Advice Page resources

As I looked through more and more material for my advice page, I realized that I just wanted to give a few points that could be helpful for a writing consultant to just glance over on any given day--kind of like Post-It note messages as "notes to self," with longer explanations to follow them. I focused heavily on issues of communication, verbal and nonverbal, because we cannot help make better writers if we are not effectively communicating with them. Particularly helpful to me were various concepts I have learned over the years involving interpersonal communication, and I found a few resources that had information along the same lines or related to issues of communication in the writing center. I hope that my page might be helpful to novice consultants especially, but also to consultants who have been at it for a while now and just may need a helpful reminder.

College Essay Mentoring

Yesterday I had the follow-up session with my brother on writing his college essays. Compared to when we initially talked, he appeared a lot more confident in discussing his writing and his ideas. He was also more focused with putting himself on the page--making his essay directly reflect his voice, ideas, and experiences as opposed to trying to figure out what the admissions people might want to hear. While he had not yet written a solid essay for any particular school he is looking to apply to, one of his teachers has required him to respond to different college application essay prompts on a weekly basis to help him foster ideas and gain experience and confidence in essay writing. We spent time talking about some things his teacher pointed out to help the class improve, such as making every word count and avoiding vagueness. We also worked on transforming a couple of sentences with general wording into specific language that evoked imagery and emotion. I feel confident that my brother is well on his way to constructing a successful college essay, and in becoming a successful writer.

Another project idea

After reading Long's blog about the need for student evaluations of their consulting sessions, I remembered a question that I had a while ago:  Is there any system currently in place that requires writing consultants to evaluate their own performance periodically?  I know that plenty of programs make use of surveymonkey.com to create evaluations, so there may already be one.  However, if there isn't, I think it would be a valuable addition. 

My own experiences shadowing in the writing center have often made me wonder if some of the writing consultants realize how their proceedings in a consultation may positively or negatively impact their writers.  A way to find this out could be a survey or self-evaluation form to be completed by the consultants once or twice during each semester.  That way, even if some consultants may feel inclined to make their performance look better than it actually is, all consultants will be cognizant of what things they need to be doing and what areas they can improve upon.  Certain questions could be included just as little reminders for do's and don't's to keep consultants aware of their actions during each consulting session. 

Now I'm wondering if I should have pursued this avenue for my final project instead...

Research Blog

After looking back on my blog about my most recent shadowing experience, I've decided that for my final assignment I will address the following question:  How can awareness and control of little things aid in my heightened effectiveness as a writing consultant? OR:  What little things can I do to improve my effectiveness as a writing consultant?  By little things, I mean such things as manner of greeting, pen color used for corrections, language for written and verbal commentary, and the like.  Slight differences in these things can be the difference between an extremely helpful consultation and one that could potentially leave the writer feeling frustrated, disrespected, incompetent, confused, upset, overwhelmed, or unmotivated. 

Check out this cute story I came across while doing research: 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/30185109

And here are some of the sources I've come across in JSTOR and Google Scholar searches:

"'Never Use a Red Pen' and Other Maxims for Reflective Teaching"

by J. Mark Schuster

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3325664

search terms:  "red pen"

--Explores strategies to help teachers become more "reflective" of how they operate with students and their teaching experiences; ties into how we should be constantly reflecting on our experiences in the writing center and beyond to improve our interactions.

"Beyond the Red Pen: Clarifying Our Role in the Response Process"

by Bryan A. Bardine, Molly Schmitz Bardine and Elizabeth F. Deegan

http://www.jstor.org/stable/821738

search terms:  "red pen"
--Explores the (in)effectiveness of some written commentary

"Improving the Silent Curriculum"

by Philip L. Hosford

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1476286

search terms: "interpersonal skills in the classroom"
--Explores the different impacts teachers make on students (and others) in the way they approach their teaching; looks at positive and negative effects

"The 'Smack of Difference': The Language of Writing Center Discourse"

by Thomas Hemmeter

http://136.165.62.103/wcj11.1/WCJ11.1_Hemmeter.pdf

or http://136.165.62.103/wcj11.1/wcj11.1.html

search terms: writing center
--Explores efforts to define the writing center; discusses environment, location, etc.

