new blog, and you've read chapters two and three of _Writing for College, Writing for Life._ These chapters discuss tactics for reading actively and using writing as a means of learning better. In particular, you'll find on page 32 and following a discussion of "Starting Your Writer's Journal," "Writing Effective Summaries," and "Synthesizing Information in Readings." Also review pages 47-54 on keeping a "Vocabulary Journal" and on using your journal to make connections to your daily life.
Consider your blog a writer's journal, and a place where you read actively.
Here's where writing comes in:
When you read a chapter, I want you to create a post for your blog where you write a kind of mashup of the following: write a "Minute Paper" (p. 49), summarize (p. 35-39) and/or paraphrase (p. 53-4) the major points of the chapter, and connect what you've learned to your daily life (p. 47). This genre of writing is called a "Reading Response," and you'll do a number of them for different classes before you graduate. You can even find articles online on the genre which discuss the genre's ins and outs. Weekly reading responses are usually one page, single spaced. I still use this genre when I read difficult texts. I also want you to keep an ongoing post (you can go back and edit blog posts) where you define the terms being used in the reading in your own words (see "Vocabulary Journal," pages 47-8). You should update your blog with a new posts and new vocabulary each week.
What you are learning to do is to use writing as a means of improving your learning. Because it's in a blog format, once you share your blog web address with me and the rest of the class, the class and I will have the option of learning from your posts. Making weekly posts on the reading forces you to practice the summary, paraphrasing, and synthesis skills you're learning. Finally, your blog gives me a means of making sure you do the reading without having to do things like frequent pop quizzes. More importantly, it allows me to see if you are getting the terms and content of the course. Most importantly, it provides you one additional means through which you can learn how to learn, and this last is the most important lesson you'll take away from college.
As always, write with any concerns, problems, or questions.
Read Chapter 2, "Reading Critically for College and Life," and chapter 3, "Writing to Discover and Learn."
Tasks:
Set up a personal blog. To set up your blog:
1) Log onto your google account, and use the service line--the one with the "more" link--to find the link to "Blogger." Follow that link to set up the blogger service.
2) You will find yourself at this page:
https://www.blogger.com/start
My suggestion is to take the time to "Take a Quick Tour."
3) Follow the link "Create Your Blog Now." Since you are logged into your google account, you'll find yourself at this page:
http://www.blogger.com/create-blog.g
When asked for the name of the blog, try using this format: "YourLastNameWritingJournal."
4) Once the name for your blog is accepted, you'll be asked to choose a template. The template will govern the appearance of your blog. You pick one by clicking on the little circle next to the name and hitting "Continue."
5) If you find yourself on a page saying: "Your blog has been created!," you're ready to start posting; so, follow the "Start Posting" link. This link will open up a page allowing you to create and edit a blog post. It looks a lot like editing page for google docs, and you can use it in the same way.
6) Type in a short welcome post. Use the title "Welcome to My Writing Journal." The rest of the message I leave up to you. When you are done drafting and editing your post, hit "Publish Post."
7) Next time you need to create a post, you can sign into your google account and navigate to the blogger service, and you'll be taken to the Blogger Dashboard. Once there, you have the option of viewing your blog, creating new posts, changing the layout, etc.
As always, if you have problems, write or call with them. I'm here to help.
Writing:
OK, you now have a brand spanking new blog, and you've read chapters two and three of _Writing for College, Writing for Life._ These chapters discuss tactics for reading actively and using writing as a means of learning better. In particular, you'll find on page 32 and following a discussion of "Starting Your Writer's Journal," "Writing Effective Summaries," and "Synthesizing Information in Readings." Also review pages 47-54 on keeping a "Vocabulary Journal" and on using your journal to make connections to your daily life.
Consider your blog a writer's journal, and a place where you read actively.
Here's where writing comes in:
When you read a chapter, I want you to create a post for your blog where you write a kind of mashup of the following: write a "Minute Paper" (p. 49), summarize (p. 35-39) and/or paraphrase (p. 53-4) the major points of the chapter, and connect what you've learned to your daily life (p. 47). This genre of writing is called a "Reading Response," and you'll do a number of them for different classes before you graduate. You can even find articles online on the genre which discuss the genre's ins and outs. Weekly reading responses are usually one page, single spaced. I still use this genre when I read difficult texts. I also want you to keep an ongoing post (you can go back and edit blog posts) where you define the terms being used in the reading in your own words (see "Vocabulary Journal," pages 47-8). You should update your blog with a new posts and new vocabulary each week.
