MERRY
SEMESTER'S
END!!!!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
"Making Writing Visible"
This article, by Mary B. Nicolini, represents what we're trying to do through this blog: use writing to learn rather than to show learning. Even though it focused on a specific high school, "Making Writing Visible" emphasized some of tenets that define our approach in tutoring:
1. "Writers need to get it down before they worry about getting it right." That's why fluency comes first for our lab-based students. I know some of these students have been initially frustrated that we haven't emphasized grammar and punctuation in that first week or two of the semester. But discovering what one has to say must take priority. Also, one of our former tutors pointed out that once she found her writer's "voice," she became a lot more invested in taking care of mechanical issues.
2. John Mayher was cited in Nicolini's article: "Teaching writing as a process can either lead to anti-writing in its commonsense domesticated version where the attention still remains focused on producing 'essays,' or it can lead into thickets of discovery." I like this distinction, and I suspect these "thickets of discovery" can and do occur during our tutoring sessions.
3. "Students learn to write by writing." To a certain extent, we need to get out of their way so they can charge into those aforementioned "thickets of discovery" without us as barriers. Of course, it can be a struggle to find that fine line between offering needed guidance and giving student writers the room they need.
What ideas did you take from the article? What fresh insights--or important reminders--did you glean from it?
1. "Writers need to get it down before they worry about getting it right." That's why fluency comes first for our lab-based students. I know some of these students have been initially frustrated that we haven't emphasized grammar and punctuation in that first week or two of the semester. But discovering what one has to say must take priority. Also, one of our former tutors pointed out that once she found her writer's "voice," she became a lot more invested in taking care of mechanical issues.
2. John Mayher was cited in Nicolini's article: "Teaching writing as a process can either lead to anti-writing in its commonsense domesticated version where the attention still remains focused on producing 'essays,' or it can lead into thickets of discovery." I like this distinction, and I suspect these "thickets of discovery" can and do occur during our tutoring sessions.
3. "Students learn to write by writing." To a certain extent, we need to get out of their way so they can charge into those aforementioned "thickets of discovery" without us as barriers. Of course, it can be a struggle to find that fine line between offering needed guidance and giving student writers the room they need.
What ideas did you take from the article? What fresh insights--or important reminders--did you glean from it?
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