Bloody Mary

Thursday when I went to shadow, I experienced something that I thought was truly a rare case for collegiate students--this guy had written in its entirety a paper that wasn't due until two weeks later.  I wish I had that kind of time and motivation.  But that, of course, is not the point of this blog post.  The draft he had was pretty solid; there were some areas where further explication would be helpful, but overall he had a very good paper.  So what, right?  Well my writing consultant used a red pen and wrote all over his draft.  I couldn't believe it.  It wasn't all the writing she was doing; although I don't believe all of it was necessary, because she couldn't resist making proofreading marks as she went along.  What arrested my attention was the pen.  Seeing all of that writing on the pages in that menacing color made me feel like he had so much more to accomplish in the paper, when in fact he didn't.  I couldn't imagine what psychological impact seeing all that red had on him--maybe it was none at all, but I personally couldn't keep my attention away from it.  After learning all about the negative effects of red pen usage, I was honestly shocked that my consultant would have readily chosen it for the consultation. 

But why do all these little things matter anyway?

BGC

My visit at the Boys and Girls' Club yesterday went very well.  The student I had seen last time had completed her interview, and she had obtained an amazing amount of wisdom from her grandmother.  With all of that great information, she, Ryan, and I started to brainstorm for her script.  We started off with 3 things about her grandmother that she definitely wanted to include, whether it was about her personality, her past, or a story she told.  Then, we suggested she write down a couple of pearls of wisdom she received from her grandmother that she really wanted to share.  She elaborated extensively on how her grandmother's wisdom applied to some examples in her life, and we encouraged her to include some of that information in her script and maybe even to go back to her grandmother to see if she learned those pearls of wisdom at some memorable point in her life.  I feel really good about how our session went yesterday, and I know that our student is well on her way to something great!

Early Consultation

Thursday when shadowing in the Writing Center, I had the opportunity to observe a consultation for a paper that was early in the writing process.  The writer had a few near-complete paragraphs and rough sketches for others, and she made an appointment to brainstorm for her thesis so that she could establish a direction for her paper.  The consultation seemed to go okay; the writer and consultant spent some time discussing the paper topic, the content already in the paper, and the potential consolidation of the paper's content into an effective thesis statement.  I wished that the consultant let the writer do more of the talking, but despite that, the consultation went pretty well.

Interestingly enough, after the consultation ended a bit early, my consultant and I were talking for a bit.  As I was telling her about our Classmate Consultation project, she mentioned to me that she believed that having good interpersonal skills and being able to connect with the writer in some way is more important/beneficial than knowing some theories on writing consultation, or even knowing that those theories exist.  Her point may be debatable, but I do believe that interpersonal skills go a long way when trying to work with someone on such a sensitive area as writing.

Working with ESL writers

Dr. Grove's time with our class today was particularly insightful for me.  It was one thing for me to read the articles on working with ESL writers, but it was another for me to hear firsthand the ins and outs of the process with someone who works with these students all the time. 

From the very start of class, Dr. Grove captivated our attention as she gave us directions to form a circle and introduce ourselves in Turkish.  For a moment I honestly thought that she misunderstood what we were supposed to be doing in class, but then my aha moment came when I remembered that our focus this week was on ESL writers.  Her foreign language exercise really helped me to understand how some ESL students may feel as they are surrounded by a society of predominantly native English speakers.  Even with some proficiency in the language, the immersion in a foreign culture for a small amount of time is enough to make your head spin, much less if you are actually expected to complete tasks and perform in a comparable way to the larger society.

I am glad that we had the opportunity to have discussion with Dr. Grove, because I believe we learned invaluable information that will better equip us to work with and understand some ESL writers.

