1. The hardest thing about writing is...
Coming up with ideas
Getting started - writing first sentences
organizing it
staying focused
selecting audience (understanding audience)
getting your thoughts into words
fulfilling the length requirement (LOTS of agreement with this one!)
brainstorming
writing for a professor, meeting a professor's standards (every teacher is different, you have to adjust yourself to their expectations, some are casual some are formal; they all focus on different things and care about different things)
Being interested in the topic
Getting over boredom
Making it flow
Starting to tell a story, how to tell a story
Having confidence in what I'm doing -- always feel like it should be better
2. The difference between writing for school and writing my blog is...
School is structured -- there's a "type" (analysis, argument) but blogging is varied -- there's lots of different types of posts
blogs are on topics that we enjoy. For school, I have to go to the library, whereas I can just have fun Bwiht my blog. It's mine. I'm not turning it in.
With the blog, i don't fear research. We're interested in the topic.
For school, we're graded. With our blogs, we aren't graded, we just have readers who either like it or don't. For school, there's only one reader who plays an evaluative role.
Blogging feels less like an assignment and more like a hobby.
Blogging is more informal; if you're writing for a professor, it has to be proper Engish.
The blog opens it up so we're bringing our topic to the readers. With blogging you can be more creative. You can bring your point across, but you have multiple ways of doing so.
School writing is not supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be work. Learning is not fun, as we've experienced it.
Learning is not fun because: it's too competitive and it wears us down. Teachers are joyless (possibly burned out themselves). Evaluation (which requires regurgitation) drains fun from learning. Too much evaluation. Too much busywork. Too many requirements, outcomes, too much pressure from the economy, morale is low right now.
3. The most important features of good writing are...
4. My biggest strengths as a writer are...
5. My biggest challenges as a writer are...
6. My top five questions about writing in school are...
What really constitutes an A essay? Who decides and how?
Why do we have to read books, but our writing is totally separate from that? We don't get to write like "real" writers -- like what we read?
In the real world, do we need to know how to write a "school" essay? If not, why is this the only writing we do?
Who reads JEPET? How do they score it? Does JEPET help (NO)?
Are teachers required to stay up to date on research in education?
7. My top five questions about writing in general are...
First, I want to start off saying that I enjoyed the discussion that took place in class on Thursday. It is a very unique experience to be able to openly analyze education and the teaching process. With that I must express that I did not share all my ideas and opinions, because we did not get through all the questions. Adding to the talk from Thursday I would say, that I feel that the most important features of good writing are entertaining the reader while leaving them wanting to read more of the writers work, and to have flow. Those are the features that I try to add to my writing. I am curious to see what other students say to this question, because I believe that we could all learn a lot from each other by answering this question. The following question was the question that I struggled with answering the most, “my biggest strengths as a writer are?” I started to analyze this question, and realized that maybe I am not a great or even good writer. In my past writing classes I always received “A’s,” but that does not mean that I am a good writer. And failing the JEPT put the final nail in my writing coffin. Honestly, I can not think of any strengths that I have as a writer, maybe throughout this class I will discover some. The next question that we did not answer in class was biggest challenges as a writer are? This question was easy to answer, because I know what I struggle with, and throughout my years of writing I have been told what I am doing wrong. So if I had to choose I would say my biggest challenges are spelling and grammar. I know that we live in a very technological world, and we have devices that help check spelling and grammar, but I am not always writing on my phone or my computer. I also do not want to depend on these tools as a crutch, which is what they have become. The last question that we did not get to was, top five question about writing in general? I only put down one, and it was why can we not break the rules more? I am tired of writing by what some else thinks is right. I want to write how authors do! I want to break the rules!
ReplyDelete2. The difference between writing for school and writing my blog is...
ReplyDeleteComparing blogging & academic writing is like comparing apples to oranges; they are from the "class" (fruits) but they are entirely different. Blogging is informal. You can write, copy & paste, and promote your work at your leisure. You have the option to share your work with communities who feel and write similar to your style - there are no rules and everyone can play.
Writing for school is structured-based with rules & regulations. You must have more than X pages and it must be double-spaced with 12-point font. Minus 10 points if you cannot follow the rules. Our society has taught us that being different and creatively expressing yourself through writing (in school) can cause parent-teacher meetings, principal meetings and even police intervention; and because of that we place a glass-ceiling on creative writing in school - "its ok to write outside of the lines, but don't go crazy and write out of the box!". If a student wrote a short story similar to Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club", would s/he be scorned or applauded?
3. The most important features of good writing are...
What do you mean by "features"? Grammar & spelling? Important, but not a buzz kill. If the story is good enough, I can over look it. If I have learned, experienced and/or felt connected to the author, than I can say it was well written.
