10-second review: Teach remedial [basic] writers the techniques of fiction writing in preparation for teaching them expository writing.
Title: “Remedial Writers and Fictive Techniques.” B Lott. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 227 – 230. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: The author believes that by teaching remedial writers the techniques of fiction writing before expository writing, the students will succeed, raise their confidence and pride in their writing and will approach the standard remedial expository writing course with enthusiasm. The “fictive” techniques? Plot, dialogue, flashbacks and characterization. The topic: “Describe a Significant Event in Your Life.”
Comment: The idea is interesting and I would try it. RayS.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Topic: Alternative to Teaching English for English Majors
10-second review: Train college English majors to become editors.
Title: “Does Your Curriculum Need Editing?” G Brenner. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 220-223. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: As an alternative to a teaching career for English majors, editing is challenging, but rewarded by anonymity. “Anonymity refers to the fate of most editors…. Rarely will they get a by-line, seldom see acknowledgment of their work and talent. So any students choosing editing as a career need forewarning…. But most editors shrug off being unsung. They claim fulfillment in knowing that they do good work on difficult texts, that, as Frances Halfpenny writes in ‘The Editorial Function,’ the excellence of their work is most successful when least observed.’ ” p. 223.
Comment: I think that such an alternative to teaching English is well worthwhile. I wish it had been available when I was in college. However, in some ways, English teachers are editors with their students’ compositions and training in editing might have been very useful even to future English teachers. RayS.
Title: “Does Your Curriculum Need Editing?” G Brenner. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 220-223. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: As an alternative to a teaching career for English majors, editing is challenging, but rewarded by anonymity. “Anonymity refers to the fate of most editors…. Rarely will they get a by-line, seldom see acknowledgment of their work and talent. So any students choosing editing as a career need forewarning…. But most editors shrug off being unsung. They claim fulfillment in knowing that they do good work on difficult texts, that, as Frances Halfpenny writes in ‘The Editorial Function,’ the excellence of their work is most successful when least observed.’ ” p. 223.
Comment: I think that such an alternative to teaching English is well worthwhile. I wish it had been available when I was in college. However, in some ways, English teachers are editors with their students’ compositions and training in editing might have been very useful even to future English teachers. RayS.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Topic: Drafts and Writing with the Word Processor
10-second-review: It’s easy to confuse clear copy with the finished copy. You need to remember that a draft is a draft. Here’s how.
Title: “Lessons from the Computer Writing Problems of Professionals.” G. Grow. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 217-220. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: “So they won’t confuse clean copy with finished copy, encourage students to leave in extra headings, embed working questions, etc., so their working drafts look distinctly different from their final drafts.” p. 220.
Comment: One of the advantages of word processing for students is that each printed copy looks finished, without all of the cross-outs, additions and arrows to indicate movement of text from one place to another when writing with pencil or pen. One of the disadvantages of the clean copy is that students are more willing to let poor writing take the place of the hard work of finishing.
The authors’ suggestion that students leave in extra headings that keep the student’s writing unified and inserting working questions indicates that the clean copy is a draft. Of course, an obvious method of showing the progress of a draft is to mark it by red-lining, noting in red all changes. In Microsoft Word, click “Track Changes” on the Tools menu. Then a draft looks like a draft, and enables writers to track and comment on their changes. RayS.
Title: “Lessons from the Computer Writing Problems of Professionals.” G. Grow. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 217-220. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: “So they won’t confuse clean copy with finished copy, encourage students to leave in extra headings, embed working questions, etc., so their working drafts look distinctly different from their final drafts.” p. 220.
Comment: One of the advantages of word processing for students is that each printed copy looks finished, without all of the cross-outs, additions and arrows to indicate movement of text from one place to another when writing with pencil or pen. One of the disadvantages of the clean copy is that students are more willing to let poor writing take the place of the hard work of finishing.
The authors’ suggestion that students leave in extra headings that keep the student’s writing unified and inserting working questions indicates that the clean copy is a draft. Of course, an obvious method of showing the progress of a draft is to mark it by red-lining, noting in red all changes. In Microsoft Word, click “Track Changes” on the Tools menu. Then a draft looks like a draft, and enables writers to track and comment on their changes. RayS.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Topic: Collaborative Writing
10-second review: Teaching students to write collaboratively.
Title: “Lessons from the Computer Writing Problems of Professionals.” G Grow. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 217-220. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Students need to learn to write collaboratively because in the business and industrial world, that is how people write. Problems include different styles and changes in sentences and paragraphs when one partner edits the other partner’s writing. Help students decide on responsibilities before writing. They need to learn to merge the different styles to make the final copy look as if the article were written by one person. Collaboration should also include three or more participants.
Comment: I never taught students to write collaboratively. If I were to do so today, I would probably give the students the assignment, help them define responsibilities, then let them learn the problems of collaborative writing and develop a handbook for collaborative writing to be shared with other students. RayS.
Title: “Lessons from the Computer Writing Problems of Professionals.” G Grow. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 217-220. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Students need to learn to write collaboratively because in the business and industrial world, that is how people write. Problems include different styles and changes in sentences and paragraphs when one partner edits the other partner’s writing. Help students decide on responsibilities before writing. They need to learn to merge the different styles to make the final copy look as if the article were written by one person. Collaboration should also include three or more participants.