The Art of Waiting

Yesterday I sat in the Writing Center with my consultant and another as we all waited on our appointments to come in.  While we waited, we had pleasant conversation, much of which had to do with upcoming class assignments.  When my consultant's appointment didn't show up after fifteen minutes, she let me know that it was officially a no-show.  She apologized that I hadn't been able to observe more actual consultations, but she said that I am experiencing a decent chunk of what it's like to be a writing consultatant--there will always be no-shows.  "There is a lot of waiting involved in the Writing Center," she told me.  I guess I had never thought about all the times that I might actually go expecting to consult with someone, only to be left waiting for a student who never shows up.  While it definitely isn't something that I need experience in, I'm glad that my consultant and I had that conversation because it reminded me of the total experience of a writing consultant.

Making a Connection

I am looking forward to working with the Boys and Girls Club students on their digital stories.  I enjoy mentoring youth and helping them broaden their academic horizon.

Today I don't think I'll have an issue to make a connection with any of the students I might work with.  There are so many things we can talk about:  what they did for summer, for Halloween; plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas; their favorite subject in school or their favorite thing to do.  I am really interested in what they hope to discover in interviewing for their digital story.  The project they will be working on is really an amazing opportunity for them to gain insight into perspectives of life that they may not realize are out there, and if they do, maybe they will get a more in-depth view of a particular person's story or life perspective.

Majoring on Minors

Today I feel like I witnessed an extreme case scenario on what NOT to do as a writing consultant.  Brace yourselves people.

The student didn't bring a hard copy of his paper but rather his laptop, and as my consultant had neither read nor printed the paper, she proceeded to work with him from the copy on his computer.  Harmless right?  WRONG!  After she gave the paper a once over (silently), she made a few comments on the lack of a thesis in the intro paragraph, which engaged the student in a brief discussion of what the teacher mentioned in the writing assignment.  Subsequently, my consultant asked what the student wanted to work on for the paper--grammar, syntax, concepts, or everything--to which the student, looking confused, responded, "Everything, I guess."  The consultant immediately dives into the paper, going sentence by sentence (with full control of the laptop and keyboard) deleting words and punctuation, changing words to what she would rather say ("I'd definitely say 'would' instead of 'could' here," as she simultaneously inserted her alteration) and completely restructuring sentences, with little to no input from the student besides a response of "okay" or "yeah."  At one point, she mentioned that a particular sentence didn't add much to his overall argument, so she just deleted it, without the student having said to do so.  What made it worse was that after tinkering with a few sentences in the first paragraph, she mentioned that if she had any suggestions for conceptual items, she would just put them in parenthesis for him to look at later.  I couldn't believe that all this was happening and that all those changes were done on his actual original document--not a copy of the original saved as anothr version, not with tracked changes.  Unbelievable.  The rest of the session proceeded much in this fashion, although toward the latter half of it, she began to engage the student a little more by talking through some things that she thought could improve the paper.

As you can imagine, I was quite disturbed by the way this session went.  There were so many times when I just wanted to stop her and tell her to let him talk and think of ways to improve certain aspects on his own, but I felt that I would have been interrupting the session and that it wasn't my place.  I'm not certain how long she's been a writing consultant, but I don't believe she's new at it.  If that is the case, I think that maybe it would be beneficial for some writing consultants to revisit the material from our Comp Theory class, so that they are actually benefitting the writers instead of handicapping them.  I hope that my consultant doesn't get in trouble for this, but if this is how most of her consultations go then I think some intervention needs to occur at some point to at least bring her focus back to "making better writers."

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
     --Chinese Proverb

"Non-Traditional" Students and Non-Traditional Consultations

After completing the reading for this week, I honestly feel a bit intimidated about my future position as a writing consultant.  These articles offered a number of issues that I had never considered possibly encountering, such as trying to find the power balance in a consultation with a student who is an elder or trying to maintain a position of neutrality and/or objectivity when faced with a paper that is offensively biased.

Personally, I don't really know how I would have handled any of the situations presented in the readings.  And just the thought of my uneasiness with these predicaments makes me question my capability as a consultant.  Of course, after reading Sherwood's article on failures in consulting, I understand the success as a consultant is a process and will definitely come with its shortcomings.  Nevertheless, even after reading these articles, I still can't quite say with confidence how I would approach a number of the situations presented. 