4. My biggest strengths as a writer are...My ability to write from different perspectives.
5. My biggest challenges as a writer are...proof-reading
7. My top 2 questions about writing in general are...
1. When is it appropriate to use the ";" sign...
2. Do people indent their 1st sentences anymore?
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ReplyDeleteAs bitter as I was about failing the JEPET, I tried to come into ENG414 with an open mind. I tried to tell myself that my writing skills could use a brush up. I was beginning to forget where commas belonged in proper sentence structure, and I figured a refresher course wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. This class so far has been a sort of reality check. It’s legitimized what myself and others have been griping about throughout our entire academic careers to no avail. The “Why does it matter” questions that follow us through school, but go largely unasked because the inevitable answer is “That’s just how it is”. We’re taught to write “properly”, to not use contractions, to never start a sentence with the word “because”,…the list goes on and on. Even as I write this, spellcheck is arguing with me over my grammar, and even over my spelling of the word ‘spellcheck’. So when I arrived on the first day of class and was essentially told to throw out the rule book, I found it sort of freeing and terrifying at the same time. Technically, I’ve always been ranked as a good writer, but writing what the teachers I have encountered thus far would count as an ‘A’ paper” has always been tedious and time-consuming. I still appreciate good writing, but not simply for its own sake. I value brevity, turn of phrase, eloquence, and good story-telling, so long as there’s a point to it. But what IS the point? Why does it matter whether I’m a decent writer if I don’t necessarily enjoy doing it? In my life thus far, I can honestly say that I’ve done little to no writing outside of what’s been academically required of me. I’ve never kept a journal. I’ve made attempts at various times, but it seemed like every time I thought about writing something, I immediately approached it like it was a homework assignment. I couldn’t think of it as a valuable record, experience, or “fun” in any sense of the word, because the concept of writing for me would immediately drum up negative associations, structural critiques, etc. English classes had sucked the joy and relevance out of it, making it strictly into a process of mechanics and accuracy, intended to achieve a good grade. At least that’s how I always felt—especially since I’m hyper-critical and perhaps even slightly O.C.D. inclined, which is part of the reason why the grading scale incentive system has always worked for me.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I’m looking forward to this new approach to writing. I’m still struggling with the shift in audience, matters of piquing interest, maintaining relevance and so on, but I’m also sort of looking forward to it…which is weird. I hardly even post updates on Facebook, because I find it hard to believe that anyone really cares about my stream of consciousness, or which Starbucks I’m currently at.
I’m also curious to see where I’ll land on the spectrum between overly eloquent and downright colloquial. Relaxing the style boundaries to allow for this opens up so many possibilities, it’s almost daunting for me; however, I still think there’s a fine line between conversationally animated, and flat-out corny. It’s an art I haven’t mastered yet. We’ll see which side I end up on.
Writing essays academically takes a long time and it requires a lot of organizations and such. The thing that was hardest for writing academic essays is how to start. The first sentence or how to start off always takes the longest to figure out, and afterwards I have to figure out how to write the thesis and such. After figuring out what the essay will be about, we have to come up with points and explanations and evidence on how to back those points up. And after a while, I feel the essay isn’t going anywhere and sometimes when using the same points, it feels repetitive. And honestly, a lot of essays that we write for school aren’t something in my interest, so writing about something that I don’t care about makes it even harder. However, I remember my Eng214 class, that teacher based out grades out of 5 essays, and he said there is no given topic, so we pretty much free write on what we liked. The only problem with that was we still have to have to make sure everything was organized and have good flow with perfect grammar and such. A lot of times my writing isn’t grammatically correct because half the time I would write like exactly how I will say it, therefore on paper, it sounds horrible. My biggest strength as a writer would probably be having a lot of good ideas, but on the opposite of that, one of my weaknesses would be how to put all my ideas together and make it flow and have people understand my point. I think half the time my writing is all over the place and not in structure so it makes my essay all bad. However, blogs work for me. Writing a blog is more like free response and more of a reflection of what we feel towards something which is pretty cool. And it’s okay if our ideas are all over the place and unstructured. We get to write about things that we actually have interest so writing wouldn’t be as boring and meaningless. Blogs are always fun to read so we get an idea of what the writer is thinking and how they feel towards a certain topic or idea. Everyone has their own opinions and perspectives and I feel blogging is a good way to express it without going through extreme debates or arguments. Blogging doesn’t have right or wrong, it is just a person’s perspective and point of view. It is always good to have an open mind and try to understand what others think.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I was not able to make it to Thursday’s class, but nonetheless I can vouch that this is by far the COOLEST class I’ve taken so far in my college career. I honestly, wasn’t too bummed about failing JEPET; exception minus the paying part to take an extra English course was a bummer. But I figured, it’ll “improve “my writing, which I think will forever be an ongoing learning experience for us all. Going into the first class meeting, I was anticipating tons of reading, and endless 10 pagers. However, Professor Trainor’s, approach to English 414, blew my mind, no books? no formal essays? What this is my kind of class! I’ve never been this motivated to write in any class , dating as far back to my first “5 paragraph” essay. The structure of the class is unique in a way that it allows us as students to write without a sense of restrictions or grade pressure guidelines, we write or “blog” because it interest us, there’s no word count, ridiculous citations (although is necessary when quoting or presenting credibility, but we all know that). The only guidelines are to consistently write on a topic that interest me. This class allows students to explore our writing, rather than most formal English courses.
ReplyDeleteThe blog post listed problems that are very evident to majority of us, if it’s starting a paper, creating the outline, or ending it with a strong conclusion. I personally have a problem with getting myself to start writing, yes I could be thinking about it all day with ideas floating, but it’s the mental process of getting me to sit down and write that I dread most! Most of the time, I psyched myself out by getting overwhelmed to follow guidelines and pressure from other classes, working part-time, all plays a role that causes me to assume that I’ve failed already. Also past grades, received in that class impacts my writing potential, if I’m doing well, I would be a little more on the positive side to write, but if I was doing bad in the class, then the writing no longer seems “fun”, but more so a chore, that I must complete and do well on. On an ending note, I am still on an endless cycle to improve my writing, I know I am not the best writer, but I try to do little things like read more, even if its yahoo horoscopes or tabloids about Britney Spears.
