I posted grades this morning via the UAT VPN. I don't know how long it takes for grades to percolate through the system; but, once you get to see your grade, do feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about your grade.
Despite the rough start, the class came together, and I was impressed by both the quantity and quality of the learning I saw taking place in your portfolios.
Thank you for all your hard work. As you move into your 102 courses, do feel free to get in touch for any help I may provide.
Steve
Friday, December 21, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Comments on Portfolio Drafts.
Your portfolio drafts are clearly coming together. For a few, there's development left in terms of your cover letters and inventories. For most, you've got a single revision and proofread. For a select few, you've pretty much made your case. Most everyone is doing excellent work.
I have responded to everyone who has asked me to collaborate, via google docs on their drafts. This time, I did so as a response to your emails inviting me to collaborate and, where it seemed useful, in comments on your drafts themselves.
When you submit your final portfolios, do so via google docs. Name the file via your last name and the title "Final Portfolio: final Draft." To insure you're the only one who can view your grade, invite just me as a collaborator.
In the meantime, I will check my prof.brandon@gmail.com email each morning and again either in the afternoon or evening. I will have my cell phone with me: 505-553-3853. Do call with questions, concerns, etc.
As you move toward your last drafts and turning in (publishing) your portfolio, please do feel free to write or call. I'll try to limit new content to the blog, but if a basic idea needs clarification, I will post on it.
Steve
Steve
I have responded to everyone who has asked me to collaborate, via google docs on their drafts. This time, I did so as a response to your emails inviting me to collaborate and, where it seemed useful, in comments on your drafts themselves.
When you submit your final portfolios, do so via google docs. Name the file via your last name and the title "Final Portfolio: final Draft." To insure you're the only one who can view your grade, invite just me as a collaborator.
In the meantime, I will check my prof.brandon@gmail.com email each morning and again either in the afternoon or evening. I will have my cell phone with me: 505-553-3853. Do call with questions, concerns, etc.
As you move toward your last drafts and turning in (publishing) your portfolio, please do feel free to write or call. I'll try to limit new content to the blog, but if a basic idea needs clarification, I will post on it.
Steve
Steve
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Good Enough Process Writing.
A student wrote that knowing one's writing process and knowing one change they could make was "what process was all about." They were correct.
In the reply I wrote back, posted below, I describe the writing process I encourage students in my developmental classes to adopt as a starting point to developing their own process. I reiterate the fact that writing processes are messy and variable, but they profit from being made more systematic; and, I reiterative that learning to better one's process isn't rocket science.
The truth is one's writing process is usually messy. When I teach developmental writing, I teach students to go through all the steps in process writing but to do it in several passes, as they move from the sentence, paragraph, section, and completed draft.
Prewriting consists of thinking about the questions: "What can/should I say next?" and "What kind of sentence do I want to write?" I encourage students to compose the sentence in their heads, and then draft them on the computer. After they've got a sentence down, I have them revise it once or twice--no more--and proof it once. Then they rinse and repeat until they've drafted a paragraph.
Once a paragraph is in place, I have them revise for focus, content, and development, and proof the sentences once again. As they complete sections of a text, I have them revise and proof once again.
Mostly I'm giving them a system to follow and develop from. In the system I teach, they have they revise and proofread at multiple places in the process, so they're writing gets better in what looks from the outside as a longish drafting process. Over time, I move them to writing a sentence a minute and a paragraph every ten minutes or so, knowing that if they need to and the world forces such practice, they'll become increasingly fluid and faster.
As I move them into longer texts, I introduce the value of prewriting before drafting and thinking about the text as a whole; but, many writers stick with the draft and revise method of writing all of their careers. It works well enough.
I think that last thought, working well enough is the key to process. You come up with a process which works. It doesn't have to be elegant. It doesn't have to be pretty. It does have to be capable of producing the texts you need to produce, and these texts need to be good enough to accomplish your purposes on the audiences for whom they are targeted. Later, you improve an ugly process as need arises, and you study and reflect enough, so you can improve if needed. Mostly, such improvements consist of adding in a technique, trick or trying out a new idea for being more effective.
Near the beginning of class, I said, "Learning to be a good writer isn't rocket science. It's mostly common sense, some tools for thinking about your writing systematically, and practice."
In the reply I wrote back, posted below, I describe the writing process I encourage students in my developmental classes to adopt as a starting point to developing their own process. I reiterate the fact that writing processes are messy and variable, but they profit from being made more systematic; and, I reiterative that learning to better one's process isn't rocket science.