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." --Yogi Berra

Shadowing Success

I just realized that with all of the homecoming festivities, I forgot to blog about my shadowing experience on Thursday.  However, the forgetfulness on my part is not at all a reflection of my shadowing session, because it was really great.

First, my consultant and I were actually on the same page, so she was in the Writing Center at the proper time, and, thankfully for me, she had an appointment at that hour.  What made it better was that I knew the student she was consulting as well, so she was very comfortable with me observing--so much so that she unhesitatingly included me in the consultation by allowing me to read over the prompt and article used after the consultant had finished reading them.

There were lots of things that went well in the session; however, a couple of things my consultant did seemed to be in direct conflict with some of the points we have learned in class.  The first was that she took a few minutes to read over the student's paper (for the first time, it seemed), and she read it silently.  The other thing that really sent up a red flag was that my consultant was pretty familiar with some of the texts, so she included her opinion about the content much more frequently than I thought she would.  I understand that as consultants we want to target global corrections, but some of the comments the consultant made were entirely reflective of her own opinion, perspective, and interpretation of the material.

Of course, nobody is perfect, and consultants are in that number.  I look forward to observing other consultations to see if my consultant's nature with this student is a consistent thing, or if it was just a simple slip into dialogue and expression with a friend (which the two were).

Article on English

When I went home for fall break, my mom said she had come upon this article and saved it for me.  I thought it was pretty funny and thought the class might find it interesting in the context of our course.  Enjoy!  :)

**You will probably need to change your zoom level (found at the bottom right hand of your browser window) to read it. 



The Importance of Communication

Yet again I was left waiting by myself in the Writing Center yesterday, and after 20 minutes, I decided to finally leave.  While waiting, I had e-mailed my consultant to address the situation of both last week and this week--in the nicest way possible, of course.  I had been really frustrated, though, because I actually leave work early to go shadow, and after waiting in hopes that she would show up, there was no time left for me to return to work. 

Anyway, she responded to my e-mail--with lots of apology--later in the evening.  She said she had completely forgotten about my shadowing on Thursdays, and therefore failed to let me know that her appointment had requested to meet in the library.  She did say, though, that she would be sure it would not happen again.

I'm glad that we're both on the same page now, but I really wish these things could have been ironed out earlier.  Looking back on the past few weeks, I feel as if I should have just e-mailed my consultant in a proactive manner so that it would never get to the point where I would need to be reactive.  This whole situation has highlighted for me the ever-present importance of effective communication.  Without it, life really ends up more difficult than it should be.

Shadowing

I am disappointed again because I still have yet to witness a writing consultation.  The person I am shadowing apparently made flight plans a while back and had to rearrange all of her appointments for yesterday, but I guess it slipped her mind to inform me.  There is usually no one else in the Writing Center when I go, so there were no other opportunities to potentially observe a consultation.  I'm really hoping that next week I'll be able to see what goes on in a writing consultation so that I can better understand what we are discussing in the course and what I will be expected to do in the future.

College Consultation

Today I Skyped my brother--a senior in high school--to talk about college and the college essay.  It was really interesting because at first all of his ideas and statements were so formulaic--like I was interviewing him for a job or something.  So after a little while of hearing that, I just told him to talk to me as me, not like I was an interviewer.  It was hard at first for him to break out of that mind set, but after I prompted him with a few questions about specific examples of his qualities, he began to flesh out his statements and add depth to his experiences.  We talked for about an hour, with the majority of the conversation actually focused on college and writing.  Toward the end, I asked him again what I had brough up initially--what he might like to talk about in a college essay of 250-500 words.  His answer this time was very different; he named a few specific experiences that he could talk about respectively in different essays, with his focus being on how those experiences shaped him and his outlook on life or how he exemplified his character through them. 

I hope that I actually accomplished what I was supposed to in my Skype session with him, because I honestly didn't know if I was doing everything that I was supposed to do, or if I was doing too much.