I was relieved to find out in the discussion on Thursday that a lot of the other people in class have the same or similar problems when it comes to school writing. With school writing I often find it very hard to begin writing, but once I get that out of the way writing isn’t too hard for me. Getting the “introduction” and the “conclusion” always look me really long to get through and I repeated myself a lot to take up space. Most people also said that when writing about a topic they are not interested in is pretty difficult, which I agree with. With the blog writing we are doing I am actually motivated to write because I get to write about skateboarding, which is my life. I like the process of searching around for material to read about skateboarding and finding videos to link in because I have already been reading skating websites and watching online videos for years, so taking what I read and sharing it with other people comes more naturally and is much more fun than writing an essay about a book that I don’t care about. I like the idea of blogging because I can share what is important to me with other people who might not know anything about it. However blog writing is more challenging than I expected and I realized that I am going to have to search all over the internet for things to write about and I think I will still have a hard time getting started, even with blogging, but it will definitely not be as hard as starting a five paragraph essay. I did like the advice that Professor Trainor gave us trying to approach every essay topic in a way that makes us more interested in it. Along with many other people in class I really don’t know why I failed the jepet and I’m glad almost everyone said that they thought the jepet was the wrong way to access your writing skills, but I am really glad that I am enrolled in this class where writing is fun. Usually my English class is the class that I look forward to going to the least but with this class that is not the case. I also agree that our school system has trained us to write in the rigid academic form which does limit creativity and makes school writing really repetitive and boring. I’m excited to be able to have fun writing for my English class.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading some of the previous posts, it makes me wonder of our energy after JEPET. I think we felt discourage or being a failure of writing a simple paper. I just think that english classes and a simple limited 3 hour exam is INACCURATE. I think this class has taken my learning experience to another level. Previously, my english classes have never been so open minded, yet this class has been great about thinking outside the box. Several of the questions that we discussed in class have been my problems in the past. I feel like I am not the only one that is experiencing these problems, which makes me feel relieved because I felt like the teacher would never see the student’s perspectives. In the past, I always felt that I was behind in my english classes because Spanish is my first language. My thought process is different from an average writer. I always think in Spanish and translated in English to verbalize it or write it in paper. I don’t have a problem writing a blog or email, but having to write a formal essay can put some gray hairs on my head. I think I have trouble with my audience because my professors always told me to change this and change that. Their critiques have never been positive, so I always thought I was a below average writer. This puts pressure on me. Especially when each professor has different inputs about your writing, which makes me wonder if its write or wrong. I sometimes ask myself, “Is it right or it is her style of writing?” I strongly think that everyone has a style of writing and its not wrong or right. I just think that if your reader can understand the author’s point, then that the main point of writing. I am blessed to be part of this class and to be part of re-building our confidence as writers.
ReplyDeleteFrom our class discussion this past Thursday, I find it reassuring to see that everyone in class is dealing with the same type of issues as me. Everyone seems to be bitter about failing the Jepet; but for me, I feel that having another English class will just help me improve me writing skills. I feel that need to have a form of English class one way or another each year to make sure that I’m still writing well.
ReplyDeleteThe one main issue I have with writing is my grammar. I don’t have any problems coming up with ideas. I can’t say that everything I write make since and is true, but most of the time my imagination helps me write creatively. Sometimes it can even be innovative. Making things up happens to be one of my greatest strength, especially when I wish to be an aspiring graphic design artist. However, I can’t seem to get the technical aspect of writing down. I read plenty and had been coached since kindergarten on how to write. In the beginning, I thought maybe it is because I speak Cantonese at home and the English concept of grammar is just too complicated. However, I find that even when I learn another language, like Japanese, I have the same problem. My head just doesn’t like grammar.
From my own experience, writing for a class has always been a task. Depending on the topic and how free I am in the assignment, it can vary from being very enjoyable to something that takes forever just to get the first few sentences down. However, writing in a blog is completely different. Aside from the complete freedom of topic, it is refreshing to write something that is short and straight to the point. Not having to write in an essay format also makes writing in a blog seems more natural. Of course, not all blogs are professional. Most blogs use informal context that creates connections with other, rather that informing its reading using the formal English languages. Plus, reading things in the formal English language is not always engaging and fun. Yet, having my own does help me grasp the concept that writing outside a working environment is just as influential as one in the working environment. With each writer’s personal knowledge, each blogs create their own communities and in turn affect the ways their readers’ views the concept being discussed.
For as long as I can remember, I hated school writing of all kinds – everything from the typical 5-paragraph essays to book reports. I never enjoyed it and always felt like it was an obligation, which for the most part, it was. I do not like school writing because it felt too structured with no room for creativity and personal touches. There was always some sort of form or guideline to follow. Last semester I took a Persuasion class, which lets us talk about and defend some sort of personal viewpoint that we had. I loved that I was able to talk about whatever that was important to me. But still, the dark clouds of structure and format was still lingering above.
ReplyDeleteThat’s why I love this particular class so much. I get to plant my seed and it’s able to grow in which every way it can with nothing to stop it’s path. I love how this class has brought me back and remind me what I love about writing. I’m able to write for myself and not worry about someone giving me a grade and telling why my writing is good or bad. I also like the idea of blogs giving other readers and fellow writer a chance to voice their opinion without fear of being judged as well. I feel as though this sort of environment opens up the possibility of readers and writers alike to be more inclined to read, explore, and help each other out. Great ideas and imagination are bounced off each other and great writing thrives. I think that’s why school writing doesn’t work. Students are expected to write in a certain way that’s uniformed and within the lines. There’s no room for students to improve their writing and branch out into their own unique voices and styles. The school system and teachers fail to realize that students can still get a point across without following the typical 5-paragraph essay or whatever structure was required. I think school writing also limits the possibility of growth because students are afraid to color outside the lines for fear of a bad grade. We’re not being graded on our blogs, rather the effort we put into our work. For school writing, whether we get a good grade is subjected to the reader…usually the teacher, and that person already has an expectation set up. With blogs, there are no expectations, readers can choose what to take from what they read and interpret it in their own way – readers can disagree and the writer won’t get penalized for it.