The truth is one's writing process is usually messy. When I teach developmental writing, I teach students to go through all the steps in process writing but to do it in several passes, as they move from the sentence, paragraph, section, and completed draft.
Prewriting consists of thinking about the questions: "What can/should I say next?" and "What kind of sentence do I want to write?" I encourage students to compose the sentence in their heads, and then draft them on the computer. After they've got a sentence down, I have them revise it once or twice--no more--and proof it once. Then they rinse and repeat until they've drafted a paragraph.
Once a paragraph is in place, I have them revise for focus, content, and development, and proof the sentences once again. As they complete sections of a text, I have them revise and proof once again.
Mostly I'm giving them a system to follow and develop from. In the system I teach, they have they revise and proofread at multiple places in the process, so they're writing gets better in what looks from the outside as a longish drafting process. Over time, I move them to writing a sentence a minute and a paragraph every ten minutes or so, knowing that if they need to and the world forces such practice, they'll become increasingly fluid and faster.
As I move them into longer texts, I introduce the value of prewriting before drafting and thinking about the text as a whole; but, many writers stick with the draft and revise method of writing all of their careers. It works well enough.
I think that last thought, working well enough is the key to process. You come up with a process which works. It doesn't have to be elegant. It doesn't have to be pretty. It does have to be capable of producing the texts you need to produce, and these texts need to be good enough to accomplish your purposes on the audiences for whom they are targeted. Later, you improve an ugly process as need arises, and you study and reflect enough, so you can improve if needed. Mostly, such improvements consist of adding in a technique, trick or trying out a new idea for being more effective.
Near the beginning of class, I said, "Learning to be a good writer isn't rocket science. It's mostly common sense, some tools for thinking about your writing systematically, and practice."
Saturday, December 15, 2007
General Advice about Your Cover Letters.
I've spent the morning editing and commenting on cover letters and portfolio drafts. Here's three pieces of advice I used repeatedly:
1. "Use specific examples to develop your discussions and claims."
2. "Contextualize the examples you provide by discussing in the text of your letter/portfolio why your example is significant."
3. "Focus your discussion on what you have learned and not on the effort you put in to learn."
Let me develop the last of the three a tad more. Effort has some impact on your grade in every aspect of life, but in college, professors are much more concerned with what you have learned, your expertise, and the demonstration of your skills than they are in how hard you've worked. If all goes well, work in college (and in life) is demanding, challenging, difficult, and engaging. The same is true of that you'll find in most careers worth the work you put in to keep them. You do the work which is necessary to succeed. It's expected, and it usually receives very little praise. Usually, you get kodus for being productive, not for how hard you've worked to be productive.
Ben Franklin once said, if you want to get praised for how hard you work, you must be seen to work. This is why he made sure he was seen delivering his own papers, that is, so folks would notice, and his ethos (his reputation) would be raised as a hard worker. His delievering the papers, however, would have been meaningless if he didn't have the papers to deliever.
1. "Use specific examples to develop your discussions and claims."
2. "Contextualize the examples you provide by discussing in the text of your letter/portfolio why your example is significant."
3. "Focus your discussion on what you have learned and not on the effort you put in to learn."
Let me develop the last of the three a tad more. Effort has some impact on your grade in every aspect of life, but in college, professors are much more concerned with what you have learned, your expertise, and the demonstration of your skills than they are in how hard you've worked. If all goes well, work in college (and in life) is demanding, challenging, difficult, and engaging. The same is true of that you'll find in most careers worth the work you put in to keep them. You do the work which is necessary to succeed. It's expected, and it usually receives very little praise. Usually, you get kodus for being productive, not for how hard you've worked to be productive.
Ben Franklin once said, if you want to get praised for how hard you work, you must be seen to work. This is why he made sure he was seen delivering his own papers, that is, so folks would notice, and his ethos (his reputation) would be raised as a hard worker. His delievering the papers, however, would have been meaningless if he didn't have the papers to deliever.
Reminder: Due Dates for Portfolio.
A *draft* of the portfolio is what is due Sunday. This draft should consist of draft versions of your cover letter, inventory, and evidence sections.
The final portfolio is due Wednesday, the last day of class. I want folks to take the time between Sunday and Monday to revise, polish, and ask any last minute questions.
Since one of the lessons I hope you will learn is the value to be gained in taking the time to collaborate, go through multiple revisions, and to proofread carefully, please do take the time between Sunday and Wednesday to make sure what you turn in is your best work.