First real consultant shadowing...or not

So today the writing consultant that I was to shadow was there, which didn't happen last week because of scheduling conflicts.  She was a very pleasant and animated person, and we immediately engaged in conversation as we sat and waited for her four o'clock appointment to show up.  At first she thought that I was there for the appointment, but then understood that I was simply shadowing her.  We talked about Eng 383, her experiences and mine.  We talked about majors and study abroad.  We waited and waited and nobody ever showed up.  She told me she had been having a lot of no-shows lately, although she was booked through the next two months or so.  I did look around the center a little to acquaint myself with some things, but I was ultimately disappointed that I couldn't witness a writing consultation today.  The consultant suggested that I shadow her on one of the appointments she had outside of her office hours, because those people are more likely to show up as their situations are more urgent.  However, I'm not certain if I'm able to do this because of the restrictive nature of our shadowing process--in that we must go every week at the same time with the same consultant (which I personally think is a bit much).  If I can shadow some weeks with her on off-times and actually witness a consultation, I'd much rather do that than waste time hoping whoever booked the time slot shows up.  That's if I'm allowed.  If not, that's ok too I suppose.  It's not my system.

Breaking All the Rules

While I haven't yet had the opportunity to shadow a writing consultant (because of a little miscommunication), I have had the chance to put my writing consultant training to work.  And guess what I didn't do:  follow all of the helpful techniques to assist writers as opposed to the piece of writing.

My best friend is on The Collegian staff, and she asked me to read over one part of the article she was working on.  As I already knew the aim of the article, I asked, "What is it exactly that you want me to focus on."  At least I started off on the right foot, right?  She told me that she just wanted me to make sure that particular part of the paper made sense and didn't sound stupid.  So I started reading the text on the screen, and the first thing I did was to point out a couple of typographical errors.  Strike one.  Not to mention I was reading silently to myself.  Strike two. The wording in one of the sentences just didn't sit right with me, but I couldn't put my finger on what was problematic.  My contemplative silence was interrupted by her questioning: "Does it sound stupid?  Is it enough?"  Not really knowing how to communicate my thoughts, I just answered, "Yeah, it's fine.  It sounds good."  And it was good, but there was still something awkward or something about that sentence.  Thank goodness she talked more about her thoughts and highlighted a particular area that she felt could be stronger; I fed off of her and was able to eventually communicate my thoughts.  Just shy of strike three.  Or maybe I had already gotten it--who knows.

I realized just how difficult it is to get in the habit of using a particular technique when I am so used to just pointing out errors and talking over alternate wording for problematic sentences.  I've served as "editor" for a few of her written works, and that is how it usually goes.  Mind you, my friend is an excellent writer--many times I have no suggestions to give.  However, I realized in this most recent instance that it is crucial that I break out of my habitual way of handling the writing of my close friends/family and start putting into practice the techniques we are learning in class.

Clarity in Writing

Today in class, we struck on something that was particularly interesting to me:  writing that is intelligent, yet not convoluted.  It is so hard sometimes to be concise in academic writing because there is the looming notion that in order to sound like a scholar, you have to write with complex verbiage.  However, we know that is not the case at all.  It is so common, though, to come across "scholarly works" that are so dense that the writer's point cannot be understood.  Why is it so refreshing to stumble upon written works that are simply and intelligently presented?  Why is this not the norm?  Or is it truly what we all strive for but fail miserably to acheive?

I can personally attest to the inclination to use "academic-sounding" language for my written assignments in school.  It's how we get by in a lot of classes, honestly.  I remember that on my first Core paper my professor commented, "Too concise," or something to that effect.  So how did I solve that "problem?"  You know it--I loaded up on the fluff...BS if you will.  What else was I supposed to do?  Most teachers have an issue with people being long-winded--they just want them to get to the point.  But no, mine was opposite.  The only thing with that (besides me participating in academic BS) is that I have trouble now trying to state my point concisely.  How do you revert to something that was labeled as wrong or problematic before?  How do you look past the page minimums and just focus on what you're trying to say?  It's all related you see--at least in my book.

