tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post113511560867477451..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Do as I say?Bardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1135254899722544842005-12-22T04:34:00.000-08:002005-12-22T04:34:00.000-08:00I do use most of the strategies that I teach my st...I do use most of the strategies that I teach my students. For instance, I freewrite in a journal several times every week. (I will sometimes pull out the journal to show it to my students.) And when we freewrite in class, I always take out my journal and join in.<BR/><BR/>I also go to a monthly writers' group, which is essentially peer review. I have talked to students about that -- what stuff I find helpful and what stuff I find annoying. (For example, it drives me nuts when I am in the rough draft stage and one of my peers starts just doing editing punctuation and stuff on my piece.)<BR/><BR/>One year, I was working on a book review of a book we were reading in class, so I brought in the rough draft of my book review and let my students peer edit it. Their suggestions were actually very helpful.<BR/><BR/>More recently, I have started talking to my students about blogging, because I think the discipline of writing a blog post every day has been good for my writing. The one problem is that my blog is pseudonymous and I am hesistant to reveal it to my students. So for the first time, I have this writing practice that I am sort of hiding from my students ....jo(e)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01488562158252331555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1135230987124136172005-12-21T21:56:00.000-08:002005-12-21T21:56:00.000-08:00I never thought about my own process until taking ...I never thought about my own process until taking the pedagogy class required for all first-year teachers in my program (UNC - heavy emphasis on comp!) - but it felt like a cheat for me to espouse these methods to my students and not be willing to stretch my own boundaries a little. So I started trying some of them.<BR/><BR/>Not all of them work for me, but I've implemented/developed a bunch of them that DO work for me. (Right now I'm trying to learn to draft orally with a voice recorder, b/c I'm a "vomit everything you ever thought onto the paper and then cut it WAY WAY down" writer naturally, and I hate wasting all that typing on something that's essentially crystallization of thought, not "real" writing.)<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, now I'm fascinated with the idea of process, and am always quizzing others about theirs in hopes of scavenging some new technique that will work.<BR/><BR/>I am now a confirmed fan of peer-editing. However, one problem I have is that, while I have several people who read for me, they are uncomfortable with anybody reading drafts of theirs, so I never get to return the favor! I understand the feeling, because it is a very vulnerable feeling to put work that isn't top-flight yet out there to peers and colleagues. But how can we dare to ask our students to take that risk and not even <I> know how it feels?</I>Just some girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16895592912130166725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1135202241610009702005-12-21T13:57:00.000-08:002005-12-21T13:57:00.000-08:00Thanks for the comment, Axis. I like your questio...Thanks for the comment, Axis. I like your question.<BR/><BR/>I didn't know anything about any sort of writing process strategies until I started grad school taking pedagogy classes in an MA program. The program made us do what it taught, and so convinced me. <BR/><BR/>My PhD program had minimal (and when I say minimal, it should be written with only one letter) pedagogical training, so most of the students entering straight from a BA had basically no training in teaching. And being English types, most had tested through first year composition courses, or done well without really getting into the process stuff.<BR/><BR/>So, my guess is, starting out, most taught what they were told to teach, and didn't really "buy" what they were doing. There was a disconnection of sorts, which strikes me as odd, but there it is.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1135174338173344152005-12-21T06:12:00.000-08:002005-12-21T06:12:00.000-08:00Interesting...it seems you and your colleagues cam...Interesting...it seems you and your colleagues came to brainstorming "backwards," so to speak, teaching it first and using it second. I find it surprising since I had assumed that all proficient writers did some manner of brainstorming. So, I guess I am more interested in the reverse question than the one you pose: do folks NOT use some sort of recursive, process-oriented writing? I am also interested in hearing ways to get students to do this seriously. The one method I have found that (sometimes) works is to have them submit a draft and then return it to them with comments. Group work also helps, but we are trying to get students to use these techniques independently, not just as a class exercise. Conferences work, but certain constraints cause problems there.<BR/><BR/>In my case, never having been through a comp. class, I (re)developed the techniques independently, doing a lot of indexing of novels, listing, clustering, and outlining independently. Maybe that's why the process feels so natural to me: I "created" techniques that fit the way I think and work.<BR/><BR/>I have also done a lot of it simply mentally, brainstorming, outlining, and drafting large parts as I am running, sometimes committing sentences and paragraphs to memory before I draft. My last step has always been a super detailed outline, so when I draft, I know exactly what moves I am going to make, having done days and weeks of freewriting.Perfesser Slaughterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18121044187510013809noreply@blogger.com