Journal 3
Richard Straub’s reading, “Responding-Really Responding-to other students’ writing” clarifies ways to respond a student’s paper. At first I thought responding to other student’s writing means to reply with feedback but as I go further towards the reading it is actually more than just feedback. Certain points that I took from Richard Straub’s reading is how a responder should act as a friend rather than a teacher when responding, must not respond short and sweet, what to address in the comments and must praise and criticize. His suggestions are key strategies that must be followed in order to achieve progress as a responder. In “Responding-Really Responding-to other students’ writing” by Richard Straub’s offers ways for readers to approach a student’s paper, therefore, achieving the responders mission towards helping the writer make better decisions when writing a good paper.
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Acting as a friend when reading the writers paper means to offer those suggestions and tips and to point out the errors. A responder’s job is neither to edit nor rewriting the writer’s paper and instead to read closely and look for the writers goals and aims towards accomplishing the paper’s topic. For Richard Straub, he knows that responding as a friend could mean to be nice towards the writer’s paper and telling them that the paper is fine or that it sounds good. Acting like that could prevent the writer from accomplishing their goals towards achieving the understanding of the topic. To be a real friend we must be honest with them and point out on what is needed to be fixed and offer those suggestions, tips and even examples to know on how each thing must be
When registering for this class, a wave of worry ran through me, because I had minimal skill when it came to writing, particularly in the field of formal writing. The high school I attended was academically poor, we never wrote formal papers, just informal book and movie responses. Therefore I was apprehensive about this class. This course was quite intricate, but I attend skills that will aid me for the rest of my academic career. Rhetorical knowledge, critical inquiry, process, and conventions are all concepts I have acquired.
As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay. I find that the wording and presentation of an article or essay influences my opinion of the writer, and it affects how I receive the idea they are trying to present to me. Craig Vetter uses a blunt approach to convey his idea that writing is nearly impossible to teach, and describes writing as “A blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony every time out.”
The article by Donald Murray entitled, “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts” provides readers a better understanding of the writing process and argues that writers learn to write, by writing and rewriting. Murray also contends that writers must learn to be their own best enemy. Well, I believe I have this trait covered! I will confess, that I purposely saved this course for last, due to the number of years between my last structured learning experience and returning to school to complete a BSN degree.
In They Say/ I say, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein informs the audience of the basic moves in academic writing through text, illustrations, and templates. Their main model in this book is they say/I say template, in which it helps writers to develop their arguments by paying attention to what others are saying, and engaging with a response. The authors goal is to demystify academic writing, and return it to its social and conversational roots. The authors want the writers to engage in the ideas of others. These concepts from this book, will help make a stronger, supportive argument.
This chapter can help young writers in English class with their papers in many different ways. For instance, Trimble gives examples on what a veteran writer does in order to make their writing interesting. He also gives out techniques on how you can get a reader’s attention or how you can fix your writing to make it readable instead of having nonsense. What makes this difficult for me as a writer is that I write what ever comes to my mind and it will not make sense. Another thing that makes it difficult for me as a writer is that I am not good at getting the readers attention and having him hooked on to my work.
To begin with, it is extremely important that our educational system stops promoting false confidence and allowing students to unlearn their current outlook on life. Both Davidson and Twenge touch upon the flaws in the current education system. As Davidson describes, “Confidence in your ability to learn is confidence in your ability to unlearn, to switch assumptions or methods or partnerships in order to do better. This is true not only for you, as an individual, but for whole institutions” (Davidson 67). Davidson believes true confidence, allows one to not only learn important ideas, but also forsake the ideas that may harm him or her from reaching a goal; she also mentions that this notion does not apply just to an individual person, but also applies
What is a friend? A common response to this question seems to be someone who accepts another for who they are. Another less used response to the same question is someone who leave another better than they once were. These two half definitions of friendship come to gather to explain that friend is someone who takes another how they already are and leaves that better than their previous state. True friendship often adds loyalty to ones character resulting in acts of courage.
Imagine being a 17 year old African American kid always being judged just because of his skin color. Everywhere you go you feel like all eyes are on you, especially when you go to a school that only has eight black kids. That's exactly how Justyce McAllister felt in Dear Martin by Nic Stone. In the book, the main character Justyce goes through a lot of conflict involving his skin color. Even though he has a full scholarship at Braselton Preparatory Academy, and is a very smart student, he still gets judged.
Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class. McCarthy chose to enter her study without any sort of hypothesis, therefore allowing herself an opportunity to better understand how each writing assignment related to the class specifically and “what
Not So Fast” Andrea Lunsford researched students’ writing for 30-plus years to see what effect new technology has on how students learn. Lunsford discovered that students are actually improving their own writing skills with the help of mass media. Not only does it allow students more access to educational resources and information, but it also encourages students to do more creative thinking and writing outside of class which Lunsford refers to in her article as “life writing.” In her research she recalls the account of a student who sent a friend a text message which was completely informal and would be considered unprofessional by most piers. However, the same student also sent a very formal and professional report to her faculty adviser later on.
In Tobias Wolff’s short story “The Liar,” the protagonist, James, lies to help him construct a new identity outside of his family. James tells morbid lies about his mother in order to distance himself from her. Since, the loss of his father, James no longer associates with people who are like him. The lies started after his father’s death and his mother starts noticing how much differently he was acting. Since his mother is treating him like she is disappointed in him, James begins to devolve into a state of repressed bitterness.
Over the course of the semester, my main goal was to become a more precise writer and develop my identity as a writer. According too, the Portfolio Letter assignment sheet, becoming a better writer consists of precise planning, draft and revising. It also includes understanding a variety of academic genres by examining the basic characteristics that defines each type. In order too efficiently meet my goal of becoming a better writer, it was very important to have my work evaluated by others and myself as well. The use of rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading and writing all are the important aspects in this course.
Writing has always been an issue but yet interesting subject of mine. As hard as I try and write essays, and papers I just can’t get the hang of writing. But after taking this class, I did learn different writing technique and improved my writing proficiency, material body of formatting, and how to uncovering and properly use sources. Through class exams, essays, and a research paper, I was able to learn new writing skills. Although I have learned a variety of things, my writing still needs improvement.
Each essay I wrote took me several time to write, several drafts which show that I have improve every time I do the drafts to write a perfect masterpiece. I learned a lot of skills and techniques this quarter, which has helped me to improve and progress my writing skills for the future. I will remember the skills, techniques, and tips that professor gave us in this English class for my higher education. For example, all the time that I went to visit professor Sapozhnikov office hours to receive help on my out-of -class essays has helped me to improve, grow, and progress in my writing skills as a writer. Some of the significant changes I have made as I was progressing and growing were to develop a strong thesis to help support my claims as I write my essays, such as facts, observations, illustration, and examples.
The method of research, citing facts, and brainstorming ideas was very intense in this class. Reading various arguments debating the topic I want to write on, was very challenging and time consuming. In this reflection essay I want to show how researching process was vital on changing my writing style. Also, what I’ve learned in English 105 class after a great summer semester with lots of material to learn from. Researching was drastically important, making every paper I made heavily based on research.