After our open and honest discussion about school writing in class on Thursday it made me realize why I have such a fear about writing and letting other's read it. I attending a community college first before transfering to SFSU. To transfer you have to take numerous english classes. Since I knew that my writing skills needed work I started with a basic english class and continue to work my way up. One summer I enrolled in a 13 day english class and received an A. Now, my first semester at SFSU my professor told me that my writing needed lots of help. I was confused, did the university have a code of writing that the community college didn't. After taking the JEPET, yes THE JEPET! I came to my own conclusion that there was a code of writing that I could not crack. With the JEPET I had a fairly easy topic which I believed I did great on but I FAILED(tears). But then I remembered that my classical theory professor told the class that he was one of the professor's that graded the test. REALLY?! The same professor that said " Layloni, you need to back up your topic sentence and connect your conclusion with your thesis". Geesh. I should have had a V8 and then I might have taking his opinion better. My issues with writing only increased after taking his class. This is why I appreciate this class, because I see that I am not the only one that feels the pressure when it comes to writing and allowing everyone to read it. I feel myself becoming more open to writing again and allowing my class mates to read and give there opinion; and guess what, I don't need a V8 to accept there/their( omg grammer) opinion.
ReplyDeleteFrom the class discussion, I learn that everyone has the same problems in writing as I do. We have a difficult time writing a good, organized essay in school because we have to consider the structure and organization of the essay itself. When the topic is not interesting, it is hard for us to concentrate on what to write about. To me, the hardest thing about writing is making an interesting topic that grabs the readers’ attention. My ENG 106 professor has advised us to focus on grabbing the reader’s attention, so he/she may continue to read the rest of our paper. Some teachers, such as all my English professors in college, let the students write their own topics, while others somehow do not make learning fun. Why do some teachers not make learning fun? From my own experiences in my private school, I felt that my English teachers kept on giving us hard topics to research on, and they were tedious. They never gave simple and interesting topics that motivated me to research on. This experience has caused me to lose my motivation to read books because I thought they were not interesting. As I progressed to a public high school and college, the teachers that I find are interesting because they sometimes let us pick our own topics and write about them. This growth from different schools and teachers has changed me by improving my writing and starting to read interesting books again.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is another new experience for me because the professor is not the only reader. Since a blog is a web log that is read and written by many readers who use the internet worldwide, I have more audiences as readers. To stand out from the crowd, I need to make my topic more interesting to grab my readers’ attention. Usually, when I write my opinions for a school’s essay, I do not write it personally because the readers just want to know the reasons for the pros or cons. Now, blogging is more personal than school writing because we can write our own topics and relate to them with our personal experiences. I prefer to write a blog than school writing because this a great way to teach us how to write and express our feelings based on our experiences. I believe that teachers should let students try to write their own topics, so they may be motivated to continue writing in the future.
1. The hardest thing about writing is...
ReplyDeleteAs for me the hardest thing about writing is staying on the topic and grammar.
2. The difference between writing for school and writing my blog is...
in writing for school the essay must be organized and be turned in on time otherwise points will be taken off. I enjoy writing in my blog because you chose your favorite topic then post every week.
3. The most important features of good writing are...
I guess the most important feature of good writing is reading more articles can improve your writing skill and spelling.
4. My biggest strengths as a writer are...
I think my biggest strengths as a writer is picking an interesting topic.
5. My biggest challenges as a writer are...
My biggest challenge as a writer is writing the school essay. I always struggle in writing projects because the teacher tells you how many pages, due dates and first draft , second draft and final draft.
6. My top five questions about writing in school are...
I think my top five questions about writing in school are proper grammar, spelling, reading, researching papers, and writing essay. These are my questions about writing.
7. My top five questions about writing in general are...
writing in general are how to stay on the topic, what to write for the introduction, how long the body paragraph is, and what should I put in the conclusion.