What you are learning to do is to use writing as a means of improving your learning. Because it's in a blog format, once you share your blog web address with me and the rest of the class, the class and I will have the option of learning from your posts. Making weekly posts on the reading forces you to practice the summary, paraphrasing, and synthesis skills you're learning. Finally, your blog gives me a means of making sure you do the reading without having to do things like frequent pop quizzes. More importantly, it allows me to see if you are getting the terms and content of the course. Most importantly, it provides you one additional means through which you can learn how to learn, and this last is the most important lesson you'll take away from college.
As always, write with any concerns, problems, or questions.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Shorpy's: The 100 Year Old Photo Blog
You may have noticed; I like blogs. I read a *lot*; and, I love the fact that blogs allow anyone to reach a wide audience with their writing and particular point of view. In an earlier post, I mentioned RSS feed readers. I use google's Reader, and with it I subscribe to an ever changing array of blogs. Every post from every blog is collected in google reader, saving me tons of time moving between individual blog web sites. Instead, I just log link to my Reader, and there are the feeds I read every day.
One of the blogs to which I subscribe is Shorpy's 100 Year Old Photo Blog. Shorpy collects old photographs and publishes one a day on his blog--allowing an insight into the past 100 years of American history that words alone never will allow.
Below, find a link to a Shorpy photo of the 7th Street canal bridge here in Richmond.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/2432
Shorpy published this photo just a couple of days back. It was taken just after Richmond burned at the end of the Civil War. By the way, the city burned because the Confederates wanted to deny the Union solders access to Richmond's infrastructure. The Union solders put out the fires. The fleeing Confederates started them.
In any event, here is one beginning of the South's period of Reconstruction. Look closely at the photo, and you'll see a couple of the canal boats which provided much of Richmond's wealth, that is, up until the 1880s, when the canal system was replaced by the railroad system we see today. Also notice the squaller. To really get a handle on history, you've got to pay attention to details like the kind of places folks lived. Imagine the water. It isn't the relatively sanitary water you'll find today. It smelled and not in a good way.
Think about Richmond during Reconstruction. Think about its water. Did you ever notice the White House of the Confederacy (What? You haven't every visited? Shame.) has its porch on what we would consider the back of the house? Why? Because the street in front of the house would have been a quagmire of mud (or dust), refuse dumped in the street, and horse scat. The smell alone was overpowering; so, the well to do faced their porches--where they would come to escape the heat of Richmond's summers-- toward the back of the house. Now imagine how that canal--indeed, anything down hill from downtown Richmond--would have smelled. Heck, it wasn't until the 1880s that Richmond began to clean the water most folks drank every day. That's why the first pond in Byrd park was built, that is, as a settling pond for the water the city pumped up the hill for folks to drink. Before that settling pond, the water the city distributed was raw Jame's River water. Uck. And, it wasn't until later city water was treated for bacteria. Uck and double uck.
Still, the picture is very, very cool.
Let me make a suggestion. As part of your studying US history this semester, why not subscribe to or visit Shorpy's everyday and see what kind of insight the photos give you into a very different world, but one which created and continues to influence the one we share.
http://www.shorpy.com/
One of the blogs to which I subscribe is Shorpy's 100 Year Old Photo Blog. Shorpy collects old photographs and publishes one a day on his blog--allowing an insight into the past 100 years of American history that words alone never will allow.
Below, find a link to a Shorpy photo of the 7th Street canal bridge here in Richmond.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/2432
Shorpy published this photo just a couple of days back. It was taken just after Richmond burned at the end of the Civil War. By the way, the city burned because the Confederates wanted to deny the Union solders access to Richmond's infrastructure. The Union solders put out the fires. The fleeing Confederates started them.
In any event, here is one beginning of the South's period of Reconstruction. Look closely at the photo, and you'll see a couple of the canal boats which provided much of Richmond's wealth, that is, up until the 1880s, when the canal system was replaced by the railroad system we see today. Also notice the squaller. To really get a handle on history, you've got to pay attention to details like the kind of places folks lived. Imagine the water. It isn't the relatively sanitary water you'll find today. It smelled and not in a good way.