Comment: I never taught students to write collaboratively. If I were to do so today, I would probably give the students the assignment, help them define responsibilities, then let them learn the problems of collaborative writing and develop a handbook for collaborative writing to be shared with other students. RayS.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Topic: Professional Writing
10-second review: If you want to publish an article in a journal, become familiar with the format, purpose, audience and conventions of the journal.
Title: “Journals in Composition: An Update.” AM Anson and H Miller. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 298-216. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Lists professional journals in writing with the journal’s auspices, number of times published, appropriate readership, emphasis, subscription information and complete address for submission. The authors of this article have advice for would-be writers for these journals: “While many editors of these…journals expressed interest in receiving more manuscripts on writing, they did so with one caution: authors should be familiar not only with the conventions of the journal but also with the general area of the journal’s focus—whether it be adult education, business management or neurolinguistics. We speak on behalf of many editors in urging readers…not to submit manuscripts to unfamiliar journals….”
Comment: A fundamental rule in writing to publish is to know your market. You have to read the journals you want to write for and become familiar with them. RayS.
Title: “Journals in Composition: An Update.” AM Anson and H Miller. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 298-216. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Lists professional journals in writing with the journal’s auspices, number of times published, appropriate readership, emphasis, subscription information and complete address for submission. The authors of this article have advice for would-be writers for these journals: “While many editors of these…journals expressed interest in receiving more manuscripts on writing, they did so with one caution: authors should be familiar not only with the conventions of the journal but also with the general area of the journal’s focus—whether it be adult education, business management or neurolinguistics. We speak on behalf of many editors in urging readers…not to submit manuscripts to unfamiliar journals….”
Comment: A fundamental rule in writing to publish is to know your market. You have to read the journals you want to write for and become familiar with them. RayS.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Topic: Paraphrasing, the Bridge Between Reading and Writing
10-second review: Has paraphrasing become a lost art? It’s a rewriting of what someone else has written.
Title: “A Dramatistic Approach to Understanding and Teaching the Paraphrase.” Phillip Arrington. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 185-107. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: The bridge to connecting reading and writing is the paraphrase, and paraphrasing needs to be taught and practiced throughout the course. Usually taught with the research paper to prevent students from tediously copying long portions of text, with an emphasis on synthesizing the paraphrase within the research paper. From another point of view, paraphrasing is a technique that helps passive readers become active readers.
Comment. What I have just written is a summary, not a paraphrase, and not a complete summary because I have summarized only selected ideas from the article.
The paraphrase as a technique to change passive readers to active readers is an interesting thought. Asking students to paraphrase key sentences or paragraphs in what they are reading would do it. Shakespeare would be a good place to start. The need to practice paraphrasing throughout the course is a new idea for me. Need to work out with the students what exactly is a paraphrase. RayS.
Title: “A Dramatistic Approach to Understanding and Teaching the Paraphrase.” Phillip Arrington. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 185-107. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: The bridge to connecting reading and writing is the paraphrase, and paraphrasing needs to be taught and practiced throughout the course. Usually taught with the research paper to prevent students from tediously copying long portions of text, with an emphasis on synthesizing the paraphrase within the research paper. From another point of view, paraphrasing is a technique that helps passive readers become active readers.
Comment. What I have just written is a summary, not a paraphrase, and not a complete summary because I have summarized only selected ideas from the article.
The paraphrase as a technique to change passive readers to active readers is an interesting thought. Asking students to paraphrase key sentences or paragraphs in what they are reading would do it. Shakespeare would be a good place to start. The need to practice paraphrasing throughout the course is a new idea for me. Need to work out with the students what exactly is a paraphrase. RayS.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Topic: Composition Assignments and Social Issues
10-second review: Why not make social issues the source of composition assignments?
Title: “Researching the Minimum Wage: A Moral Economy for the classroom.” V Neverow-Turk. College Composition and Communication (December 1991), 477-483. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “…thanking me for having encouraged him to think about social problems he had previously dismissed without investigating their origins and their implications. If the ability to analyze a problem, to plan and execute a project, to think critically about complex issues, and to gather evidence to support an argument or demonstrate a point is part of what we want to teach in composition classes, then this type of assignment offers a model for engaging students in a process of inquiry….”
Comment: Just so long as instructors remain objective and do not try to proselytize or to penalize when students disagree with their point of view. I read an article by one college writing instructor who made it very clear that if students disagreed with her point of view about women’s issues, she would read the compositions more closely than those written by students who agreed with her point of view. That approach to grading, in my opinion, is harassment. RayS.
Title: “Researching the Minimum Wage: A Moral Economy for the classroom.” V Neverow-Turk. College Composition and Communication (December 1991), 477-483. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “…thanking me for having encouraged him to think about social problems he had previously dismissed without investigating their origins and their implications. If the ability to analyze a problem, to plan and execute a project, to think critically about complex issues, and to gather evidence to support an argument or demonstrate a point is part of what we want to teach in composition classes, then this type of assignment offers a model for engaging students in a process of inquiry….”
Comment: Just so long as instructors remain objective and do not try to proselytize or to penalize when students disagree with their point of view. I read an article by one college writing instructor who made it very clear that if students disagreed with her point of view about women’s issues, she would read the compositions more closely than those written by students who agreed with her point of view. That approach to grading, in my opinion, is harassment. RayS.
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