Hsin-Hui Huang
Thursday's discussion was a very useful tool for feedback to understand the different perspectives that people have of school writing and what it meant to them. I feel that school writing is a very complicated task. I have taken several different english classes and the majority of the classes required different styles of writing. That made it hard for me to actually understand how to write. Every professor has their own meaning of "great writing" but it is not fair to the students because we are the ones who have to take the different professors and learn each style of writing. Each semester we take an english class we have to learn a whole new style of writing and that makes it hard for us to learn how to write a "good" paper. Are we ever going to learn how to write a "good" paper that is going to satisfy all professors and schools? I do think that writing can be fun if only there wasn't so many rules and if it wasn't so structured. I have written papers for my psychology classes where I enjoyed every moment and I believe that this is so because this topic interests me. For my psychology classes that I have taken my professors were not too concerned about having the thesis, introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and conclusion but to focus on the information given in the paper. The students were able to choose our own topic and just write about. Students paper resulted to be around thirteen pages on average and these were assignments where the professors required at least eight paged papers. I believe that writing can be more interesting if it was not so structured. As for outside school writing such as blogging I am more confident because we are able express ourselves in our own way. We are basically free writing. We do not worry about the rules or criticisms given by professors judging by the organization of the papers. I would also say that this would be the difference between school writing and blogging. When I signed up for this class, I was worried about how many more essays I was going to have to write. However, I believe that the way this class is structured is great and encouraging for me to write. I am looking forward to how blogging is going to change my perspective in writing overall.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed our conversation on Thursday's class about academic writing versus blogging or freewrite. I usually don't dislike or complain about academic writing too much because most of the time the topics that we are asked to write about are semi-interesting to me. I am definitely not a huge fan of writing academic papers but like everyone else I think I have accepted the fact that writing academic essays is a must in college. I was also very fortunate because most of the classes that I've taken so far at state are pretty interesting classes. What I hate most is when teachers assign busy work to students such as writing ten page papers that they don't even read. I think writing is very subjective. How can a letter grade help a student learn how to write better or improve? Writing can be very frustrating as well. For me, writing a paper can take hours or days to complete. Every time I proofread my paper over again I find myself changing another word or another sentence. The JPET frustrated me so much because I just felt like we didn't have time to write! If I take hours to write a good paper that I think is acceptable how can I write a good paper in just one hour?? Not only was I pressured because of time but also I think the grading is unfair. How are two random teachers supposed to tell you that your writing was not good enough? What also really interests' me is when we discussed that writing has always been seen as a punishment to many people. I remember when I was little my teacher would make us write the same sentence over and over whenever we misbehaved in class. Now that I think about it all I thought about when I was little was how I was going to finish writing those fifty sentences so that I can play. I never thought about what I was writing or what it meant to write. It's really sad to know that teachers are still using writing as a form of punishment for children. I think that it is going to be really hard to break away from this traditional educational system. I am so glad that we are blogging in this class because I can't stop writing! Not only am I super interested in my topic but I also think this is a way for me to express the way I feel. I think most of the students in the class enjoy blogging much more because we are in the generation of digital literacy! We read, check emails, and go on facebook all the time so writing online and posting it is so much fun. I also feel like I'm getting a lot more out of blogging because I am educating and helping others who are not informed about what is happening. I definitely plan on continuing my blog even after this class is over!
ReplyDeleteI was unable to make Thursday’s lecture and reading the class notes and comments; I wish I could have been there. This is something that is always on my mind when it comes to writing. It is definitely hard to write papers on things that I cannot wrap my head around and understand the materials in front of me. If I can’t understand the material all that well, how can I write well about it? Honestly, I really do like this class far better than any of my kinesiology classes. When it comes to writing for my major classes, I find it difficult to convey my thoughts on how to sway my professor with what he or she exactly wants in order for me to hand in an “A” paper. On top of most of my papers are group papers, it is even a harder task when one of us tries to edit the paper when everyone writes differently, how can we make sense of it as far as making it flow.
ReplyDeleteTo this day, I still do not know what my strengths are as a writer after many English classes I have had since I was in grade school. The funny thing is I do know my biggest challenges as a writer when I get my graded papers back. My teachers and professors point out my mistakes but do not show what I do right. I always get marked down for not having good transitioning from paragraph to paragraph. They comment “good” on a couple of things on the sides of some paragraphs but what does that exactly mean to me?
This class and blogging are something I actually enjoy doing. I still have my struggles, as well as doubts about writing and I proofread/change things constantly. For some reason, blogging comes easier to me than writing a paper about oxygen uptake or something. I like the note up on the thoughts of writing, “blogging feels less like an assignment and more like a hobby.” In fact, I like all the notes that talk about the difference between blogs and school assignment because that is precisely how I feel. It is a lot of pressure and very competitive which makes me fear writing because I either think too much or I am too burnt out to care. Posting blogs, on the other hand, is more creative writing and opinionated so there is no right or wrong answer so I am not afraid of writing like I am with school. As I am writing this, I realize that I am finding it challenging how to end this commentary.
I found Thursday's discussion about writing today to be really refreshing. Ever since my AP History class in High school, writing for me has always been something derived from a prompt, read thoroughly and graded. The only standard I’ve ever had for casual writing are a few pats on the head and an informal “good job” from a teacher or peer.
ReplyDeleteMy view on all sorts of writing classes has pretty much been shaped by those past experiences really. It wasn’t until Thursday’s discussion did I realize that I’ve never had a true creative writing class. Other “Creative” writing classes I’ve taken only pushed my creativity as far as how to solve the same question with the same pack of canned answers to be used by the class. It’s become a little hard to distinguish between my academic and creative writing.
The primary difference between my casual writing and academic writing is the lack of formula. As a Psych major a majority of the papers I write are super scientific and absolutely devoid of any personal voice. I get data, interpret the finding and carefully weave the sentence in the best, clearest and most scientific way possible. Not that I don't have my own fun while I do that sometimes, but after a while it gets stale and makes me feel that writing is as much a science as the stuff I write for.
The formulaic style of writing recently bled into my casual writing now as well. I find myself starting my writing with some sort of quote or ultra-verbose description of simple things. I've rarely finished any of the stories I've wanted to write recently because I get so bored and run out of ideas on how to express something. Probably the only way I've made any progress in my casual writing is in doing action sequences. I can turn the simple act of eating a potato chip or sleeping into a thousand-word long epic. A few too many science fiction books are to blame here.
Complaints aside, what I found the most refreshing was the perspective of the class on writing. With so many people on myspace and texting, I've pretty much given up on the concept of decently crafted writing being done by anyone other than me (terrible assumption, I know). It's nice to know that some people still care about the fundamentals of casual writing, especially in this day and age.
