Baby Steps
What gives students the ambition to write? Is it the state of mind that students enjoy when writing or is it the final grade that strives students to craft a good structured, well thought out paper? Also, what obstacles do students encounter when writing, and how can these be avoided? In the past week I have taken the time to observe and take notes on students and focused on what strives them to write. The results that I have inquired can come as a shock or can be something that is already known. “Writing is a way of discovering, of learning, of thinking.” (WaW Pg.115)
When a person is inspired to write or is even forcefully encouraged to write for an assignment, there must be a starting point, a beginning, or something that a
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In the article, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers”, Sommers states that “Experienced writers say their drafts are not determined by time, that rewriting is a constant process that they feel as if (they) can go on forever. (WaW Pg.584) In this article, Sommers is comparing student writers and experienced writers. In her findings, she concluded that she found the student writers that she took time to observed failed to take advantage of the revision process, when writing a paper. Some students see revising as “changing words” when that’s not the case whatsoever. Revising is an act of changing more than words-context, sentence structures and incorrect grammar and punctuation. “Composing does not occur in a straightforward, liner fashion. The process is one of accumulating discrete bits to reflect upon, structure, and then further develop what one means to say. Rereading or backward movements become a way of assessing whether or not the words on the page adequately capture the original sense intended. Also, Sommers takes time and talks about speech and writing and what differentiates the two.” (WaW Pg. 631) The act of revision is what separates speech from written text. One is able to revise and to craft a well- written text, but is not able to do so from something spoken.
In the past week I have spent time and conducted a
Murray (1917-2006) was a scholar, journalist, and author among many other things. Murray wrote the essay “The Maker’s Eye: Revising your own Manuscript”, which was published in a magazine called The Writer. “The Maker’s Eye” explains why it is beneficial to revise no matter if you are a beginner or experienced. “As a word is changed, cut, or added, as a construction is rearranged, all the words used before that moment and all those that follow that moment must be considered and reconsidered.” This means when you changed any word in your writing that is the time to look at previously written words, but also consider the new words you are
In Nancy Sommers’ article, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers”, she addresses how to different groups, students and experienced writers, go about revising their paper. Sommers method of taking the results of her experience could have been much more effective if she would have added details about certain thing. How did the group’s final papers turn out? Where there significant difference in the final papers, and if so what were they. Did both group turn up with nicely written papers? These questions would have helped to understand the importance of revision toward the creation of the paper, then just the revision stage itself. Sommers mention of how most students repeat themselves in their writings by just
Students don’t always know what they are going to write about right away while writing an article or essay, some people just need to give it time. Donald M. Murray claims in his article in “Write Before Writing”, students should be told of the importance of prewriting. To do so students have to understand the write before writing. Murray list 4 strategies in writing, there is Resistance, force, rehearsal for writing, and implications for teaching. “Most writers need time to wait for the ideas to flow into your head for everything to make sense, some people call is procrastination or delay.” (Murray 375) Murray talks about the four pressures that move them forward, by increasing information - when the writer decides on a subject understands the subject they are writing about, increasing
It is crucial when it comes to promoting interest in writing that students are confident in their skills. If students do not exemplify confidence then the writing process will be very daunting. In order to promote confidence in the classroom, the teacher can encourage that student’s write about things that interest them, whether it is journaling about their weekend, or writing fictional stories. When the teacher gives opportunities for students lacking
Have you ever given much thought about revising your paper? We correct the spelling, fix the grammatical errors, and give it one last read through then we hand it in. Revision is one of the most important pieces when writing an essay, but do we overlook it? I most certainly did until I read Barbra Tomlinson’s essay, “Tuning, Tying, and Training Texts: Metaphors for Revision”. Tomlinson opened my eyes and I see a whole new light when it comes to revising my papers.
In the novel This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, author Naomi Klein argues that climate change is an inevitable crisis leading toward disaster. She discusses the urgent need to shift towards renewable energy and the need to move away from a "savagely unjust economic system,” that has led our economy towards to extractivism(15).
As I look back into my high school years, I thought I wrote papers well. But then coming into a college environment, my papers were mediocre. By overlooking at my past papers, I found that they were unorganized, sloppy and had bad use of diction. From now on, I will use the tools I learned in English 1100-40 as a foundation for the future papers I intend on writing in college. Following the criteria of organizing ideas so that they flow, impacting the reader with diction and also by being creative, will help become an ideal writer. Following the criteria of staying motivated in short and long term goals, taking responsibility for actions and finally the ability to study well will help me develop into a supreme student.