Think about Richmond during Reconstruction. Think about its water. Did you ever notice the White House of the Confederacy (What? You haven't every visited? Shame.) has its porch on what we would consider the back of the house? Why? Because the street in front of the house would have been a quagmire of mud (or dust), refuse dumped in the street, and horse scat. The smell alone was overpowering; so, the well to do faced their porches--where they would come to escape the heat of Richmond's summers-- toward the back of the house. Now imagine how that canal--indeed, anything down hill from downtown Richmond--would have smelled. Heck, it wasn't until the 1880s that Richmond began to clean the water most folks drank every day. That's why the first pond in Byrd park was built, that is, as a settling pond for the water the city pumped up the hill for folks to drink. Before that settling pond, the water the city distributed was raw Jame's River water. Uck. And, it wasn't until later city water was treated for bacteria. Uck and double uck.
Still, the picture is very, very cool.
Let me make a suggestion. As part of your studying US history this semester, why not subscribe to or visit Shorpy's everyday and see what kind of insight the photos give you into a very different world, but one which created and continues to influence the one we share.
http://www.shorpy.com/
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
When Assignments Are Due, that is, (usually) Sunday Midnight.
With my plumbing problem on Monday, I'm posting assignments on Wednesday that I would normally have posted this past Sunday or before.
Unless I tell you otherwise, I expect each assignment I give over the week to be done by Sunday at midnight, and a new week for the class will start each Monday morning. Since the week's assignment is being posted today, this week you might find yourself a few days behind the typical Sunday deadline. That's OK, but do take the Sunday deadline seriously for future work.
1) Plan on doing the reading and updating your writing inventories at least once a week, and have the reading and updating done by Sunday mid-night. I'll often base class discussion on the assumption the work has been done BEFORE class on Monday.
2) Unless I tell you otherwise, if there's a draft, peer editing assignment, or paper due, it will be due Sunday by midnight. Here, having your work done might affect not only your grade but that of your peers. After all, if I have you helping someone revise a draft or helping to proofread, they need to have *your* work to do the assignment.
3) I take not having work done someone else needs to succeed *much* more seriously than I do just not having your own work done. Take this warning seriously as well.
Just one final note, if you're timely in having the reading done, responses written (don't worry about responses just now), and participate in class discussions in a timely manner, you can expect a much higher grade in the class participation component of your final grade.
Class participation counts 40% of your final grade, so having the work done on time is worth your time (pun and redundancy intended) and effort.
Unless I tell you otherwise, I expect each assignment I give over the week to be done by Sunday at midnight, and a new week for the class will start each Monday morning. Since the week's assignment is being posted today, this week you might find yourself a few days behind the typical Sunday deadline. That's OK, but do take the Sunday deadline seriously for future work.
1) Plan on doing the reading and updating your writing inventories at least once a week, and have the reading and updating done by Sunday mid-night. I'll often base class discussion on the assumption the work has been done BEFORE class on Monday.
2) Unless I tell you otherwise, if there's a draft, peer editing assignment, or paper due, it will be due Sunday by midnight. Here, having your work done might affect not only your grade but that of your peers. After all, if I have you helping someone revise a draft or helping to proofread, they need to have *your* work to do the assignment.
3) I take not having work done someone else needs to succeed *much* more seriously than I do just not having your own work done. Take this warning seriously as well.
Just one final note, if you're timely in having the reading done, responses written (don't worry about responses just now), and participate in class discussions in a timely manner, you can expect a much higher grade in the class participation component of your final grade.
Class participation counts 40% of your final grade, so having the work done on time is worth your time (pun and redundancy intended) and effort.
Assignments for Week 2: Monday, 14 January-Sunday, 19 January.
Reading:
1) Read Chapter 2, pages 20-66, of _Writing for College, Writing for Life_. This chapter discusses reading actively and how to use reading to better understand what you read. This is important information for many reasons; here are two of the main reasons: 1) in order to understand how your audience reads, you need to start learning how to think consciously about how you read; and, 2) this chapter will help you better understand how to integrate reading and writing tactics to maximize what (and how effectively) you learn. Think of point two in relation to how much reading you have to do to succeed in college, and you'll quickly see the value of reading the assigned chapter.
Writing:
Start your writing inventory.