I am sad that we did not get to go through all the questions, but I learned a lot from what people thought about writing. We share many of the challenges and circulate around gathering our thoughts into words. Maybe we thought too much or too little, which caused us to have difficulty writing. I also learned that interest was very important, because without it, writing became more stressful. I would always scorn at the reading assignments and take shortcuts with the readings, but eventually I finished reading them.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do agree with is that writing blogs are fun. Writing a blog felt like going back in time, because it reminded me of my childhood and how I used to write on my Xanga. I enjoyed those free moments to be able to share anything, rant anything, and not have to worry about being graded for spelling errors. Blogs are going to be a little more formal, but it trumps having to write about World War Two or what does the last two lines of Oleanna mean.
I think one of the biggest problems with English classes is that we are writing about what the teacher finds important. I understand that teaching is hard and finding a topic that everyone enjoys is quite difficult, but putting the student to sleep is not the best way to teach. I wish English requirement classes were more varied, like one is specifically for philosophical writings, or about psychology or about sports. Maybe with that idea, students would be more engaged in their readings and want to write something good about it.
My personal experience with writing was frustrating. I have the tendency to write or type whatever comes to mind and I still experience that problem now. The reason I failed the Jepet might be due to this tendency. From what I see, Jepet based our writing ability solely on our first drafts. Ninety minutes seems like a lot of time, but when you have to organize, write by hand, proofread, erase and rewrite again, it uses up a lot of the time. And most of the time, people would not even get up to the proofreading part because they are unsure of what the length requirement is for Jepet and they feel that it is a five page minimum.
I hope this blogging class will turn me around and make me a better English writer.
Good luck to everyone this semester!
After our first class discussion about writing, I noticed that we all share a lot of strength and weaknesses. As I am typing this now I am finding it difficult to start out. For me and, as I recall, for mostly everyone in class, writing the first few words is always the hardest part. It is also time consuming no matter what type of writing it is. When you begin writing you have so many feelings circulating in your head all at once and it is hard to put it them on paper while making it cohesive on the first try. I guess the feeling is analogous to dumping too much scrap or debris onto a sink strainer to the point where it’s clogged up and water can’t go out to the other side anymore. Another factor that makes it hard for me to start out writing is that I worry too much about making it sound perfect so I end up in a long cycle of writing something, deleting it completely, and write something else again. Once you written something or have an intro you have something to base your writing on and the other parts aren’t so time consuming. The length of the writing is also one thing I always think about when writing. I feel that if the length requirement is long, 3+ pages, I am less likely to use the word count frequently because I know that my finish line is far. However if the writing is short, I can be very obsessive compulsive and will constantly use the word count to see how much left there is to be done, and yes, I am using the word count right now.
ReplyDeleteIn the discussion, I also realized that I never really took the chance to reflect on my writing skills or what it was about writing that I liked or didn’t like until now. In past classes, even in English classes, it was all about writing on topics I didn’t enjoy much and receiving feedback on grammatical errors, spelling, and certain ideas of the paper; not a thorough deep down analysis of who we are as a writer and what we want to write about. I was livid, like everyone else in this class, to find out I failed the JEPET and was worried that I was going to be stuck in another class where I wrote essays on topics that disinterested me. However, the discussion really opened me up and I realized that maybe I do need to work up on my writing. Most of all, I guess a lot of my ill feelings are gone because I’m in this particular English 414 class with a rather new approach. I feel that the blogs are a breath of fresh air and exciting especially late in our school years where most of us are a bit too used to the essays and we need something new and inspiring. With these blogs we have more freedom to talk how we want to talk and write what we are passionate about and at the same time we can read and learn from our classmates as well. It’s more interactive; there’s less restrictions and more ways to explore.
After having the discussion on Thursday about the differences between our blogs and writing in school, I felt more relieved that others agreed with my thoughts too. For example, writing is structured while as for blogging, it is much easier to get the ideas out there rather than write a whole essay on it. I believe that writing a whole essay could bore my readers, so I rather keep them interested in something that isn't some what related to "school material."What I also learned from the discussion is a whole lot more about the JEPET. Junior standing students are here to learn and improve in writing, but knowing that we did not pass because someone felt like it or we did not match their expectations is a stab in neck. I felt that I was a good enough writer, but according to those who evaluated my essay think otherwise. Not only did I feel beaten, but so did other students. It was interesting to know that everyone felt that staying on topic without being bored was a challenge for all school papers. I rather write about something I am interested in, therefore, I can attract other readers and teach them something new or influence them into liking my ideas.
ReplyDeleteOne of the questions that was asked, "the most important features of good writing are," was kind of difficult to answer because once again, "Who defines what a good paper is?" In my experience, most readers like the paper if it is intriguing and thoughtful and can draw the readers' attention in, but others focus on the structure and how professional it can sound. Also, who decides what a good thesis may be, or if they’re not enough ideas in a paper? I feel that sometimes we are limited to our writing because we are told how to write. This issue also brings up another point that we have discussed earlier on in the semester; about if we can be taught about learning or are we supposed to explore for ourselves? But sometimes it seems like exploring for ourselves would not suit best in a essay, but rather in blogging. My goal for my blogs is to catch the readers’ attention and to introduce them to something new, but if we are told to write a certain way on our blog, then my focus will shift into making my blog more educational (boring) than interesting.
Writing in school has its upsides and downsides. For an upside, there is a set way to write, with steps and instructions to mold your essay into what is acceptable to the teacher. This gives us a guide into how to write. However, that would also cause a downside to writing in school which is the lack of freedom to express in a way you would want to express yourself in writing. Writing outside of school allows us to express ourselves in whatever way we want. However, it is difficult to know where to start because you are not given a topic to actually write about. Instead, it takes a while to find out what is the perfect topic to dive into.