Here I Stand...

As far as blogging goes, I can't say I have as many as I'd like to at this particular point.  But honestly, I don't always feel like I have something to blog about.  I'm not necessarily stimulated to blog about everything we read, although I know that we are supposed to blog on readings.  I also know that my blogs are lacking in extra content, such as quotes, links, or pictures.  I have tried quite a few times to link images to my blog, and each time has ended in failure or so much time spent that I just give up.  I'm not sure how much that matters as far as points go, but I'd like to make the blogs I do write as visually appealing and mentally stimulating as possible.

I also don't always have comments to write.  I might read through a few blogs and I feel like I could comment, but it would more than likely be a BS canned response of "I really agree...what we said in class was..." and the like.  Maybe I need to think deeper on the thoughts in the posts, or maybe I'm missing something.

Hopefully things will start turning around.  I'll try to focus more on the point of the blog and try to make sure I'm getting something out of both blogging and reading others' posts.

Exactly what my teacher wanted, I think

So you may remember my blog about my Sociology paper, or "memo" as my professor called it.  If not, go back and read my blog post Can't escape the BS. 

Well, I got my paper back, and I received full credit for the assignment.  So, what did I do right?  I honestly don't know.  The paper was e-mailed back with no comments whatsoever--no "good point" or "great job tying this back to ..." or "I'm not sure about this..."--nothing at all to help me understand what I should continue to do as a writer to keep receiving perfect grades on writing assignments.  The only part that was contributed to my paper by my professor was the grade: 2.5/2.5.

This really made me think about how important feedback is to writers, especially when the work is going to be (or has been) evaluated.  If a professor were to give me a C on an assignment, I'm sure he/she would have some form of written commentary on what I did wrong or what I could do better.  However, I find it ironic that some professors do not feel the same inclination to comment on the positive aspects of written assignments, especially when assigning perfect scores.  What is it about my writing that deserved all of the points possible?  Is there a certain technique or mode preferred for writing in this particular course?  If so, how will I ever know?  I may never...not without comments...

The Writer's Perspective

Linh Dinh and Sabrina Orah Mark, two published poets, visited my creative writing class yesterday before speaking at their readings later in the evening.  It is always interesting to hear the mind behind the thoughts of a piece of written work, creative or otherwise.  However, I felt a little concerned about the situation because after reading the assigned books of one of the writers, I found that I did not take to the poems/stories at all.  There seemed to be things missing and things forced, neither of which I liked.  How would I go about talking with these writers after I had just written (the night before) a reading response voicing my feelings of dissatisfaction?

It didn't turn out to be bad at all.  In talking with the writers, I understood better their perspectives on their writing and the goals they sought to achieve in each book.  With this information on hand, it made me want to revisit their works, because I felt as if it would make more sense, would be more pleasant.  I couldn't help but think of this class in that process, because so much can change if you have access to the writer when reading their work.  There may be things that you misinterpreted or that were not clearly set forth by the writer, things you thought mistakes that could be intentional.  Speaking with Dinh and Mark gave me so much insight into just how important our (future) jobs are as consultants--being the ones to engage in reading, responding, and listening as well.  They also gave me lots to include in my digital story!  :-)

Connections to the Folk Tradition

I am currently taking an English seminar class entitled "From Folklore to Fiction," and many of the stories we are exposed to in the folk tradition were passed along orally as opposed to being written down.  The length, rhyming, and eloquence of some of the tales are truly admirable, and it amazes me that people created such intricate tales without ever putting pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and that they memorized them as well.  It really makes me question my own techniques in crafting a story, whether for a creative writing assignment or for an academic paper, because I don't think I could actually verbalize my thoughts that well before organizing them in writing.

