Learning the Uses of Chaos In The Making of Meaning, Anne E. Berthoff presents the text Learning the Uses of Chaos that will be analyzed in the essay to understand the argument presented. The author brings about the concept of composing in writing and pays particular attention to the process of composing. While the author is concerned about the composing process and the generating and using chaos in writing, the latter has not been discussed in details. The title of the text, which is learning the Use of Chaos, has not been clearly established. Additionally, the relationship between the chaos and the process of composing is not well articulated. The author has used the concept of rhetoric questions, which intrigues the mind of the reader …show more content…
Murray is insightful not only to instructors but also to learners. Murray argues that the challenge facing writing is the fact that teachers have treated it as a product rather than a process and the same concept passed on to students. The author holds that the main problem with this view is that students get to receive irrelevant criticisms that are not related to their learning goals. While I tend to agree with the author based on the arguments presented, it is notable that Murray has paid little attention to the idea of education in the contemporary world. In most learning institutions, the outcome of the writing is considered more than the process. As a teacher paying attention to the process of writing but not be consistent with the students, who are mostly driven by …show more content…
Arguably, there are situations where the tone in the text betrays the author’s insistent perspective concerning writing. For instance, the author argues that a student can pass through the writing process successfully if the teacher chooses to shut up and allow the student to write. In reviewing this particular text, one may argue about the choice of words, however, the tonne also elucidates the author’s viewpoint on the involvement of teachers in the writing process. One of the questions the author has prompted but not answered is how the education system as a whole can be transformed to embrace the concept of writing being a process rather than a product. While the idea is sensible and well thought, its applicability in the education system is a challenge, which the author has not highlighted despite writing being under the umbrella of
The article “The Writing Revolution” by Peg Tyre is a piece which aims to address the problems in school systems often associated with the way in which writing is taught to students. Tyre’s article conveys the different arguments presented in the course of teaching writing to students, which have been shown to be on opposite sides of the creative and analytical spectrum. These different perspectives of how to build the foundation of writing for the children of America as well as other countries are backed similarly on both sides, though the debate still continues. “The Writing Revolution” instead of focusing on all aspects of writing, highlights the effectiveness of analytical fundamentals over that of creative writing in helping to
In Dan Berrett’s article, “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing,” the idea of freshman thinking they are or must be a refined writer is discussed. Students may think this way coming into college, but their teachers do not. While students might feel satisfied and think that they are prepared with their writing skills, professors found that these students did not necessarily meet the expected level (Berrett 1). Many students reported that they would normally write around 25 hours every week. They said that most of those hours of writing was for more formal purposes like passages to make changes in society (Berrett 1). It was found that one reason the new students might feel this way is that their assumptions about writing differed greatly from those of faculty members and their expectations. One big thing that students will not get for a while, is that good writing is not just listed as a bunch of steps one is to follow that automatically make one’s writing good. Good writing requires one to be in different mental states; it requires the understanding of how to write for different audiences and different reasons (Berrett 2). Berrett includes in the article that writing is not just universal and that in order to do very well, writers must use different forms of writing specifically for their purpose (2). It seems as though students think that, before they even take a class, they are supposed to know everything about writing; in reality, they are supposed to learn new skills and enhance others (Berrett 2). Berrett says that many believe the schools these students previously attended with their test focus might cause these feelings about writing (2). Berrett ends his article by saying that students these days do not think that informal writing actually counts as writing, and that students should practice writing for informal purposes because it can help them (2). Even if they feel like it, students are not fully prepared to write in all contexts when they arrive at college.
The article The Writing Revolution by Peg Tyre is a piece which aims to address the problems in school systems often associated with the way in which writing is taught to students. Tyre’s article conveys the different arguments presented in the course of teaching writing to students, which have shown to be on opposite sides of the creative and analytical spectrum. These different perspectives of how to build the foundation of writing for the children of America as well as other countries are backed similarly by many sides, though the debate still continues. The Writing Revolution instead of focusing on all aspects of writing, highlights the effectiveness of analytical fundamentals over that of creative writing in helping to revolutionize schools and school systems.
Early on McCarthy states the the point of this study and article is to, “Contribute to our understanding of how students learn to write in school.” (234). McCarthy literally wants to make the point that learning to write should be viewed as a growth process from both a social and individual aspect depending on the situation. (234). McCarthy observed a college student as he took three different courses composition I, poetry, and biology. McCarthy explains that through her examination of the the
In the article Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product by Donald M. Murray, Murray argues that writing is a process of discovery not an end product. Rather than being criticized for a “perfect product” by the teachers, student should be provided with an environment of creativity to explore and discover. Murray states that many teachers focus on the end product rather than teaching students the process of writing in order to receive a better product. The writing process has three stages of writing which include: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. In the prewriting stage, students should take about 85% of their time dedicated to the writing process. Prewriting includes strategies such as daydreaming, note taking, outlining, and lead-writing. Next is the writing stage where it should take about one percent of a student’s time. The writing stage is where students produce their first draft. Finally, it is the
In order to develop an understanding of rhetoric, I am going to analyze an article
In brief, the rhetorical analysis has applied for the purpose to analyze this article, to understand the deeply meaning which the authors want to deliver to readers. The authors know how to use both rhetorical strategies and appeals in a clever way, for they have interacted and supported each other very well in this article.