ReplyDeleteI believe the system for writing in school is not completely broken as it is good to read books, study their style of writing, and analyzing them in our writing. However, things like the JEPET should not exist as it is a totally different writing environment compared to how we write in class. In class we are allowed a couple of weeks to finish a paper with feedback from our peers and teacher. However, in the JEPET we are given a set amount of time, which is very limited, and are supposed to write a same quality paper as we do in class. I believe this is not fair to students as we are being trained to write in a class environment and not a testing one. I liked the discussion in class about how other students have the same feelings about JEPET and writing in class as I do. It is really difficult to begin an essay or any other piece of writing. Then we would have to find ways to stay focused on the topic at hand and also try to make our sentences flow.
Sometimes I feel like writing a paper is like a messy room; you have ideas all over the place and don’t know where to start cleaning it up and making it more organized.
Blogging gives us the freedom to put our ideas out there. We can go back to revise it when we see fit. Best of all, the topics are of interest to us personally, rather than just academically. This allows us to express ourselves in a more informal way. Blogging really gives a more personal touch to writing and is easier to dive into than academic writing.
School writing can be very strenuous, tedious, and constraining. Writing in school always feels like a task and not something I could enjoy or gain pleasure from. When I free write I feel liberated and give me the ability to express myself thoroughly and in the way I intend to. The main mistake English teachers make is assigned papers that have a fix topic. This already limits the student to what he or she can expand on. For instance, I cannot stand Shakespeare. I don’t understand it and it does not engage me in the slightest bit. In my English 214 classes we had to write 2 long papers on a few of his plays. This was by far the worst and most difficult course I ever took because it was so foreign to me and I had no idea what the teacher was expecting from me. Luckily I passed the class with a C. Blogging is the most genius idea for a required English class. First of all most students who are not English majors do not like writing, have never enjoyed it, or have had bad experiences with it. Blogs offer the student a chance to express their ideas and thought freely. The limitations set on us only make us feel confined and censored. Blogs are the future of communication, writing, expressions, and many more aspects of communal interactions. Current students at any level above probably 2nd or 3rd grade are familiar with the internet and have access. This means any students can blog freely and writes about things they are passionate about. It is amazing how school writing creates so much anxiety and pressure. It is because of the structure and confines of school writing. The teachers says hey, were going to write about this and that is what you have to write about. Blogs are free, endless, and liberating. Also when you read blog it seems so much easier to follow along with and you don’t have to try and conceptualize everything to prove that you know or can express a certain idea. Basically you are able to take what you read and comment freely about how you feel and what the writing means to you. Blogs seem like there is no right or wrong and writings in school have a definitive objective. I hope more professors acquire this style of teaching and implement it into their curriculums.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how we focused on “the system” and how it isn’t perfect but ways in which we could improve on it. I feel the conversation centered on what is wrong in the way we learn to write and why it is wrong, even if it’s wrong at all. In my feelings, it makes sense that it’s wrong, I mean everything is so much easier if it is systematic and processing of the students. That’s at least my opinion and feelings on today’s public school English courses. My whole educational career in English has built up to highschool essay writing but once I got to college all three of my English professors told me I was oh so wrong. That’s the funny thing in high school the teachers were always say this or that about how writing in college would be, things like “this isn’t college material” or “this wouldn’t pass a college course.” It’s funny that they said that because they were dead right, for all the wrong reasons though. I truly don’t think it’s the teachers fault, I just think its education in general, maybe it’s the curriculum that forces the teachers to tell us how to write a wrong essay. Or maybe like you said it’s just simply easier to have us all write the same way and there will be no problems when it comes time to grade.
ReplyDeleteThis all most likely boils down to the nature of writing, it’s not supposed to be so inflexible, writing is actually an art, and art really can’t be taught the same way you teach math or sciences. It’s sort of like how we were always told never to start a sentence with the words and, but, or, because. Yet there is a rule in writing I actually forget the name but you have artistic freedom basically. You can bend the rules and that is truly writing, since all writing is is communicating an idea or a message.
That brings me to another point, we all knew that writing is just a form of communication, we had to read novels for assignments we saw what good writing is. I never felt like I ever got write like that, it was always the ordinary intro paragraph, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and conclusion. I mean I was so good at that method that it was engrained and I always go to it when I start an essay. To be honest it’s almost insulting to a child’s intelligence that we couldn’t write any other form of an essay, I mean when did we ever get to write a story or a periodical, not once. I guess it all boils again down to the system. The system dictates what is right and what is wrong, the system is so easily relied upon that to break it would be to the break all rules. But, writing should break all rules, after all it IS an art form.
I learned a lot from Thursday’s discussion. I agreed with every single thing everyone said about the hardest thing about writing. I personally had a few of those on my list when we had to answer the questions individually. I knew I wasn’t alone but it’s always good to have a reassurance.
