Readings for Monday, September 24

Fox:
Finally, Mem Fox reveals the writer’s dirtiest secret: we need praise for the work that we do in order to feed our massive, terrible egos. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating, but she does speak the truth: feedback is a rewarding and useful tool. I was able to relate to this article personally because, due to the realities of freelance writing, I don’t make very much money in comparison to the amount of work that I do. But since this writing is posted on the Internet, I receive more feedback than I ever would with print – and when I don’t get a single comment, it’s devastating (thankfully, this is rare). I write because I think I have ideas that are valuable, and when I receive feedback, I know that these ideas have been spread and will perhaps have a positive effect. Hence, satisfaction on my part.

This applies to school, as well. I tend to work harder on papers and assignments when teachers give an acceptable amount of feedback; I’m talking about comments left in the margins as opposed to solitary question marks and smiley faces. As teachers, the primary audience for student writing, we need to show our students that writing can be rewarding. How can we do this? By giving them an amount of feedback that shows we have thought about their work instead of merely glancing at it. I also think the idea of student blogs (which I will never stop bringing up) will give students an audience for their writing besides the teacher. If students discover that they can entertain and enlighten their peers, writing will have more of a point beyond the goal of a good grade.

Perl:

The strongest message in Perl’s article was the dangers of students editing during the writing process; and this problem has only grown worse since word processers start pointing out your mistakes as you type (when I was a tutor, I always made sure that I turned this feature off if a student was going to be using a computer). It seems that most of these students with writing problems are aware of their problems, or have general low self-esteem and befuddlement in regard to writing. And once again we are drawn back to the tip of the iceberg – like the Titanic – to watch these students worry about the surface level of their work. After all, it’s the part of writing that’s been emphasized the most through their lives up to that point.

Even good writers can become stymied when they second-guess themselves constantly throughout the writing process. We need to teach our students that the best method is to write first, and edit later. But, for the love of god, make sure you edit.

Belkin:

Not much to say about this, other than the fact that it was an interesting look at a period in the history of writing instruction, and that I agreed with Belkin’s conclusion. We need to keep writing fun and interesting, but the course still needs to have some sort of old-school structure. Without this structure, I think most students are going to be confused about the goals of the course or, even worse, not take it seriously. If your students were to walk into your class and the teaching you gave them amounted to “Just write,” they’d probably take as much away from their experience if they spent the whole day finger-painting. Writing can be fun, interesting, and rewarding, but I think students need to know it should have the point. And with a lot of the process pedagogy, writing didn’t seem to have much of a point.