There was a lot of reasons World War 1 commenced imperialism, assassination, nationalism, alliances, and militarism are a few of WW1’s causes. On June 28th, 1914 archduke of Austria-Hungary and his wife were on their way home from an event when their driver took a wrong turn and Blackhand member Gavrilo Princip just happened to be in the alleyway where they stopped to turn around. Gavrilo Princip quickly pulled out his gun and shot both Archduke and his wife. This Assassination caused Serbia and Austria-Hungary to declare war which lead to WW1. Militarism is the belief or desire of a government of people that I country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests. Militarism denoted a rise in military expenditure, an increase in military and naval forces, more influence of the military men upon the policies of the civilian government, and a preference for force as a solution to problems. This caused the war because it built up nations armies and when you have a huge army that's good you use it. Imperialism is a policy of extending another country‘s power and influence through colonization, and use of military force to create empires they exploited weaker countries. This policy of one nation dominating other countries or regions caused the war because countries wanted to be huge empires like Great Britain. There were many causes of World War 1 but the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
Students are subjected to write an array of essays, but they lack the required tools needed to effectively deliver a great paper. They are struggling to write and teachers are needing to design and conform to their current student’s needs. New methods are created and implemented in order to execute the daunting task of learning how to write a well-developed paper. Practical recommendations are brought forth for teachers to use and good teachers will learn to design instruction and activities based on suitable references. Teachers must set goals and deliver their lesson with specific strategies to meet their objectives. They must learn to improve skills dramatically by observing and modifying the students. Teachers must plan strategies in order to help the struggling students catch up or exceed in their writing skills. They must learn to motivate their students by keeping them engaged throughout the writing process if not they risk losing the student’s ability and focus to do better.
Teachers, parents, and friends often tell students exactly what the writing process should entail and how long it should take. However, the older I get, the more I realize that the writing process varies not only from person to person, but also from one writing project to the next. Throughout my years of life, I have written countless papers, ranging from a persuasive speech to an extensive research paper, and each project requires an altered version of my personal writing process. While each individual has his own writing process, there can be many similarities between different writing processes. Finding one’s individual writing process takes trial, error, and repetition. When an individual finally uncovers his unique writing process, better thought, work, and writing is produced.
According to Harris, many writers mistake editing for revising and fix small mistakes which is actually the process of editing. He also emphasizes the fact that revising takes time and a writer will never have their work ready in one draft; it will take many drafts which will be revised for clarity and cohesion. The draft itself could evolve into something different than was originally planned and writers should know, that is
I have never been an excellent student and perennially struggled with English, Math, and Science growing up. These subjects would cast a pall over my day and school work. Anxiety would well up inside of me which often resulted with me passed out across my desk sleeping through parts of class. When I would return home at day’s end, I rarely completed my homework. When I did try to complete homework, it often ended in tears of frustration or the hurling of a book across the room. Taking this class has helped to quell a portion of that anxiety and frustration. It was a grueling class, seemingly impossible at times, but taking this class has given me the confidence to know that not only can I finish the class if I work hard but can also excel! Writing is something that I will exercise throughout my college curriculum and my life. It will help to convey my ideas to the instructor, peers, bosses, and co-workers. In my college curriculum, it will also show my instructors that I’m learning the information provided and how to apply that knowledge appropriately. It will allow me to complete assignments, discussions, and reports, and I will also apply writing in basic communication when necessary.
This semester I was surprised by how much I actually learned and developed my writing skills. I was given the opportunity to learn the many steps that it is required to become a good writer. Writing requires a lot of work. It consists of various steps; prewriting, drafting, rewriting, proofreading and publishing. . All of these components are extremely important, and necessary, and will need to be follow to improve student’s writing.
The first step to being successful, no matter what you’re trying to succeed, is to recognize your weak points, your strengths, and your limits. I myself know that I have several, and when I say several, I mean several, weak points when it comes to writing papers. The first and most lethal to a student who wishes to be well, is procrastination. I will always put writing a paper off till the last minute. In fact, I’m doing it right now as I’m writing this. I’m already doing what I say I’m not supposed to be doing. You can probably tell that I’m off to a great start. The next on the list of things that will brutally murder a student who wishes to do well in a class are distractions. Of course there is a multitude of things that can distract
Writing can be very hard especially for first time writers. There are a lot of things and process that they need to undergo in order to master the art of writing. However, it will be hard for them also to accomplish their writing task if they don't have the attitude towards writing just like most writers do.