“Writing for Teachers,” an article written by Peter Elbow, opens a world of thought not seen by many students and teachers alike. They, including myself, have fallen into a trap of formats and teacher pleasing. Elbow excellently describes the circumstances of the symbiotic relationship between the teachers and students. He describes the scenario where teachers grade papers upon what they find is most similar to what they have written, and the students aspire to please their teachers. A student’s writing, though it could be good for the intended audience, is graded poorly for being too dissimilar from how the teacher likes writing. These students learn to start “writing for teachers” so they get a better grade. These students develop a very bad habit of writing to please the teachers so much so that they never can write for an audience. Students that
In over twenty years of teaching elementary school I have heard a lot of discussions about teaching writing. When I was living in Texas the writing test was given to the students in the fourth grade and those teachers were expected to teach a curriculum which taught a formula style of writing. This made all the students’ writings very similar with little voice and creativity in their final product. Now the push is the Six Traits of Writing which is a very structured way of writing. There are six steps in the writing process that all the students are to follow and for some students it seems to be more of a challenge to follow each step without getting bored. As I look into the importance of education on society I cannot help but think that many theorist have influenced the development of our educational system. I reflect back to Maxine Greene’s contributions to education and her belief and theory that aesthetic education can have a profound effect on a child’s education. Maxine Greene’s philosophy was based in existentialism, which is the philosophical theory that individuals are able to determine their own development through acts of will, but she was influence greatly by John Dewey whose philosophy is based on pragmatism, which is the idea of change and your beliefs are affected by your environment. Their philosophical beliefs were different but she shared many of Dewey’s beliefs in education and she quotes him many times in her writings. Her book Releasing the
In Christensen’s “ Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard?” she discloses about a student she once had named Fred, who had a lingering reluctance in regards to writing. When Christensen finally inquired Fred’s reasoning behind not wanting to writing and he revealed that he didn’t write because he felt that “he couldn’t” (115). Fred’s reluctancey was a manifestation of feeling of discouragement and insecurities he had occupied over his writing. Christensen told Fred that “his writing couldn't be wrong” (115) because the purpose of her course was for them to practice their writing. She advised Fred to write until he found a story he wanted to tell and from there, he would revise until he had something he could feel proud of.
When she says that comp instructors are often criticized for neglecting their role in teaching students how to produce “clear and correct prose” (242), I immediately want to scream. This is my biggest struggle. I feel that the majority of my students' writing falls into what she says “do not read as signs of newly developing critical literacy but simply as riddled with error and confusing sentences” (243). It is what I often describe as “just not that good”. Their thoughts are coherent and they make valid, sometimes even impressive, points, but their writing is a jumbled mess. This, for me, is far more difficult to respond to than someone who cannot organize their ideas or needs to maintain focus. It is frustrating for me and for them when I try to verbalize that their ideas are good but their writing is
Writing anchors a literate life, and we know that students who write well will reap the rewards long after high school is over. With this in mind, we have one year to get our students to discover the value of writing; we have one year to help them understand that we don’t assign writing just to make the teacher look better. If we are to be successful in getting our students to turn the corner as writers, we must put them in a position to see that writing is much more than a school-induced hoop to jump through
Writing can be an intimidating process for students. Once students complete a draft of writing, they often what to be done with it, and not have to revisit aspects of it. As teachers, we need to find ways to encourage writing, and revising. Responding to Student Writing: What does research tell us claims that teachers must respond to students’ purpose, context, and organization before editing other aspects of writing. This strategy focuses on the content and clarity of the writing, rather than nit-picking details. Content and clarity are typically the main focuses on writing effectively, so we want to help students establish these skills before focusing on anything else. Praising, Questioning, Wishing focuses on having a conversation about
Writing instruction has become one of the most important issues in educational practices. A large increase in the migration of immigrants into the United States has increased the demand for English language instruction significantly (Mei Lin, 2015). With this in mind the educational practices taking place in today's schools become a center of focus.
The murder of this generation’s creativity has come as slowly and painfully as cancer will kill the human body. Perhaps at first, it will not be much noticed. Small side effects here and there. Creeping, crawling, until now, as it comes to climax. Students have lost their ability to properly express themselves: from dress codes, to art classes, to creative writing. Students can not express any creativity in themselves with stunted music and art programs and literary classes that focus not on the quality or expression of writing, but on structural writing every single day. When students use writing as a way to speak out of what pains they may face in the world and what tragedies they may have gone through, their thoughts are often ignored to look instead at comma splices, capitalization, and stanza types. They have been stripped of the ability to write their pain, and alternatives such as music or drawing have been taken as well despite heavy advice of education professionals. Education expert Thoqan Obeidat, when asked about his opinion of the schooling systems, “...noted that subjects like music and arts are not put into