Also remember, if asked, I'll be happy to look at drafts and offer revision suggestions. If you take advantage of this route, please preface your draft with the specific questions you want answered. Don't ask vague questions, like, "Is this all right?" Or questions like, "What kind of grade would this draft get if I turned it in now?" Focus your questions on specific concerns about the writing, rhetoric, structure, format, etc. of your draft. This will allow you to practice your budding metadiscourse and for me to give specific, useful pieces of advice which will help you improve your portfolios.
Write with questions.
Steve
The final portfolio is due Wednesday, the last day of class. I want folks to take the time between Sunday and Monday to revise, polish, and ask any last minute questions.
Since one of the lessons I hope you will learn is the value to be gained in taking the time to collaborate, go through multiple revisions, and to proofread carefully, please do take the time between Sunday and Wednesday to make sure what you turn in is your best work.
Also remember, if asked, I'll be happy to look at drafts and offer revision suggestions. If you take advantage of this route, please preface your draft with the specific questions you want answered. Don't ask vague questions, like, "Is this all right?" Or questions like, "What kind of grade would this draft get if I turned it in now?" Focus your questions on specific concerns about the writing, rhetoric, structure, format, etc. of your draft. This will allow you to practice your budding metadiscourse and for me to give specific, useful pieces of advice which will help you improve your portfolios.
Write with questions.
Steve
Friday, December 14, 2007
My expectations of you at this point in your writing career.
I wanted to pull the last point I made in the "Portfolio, FAQ" post out and develop it more. I also wanted you to take special notice of what I say here. It has to do with my expectations of you as a writer at this point in your life as a writer. Here's a more developed statement, and I hope it eases some of your worry about what I expect of you and, more importantly, what you should expect of yourselves:
"You need to remember: you are at the end of a first semester, freshman level writing class. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need to be in freshman writing.
At this point in your development as a writer, I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome or to write stunning prose. You should still be struggling, pushing your personal envelop, experimenting, and working on writing good, solid sentences and paragraphs. You should be experimenting with learning how to research and write different kinds of documents and figuring out a repertoire of moves which will serve you well in later writing. One of the joys of early learning is the freedom you have to experiment, screw up, and learn from experimentation, all with less costly consequence than the same mistake will have in later life.
Few people do well the first time they try something, and most are struggling the twentieth. They should be. Few things which are worthwhile can be conquered in a semester or a year. You know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change and mature. I'm still working on writing better sentences, paragraphs, and documents. This continued struggle is part of the fun of being a writer.
I do expect evidence of:
1) substantial work toward producing better, more successful writing,
2) that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support,
3) that you understand and have begun to use process writing, and,
4) that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric.
Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer."
"You need to remember: you are at the end of a first semester, freshman level writing class. I don't expect you to do everything perfectly or be able to produce fluent, fully effective prose with ease. If you could produce such with ease, you wouldn't need to be in freshman writing.
At this point in your development as a writer, I don't expect you to fully understand or to be able to implement and use every outcome or to write stunning prose. You should still be struggling, pushing your personal envelop, experimenting, and working on writing good, solid sentences and paragraphs. You should be experimenting with learning how to research and write different kinds of documents and figuring out a repertoire of moves which will serve you well in later writing. One of the joys of early learning is the freedom you have to experiment, screw up, and learn from experimentation, all with less costly consequence than the same mistake will have in later life.
Few people do well the first time they try something, and most are struggling the twentieth. They should be. Few things which are worthwhile can be conquered in a semester or a year. You know I believe in a crafts' approach to writing, one where you are always in the process of acquiring new skills as your needs and desires change and mature. I'm still working on writing better sentences, paragraphs, and documents. This continued struggle is part of the fun of being a writer.
I do expect evidence of:
1) substantial work toward producing better, more successful writing,
2) that you've learned the basic linkage between opinion and support,
3) that you understand and have begun to use process writing, and,
4) that you have a budding knowledge of rhetoric.
Most importantly, I expect you to have learned some useful techniques and a process through which you can make yourself a better writer."
Researching a Genre: The Portfolio.
Anytime you encounter a genre new to you, like the portfolio, research it online. There are numerous sites which deal with the Freshman English portfolio, and a few minutes spent doing some research on these sites can provide some valuable ideas for your own. You'll also be learning to research genres, not an inconsiderable skill. You also might want to look at the "reflective cover letter" or "reflective learning."
It's funny how many folks will research the right stereo or computer to buy, but it never occurs to them that they can research how to write better and things like genre or how to conquer sentence fragments.
Write with questions.
Steve
It's funny how many folks will research the right stereo or computer to buy, but it never occurs to them that they can research how to write better and things like genre or how to conquer sentence fragments.
Write with questions.
Steve
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