What is more, I found it particularly interesting that many of the folk tales were altered as they were retold, adding in the storyteller's own personal twist and sometimes their own experiences.  Now it is true that there were probably some storytellers that forgot some specifics of the stories and therefore improvised to fill those sections in, but it was a common practice for these tales to be altered in the ways that they were.  To me, this is one form of collaboration at its best.  To take a story you've heard and add or change some details to make it your own, to make it better...that's really cool.  So instead of having just one story that remains static over time, you have a living story, with dozens of contributors to deleted scenes and alternate endings that make the tale unique every single time.  If only it were that simple in academic writing...

"If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting--only the deeply personal and familiar."
— John Steinbeck (East of Eden)

Collaboration in Writing

After reading Andrea Lunsford's "Collaboration, Control and the Idea of a Writing Center" in St. Martin's Sourcebook (and also constructing a pre-draft response for class review), I have a few thoughts.

I've never really thought about all the different ways you can go about working on your writing, at least as far as writing centers are concerned.  Lunsford really does a good job delineating the differences between "Storehouse Center," "Garret Center," and "Burkean Parlor Center."  Her writing was effective in this regard, as it helped me to understand the foci of the centers, while helping me to put them each into respective categories.  Overall, too, I feel that Lunsford presents her argument well, and indeed presents a number of points to validate her stance.

However, upon reading and reflecting on her article, I couldn't help but think of all of the group projects that were meant for "collaboration" but ended sourly.  I can honestly say that most of the group assignments that I've had in my school career have been assigned by teachers who meant well but had no real idea as to how the project was inherently meant for "collaboration."  Those projects were either dominated by one person, able to be figured out individually without the help of others, seemingly meaningless and a waste of time, or all of the above.  It is really unfortunate how many students are subjected to "collaborative" tasks just because the teacher feels that group work should be implemented in some form or fashion.  Group work is like writing assignments--we are still questioning why some teachers give them.

Not to completely bash group work at all.  It can definitely be beneficial to all involved, but I think that teachers assigning those activities should read Lunsford--she could give them a pointer or two that would spare us all in the end.  No students suffering through contrived group work, no teachers grading BS assignments.  Everyone is happy.

Can't escape the BS

I sat up until 3am this morning, thinking and writing and erasing and writing.  I was trying to complete a rather vague 3 page written assignment given by my Sociology 101 professor- "engage seriously and creatively with the readings."  What the heck is that supposed to mean?  Considering that my professor had only lectured in class up to this point, I had no idea what "type" of paper he wanted us to write.  So I sat and wrote and wasted time trying to figure out just what type of paper to write in order to satisfy my teacher.  I can honestly say that I still don't know if what I produced will be to the satisfaction of my professor; however, I do know that I managed to produce some good-sounding BS just to get the assignment done.  Instances like this really make me wonder why some professors give writing assignments at all.  I feel like this particular paper, considered a sort of informal writing, will be graded completely upon his subjective views of how appealing the writing is.  That is my concern, because it could be to my detriment.  However, I do know that there is only so much "figuring" you can do when producing that first written assignment for a teacher, especially with a prompt as vague as the one I was given.  So all I can do is hope, and maybe after I receive this grade I will better be able to determine what "type" of papers I should be producing to satisy this particular professor.

On learning to help others learn successful writing

It is amazing how we as writers can overlook the simplest concepts in our attempts to produce effective writing, or in our attempts to help others do so.  Never once have I considered the extreme significance of the assignment sheet as Anna Kendall does in her article "The Assignment Sheet Mystery."  While I am in the regular habit of reading and re-reading the professor's assignment sheet or writing prompt and striving to gear my ideas toward the provided information/guidelines, it has never occurred to me that others may disregard or misunderstand said assignment sheet.  I feel that I have been so drilled (by both high school and college professors, if not others as well) to "get" what is asked of me so that I may deliver it in the manner requested to the best of my ability.  In college, I can say that I have especially learned how to craft my writing toward certain teachers' preferences and have become more experienced in deciphering the verbose and abstract assignment sheets.  In helping someone else with a paper or other writing, I honestly don't think that I would really think to even question their use or understanding of the assignment sheet.  However, I am glad that I have read this article, because I do feel that it could be key in helping a person to develop their writing skills as well as their academic success.