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.