A major assignment in this class will be keeping a writing inventory. If you go to the class blackboard site, under "Course Documents," you'll find an rtf (rich text file) document, called "writing inventory." Download this file to your computer, and then upload it to the google docs account you set up. [What you haven't set up the google docs service? Right now, log onto your gmail account and look at the top of the page. There you'll find a number of services you can add to your google account. Click on the link named "documents." If you don't see it, then click the "more" link and then on "documents." Once you add the service to your google account, you'll have set up an online word processor, one you can access from anywhere you can get an internet connection.]
You upload a file to google docs by logging onto your google gmail account, using the service line (the one with the "more" link in it in the upper left of your account page), and clicking on the "documents" link. Doing so will take you to the file management page of google docs. Just to the right of the NEW tab, you'll see an "upload" tab. Follow this link to upload the file from your computer which contains the Writing Inventory assignment from the blackboard site.
Once you get the file set up in google docs, use the "share" tab to invite me (prof.brandon@gmail.com) as a collaborator. This will allow me to "visit" your document and leave comments on it.
I've set up the Writing Inventory file (the rtf file mentioned above) as a template for keeping your writing inventory. In this file, I spend a couple of paragraphs explaining why keeping the inventory is so useful to you. One note you'll not find in the file: I'll be posting to this class blog content which goes over many of the learning outcomes you'll see in the inventory, but much of what you'll learn in the course will depend on your ability to read your textbook, summarize the information you find in it, and apply this information to your responses in your inventory, and, yes, we'll talk about how to summarize, that is, if you didn't learn how in your English 111.
As always when taking on a brand new task, expect to do badly, be frustrated, continue to practice, and only then for things to begin to make sense. After you've gone through a week or two of updating your inventory, reading the class text and this blog, doing the homework, summarizing what you are learning, and integrating all this into your inventory responses, the whole process will seem like old hat. Right now, expect to go through some growing pains, and let me help if you find yourself too frustrated. Pay attention to your learning curve, when we talk more about "Process Writing" and Kaizen (more later.), I'll be getting you to reflect on your learning process for these first few weeks of class.
Other tasks:
1) Get in the habit of checking this blog either through this web site or via an RSS feed reader.
2) Set up an individual blog you'll use for the course. You set up the blog--you guessed it--by logging onto your google account and adding the service called blogger. You'll be asked to name your blog. Pick a name with the following structure: "YourLastNameENG111Spring2008." My guess is this blog name will be available when shorter ones wouldn't. Next week, as one of your assignments, I'll set up a google doc through which you can share your gmail and blog address with the class. At the same time, you'll be inviting everyone else in the class to be a collaborator on your writing inventory. Again, more later. The above is enough for one week.
1) Read Chapter 2, pages 20-66, of _Writing for College, Writing for Life_. This chapter discusses reading actively and how to use reading to better understand what you read. This is important information for many reasons; here are two of the main reasons: 1) in order to understand how your audience reads, you need to start learning how to think consciously about how you read; and, 2) this chapter will help you better understand how to integrate reading and writing tactics to maximize what (and how effectively) you learn. Think of point two in relation to how much reading you have to do to succeed in college, and you'll quickly see the value of reading the assigned chapter.
Writing:
Start your writing inventory.
A major assignment in this class will be keeping a writing inventory. If you go to the class blackboard site, under "Course Documents," you'll find an rtf (rich text file) document, called "writing inventory." Download this file to your computer, and then upload it to the google docs account you set up. [What you haven't set up the google docs service? Right now, log onto your gmail account and look at the top of the page. There you'll find a number of services you can add to your google account. Click on the link named "documents." If you don't see it, then click the "more" link and then on "documents." Once you add the service to your google account, you'll have set up an online word processor, one you can access from anywhere you can get an internet connection.]
You upload a file to google docs by logging onto your google gmail account, using the service line (the one with the "more" link in it in the upper left of your account page), and clicking on the "documents" link. Doing so will take you to the file management page of google docs. Just to the right of the NEW tab, you'll see an "upload" tab. Follow this link to upload the file from your computer which contains the Writing Inventory assignment from the blackboard site.
Once you get the file set up in google docs, use the "share" tab to invite me (prof.brandon@gmail.com) as a collaborator. This will allow me to "visit" your document and leave comments on it.
I've set up the Writing Inventory file (the rtf file mentioned above) as a template for keeping your writing inventory. In this file, I spend a couple of paragraphs explaining why keeping the inventory is so useful to you. One note you'll not find in the file: I'll be posting to this class blog content which goes over many of the learning outcomes you'll see in the inventory, but much of what you'll learn in the course will depend on your ability to read your textbook, summarize the information you find in it, and apply this information to your responses in your inventory, and, yes, we'll talk about how to summarize, that is, if you didn't learn how in your English 111.
As always when taking on a brand new task, expect to do badly, be frustrated, continue to practice, and only then for things to begin to make sense. After you've gone through a week or two of updating your inventory, reading the class text and this blog, doing the homework, summarizing what you are learning, and integrating all this into your inventory responses, the whole process will seem like old hat. Right now, expect to go through some growing pains, and let me help if you find yourself too frustrated. Pay attention to your learning curve, when we talk more about "Process Writing" and Kaizen (more later.), I'll be getting you to reflect on your learning process for these first few weeks of class.
Other tasks:
1) Get in the habit of checking this blog either through this web site or via an RSS feed reader.
2) Set up an individual blog you'll use for the course. You set up the blog--you guessed it--by logging onto your google account and adding the service called blogger. You'll be asked to name your blog. Pick a name with the following structure: "YourLastNameENG111Spring2008." My guess is this blog name will be available when shorter ones wouldn't. Next week, as one of your assignments, I'll set up a google doc through which you can share your gmail and blog address with the class. At the same time, you'll be inviting everyone else in the class to be a collaborator on your writing inventory. Again, more later. The above is enough for one week.
Welcome
Welcome to the class blog for our English 112. Here, you'll find weekly assignments, content I post about the concepts, skills, and knowledge we'll cover in the class, and class announcements. In many respects, this blog will supersede the class blackboard site.
In fact, as quickly as possible, I will move away from the blackboard site as the primary host for our class. In it's stead, we'll be using a class listserv as one of the major forums through which the class can communicate (LCSpring2008Reynolds@googlegroups.com). More on this last later. For right now, just know that I'll be using this blog as a means of communicating with you.
There are several ways to gain access to the posts I make on this blog. The easiest is to visit the following site at least once a day:
eng112spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com
If you are familiar with blogs, you'll know you can also use a RSS feed Reader. If you don't know what RSS is, follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format).
If you don't have an RSS Reader set up, you can add the service to the google account you're using for this class. Just go to your google account, sign in, use the services line at the top of the page to navigate to "more," and then click on "Reader." Doing so will open a window where you can set up automatic "feeds" from blogs you're interested in reading, like the one for this class. Then, every time there's a new post to one of the blogs to which you are subscribed, it will post on the blog website and be sent to your reader.
In fact, as quickly as possible, I will move away from the blackboard site as the primary host for our class. In it's stead, we'll be using a class listserv as one of the major forums through which the class can communicate (LCSpring2008Reynolds@googlegroups.com). More on this last later. For right now, just know that I'll be using this blog as a means of communicating with you.
There are several ways to gain access to the posts I make on this blog. The easiest is to visit the following site at least once a day:
eng112spring2008reynolds.blogspot.com
If you are familiar with blogs, you'll know you can also use a RSS feed Reader. If you don't know what RSS is, follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format).
If you don't have an RSS Reader set up, you can add the service to the google account you're using for this class. Just go to your google account, sign in, use the services line at the top of the page to navigate to "more," and then click on "Reader." Doing so will open a window where you can set up automatic "feeds" from blogs you're interested in reading, like the one for this class. Then, every time there's a new post to one of the blogs to which you are subscribed, it will post on the blog website and be sent to your reader.
First Post of the Semester
Good Morning,
Jen, Tom, and I will use this blog to talk about what's going on in the learning community this spring. I'll use it to post content related to English, and the class can use it as a means of talking about a subject via the comments you can leave at the end of each post.
Remember, this is a public forum, and your comments, posts, etc. can be read by anyone who can navigate to this site on the web; so, please, don't post personal information.
Do get used to checking the blog at least once per day.
Steve
Jen, Tom, and I will use this blog to talk about what's going on in the learning community this spring. I'll use it to post content related to English, and the class can use it as a means of talking about a subject via the comments you can leave at the end of each post.
Remember, this is a public forum, and your comments, posts, etc. can be read by anyone who can navigate to this site on the web; so, please, don't post personal information.
Do get used to checking the blog at least once per day.
Steve
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)