ReplyDeleteI have always felt that writing for school and writing for something not school related had to be different. When I would write for school, my papers had to always be in “proper” English. I’d always feel like my paper was never finished to be turned in. Writing conclusions were always my weakness. I didn’t like figuring out how to end my paper. Teachers always told me “your conclusion has to end with your reader wanting to read more” or “don’t summarize your essay because it’ll sound repetitive.” I thought I understood what they were saying then it turns out I didn’t. When I was in high school, my English teachers would spend time with us just so our papers looked good. Then college came along and my writing somehow went downhill from there. Just when I thought I wrote a good paper, I get it back with a not-so-good grade. Professors would tell the class they want this or they want that but when I put what they’re looking for in the paper, I’d get a passing grade but not what I thought I deserve. When I was in high school I used to write a blog. To me, the blog was my diary but online. After I deleted my blog, I stopped blogging after that and I stopped writing outside of school. The difference between writing my blog and writing for school was when I would write for my blog, I used a lot of online jargon and I didn’t have to worry about where I placed my punctuations because it wasn’t “proper” English.
After I found out I didn’t pass the JEPET, all I could think of was why this or why that. I honestly thought I answered the question and used the information provided by the prompt. I’m glad that we don’t have to write papers for this class because blogging seems more interesting. I didn’t think I could write a paper especially after failing the JEPET when I thought I answered the prompt. When professors say to use the “pie” format, I always felt that by the time I got to the “e” part, I was being repetitive.
After Thursday's discussion, I noticed that other people have similar problems with writing as I do. Such as figuring out what to write about and just getting started. But once I do know what I want to write about, it typically goes pretty well. With this class, I feel that writing this blog will be easier than having to write a structured essay. This is so, because the blog entries will be shorter than a full length essay, so we won’t needlessly have to fill up page requirements and write a bunch of fluff. So I can say what I want to say, and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteThe most important feature of good writing is the ability to get your point through without being too wordy… or at least I think it is; I admire succinctness. My strength as a writer is strong body paragraphs. This is due to how I like to think and argue my points, seeing things from both sides help in my situation, being able to see problems and solve them preemptively (comes in handy as an engineer). My biggest problem as a writer is writing getting started and ending, or to put it another way anything that requires an introduction and a conclusion. I find that starting to write the most difficult of those two though. Not sure why, I’m not very good at leading people into the subject I need to argue or discuss. The conclusion is also difficult for me because once I finish arguing then that is the end of it, the need to end and rehash an already won argument just is not a priority, and thus not needed in my mind. I like being pragmatic… it just doesn’t come in handy when following the rules to writing a proper essay. This was probably my main fault in the JEPET, just writing the introductory paragraph took a significant amount of time. Even though the facts in the body have already been laid out and are quite arguable.
After the class discussion on Thursday, I was surprised to find out how other students felt about writing. I came to found out that I had a lot in common with my fellow classmates. Not passing the JEPET for me was upsetting. I pictured it as just another class that will prolong my graduation day. After finally accepting the fact that there is no way out of taking this class, I decided view the positive side of taking another English class. It was frustrating to me, however, because of the things that I struggle with writing. Living up to the expectations of teacher’s standards is difficult. Every teacher is different; therefore, every person’s writing standards change. I find that at times, the overall flow of my writing doesn’t make sense. I would like to improve transitioning my sentences together. Writing essays for me are time-consuming. In order for my essay to sound acceptable under the teacher’s standards, I need to spend a long time. I noticed that I had a lot of things in common with the other students in our class regarding writing. Blogging is more exciting. I can freely write on a topic that interests me. I don’t have to worry about the teacher’s expectations on whether or not my blog lives up to their standards. Another issue that I noticed I face when writing is procrastination. I try and avoid the frustration that I constantly face. I notice that I try and spend as much time as possible perfecting my writing when in reality, it apparently does even sound all that great. I have never been much of a social networker, but this blog is something that I am enjoying. I like how blogging is unlike traditional school writing which tends to be boring. When writing blogs, there is more of a personal touch rather than writing in school. Even though I have never written anything like a blog, I have enjoyed my blogging thus far. Writing about my interests and not having to worry about the criticism of an English teacher, satisfies me. Even though there still might be criticism from other readers, it still beats receiving a final grade on a paper. Pushing myself hard enough to receive a good grade is difficult. Many times I think my writing is not good enough. I think that a good paper is one that can flow. Each sentence transitions to the other. This is one of my struggle points. Sometimes I even feel that my writing doesn’t even make sense. This is something that I hope to improve on in this course. I have come to learn that many times, things just don’t go how I would wish, and of course, failing JEPET was definitely something I didn’t plan. This class was not what I expected it to be. I expected I would be writing several essay and so on. I was surprised to find out I would be blogging! It was a surprise in deed; a relief that I wouldn't be writing essays. I plan on enjoying blogging and hopefully, it will help me improve some of my writing skills.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion about writing on Thursday showed that most students feel the same way about writing. Just like everyone else, I feel as if one of the hardest parts of writing is getting started. Finding that perfect introduction to set the tone for a writing piece is difficult since it is the first impression the reader has of you. Once the intro is done and the paper is outlined, I think it easy to formulate the rest of the paper. Also, a weakness of mine that was not discussed in class is making valid points and not entirely reinforcing them with proper evidence. On my papers the professor would sometimes respond, “Why do you say that” or “Good points, where is the evidence?” These comments are frustrating because I know the professor is right. I guess I need to find an approach to writing papers that suits me. I also think that interest for the subject has a major role in a well-written paper. I feel my writing is better when I’m interested or passionate about the subject. When I’m interested in the subject I tend to look for more information because I see it as a way to learn more about something I enjoy. And for the reason just stated is why I think blogging is a great idea for an English class.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between blogging and school writing is the ability to write about something you want to write about. Blogging gives writers the freedom to explore where their writing could go because there are no guidelines. Writing a blog teaches a writer how to write to its audience and get their point across without the writer necessarily knowing it. I also think that blogs put some kind of fun back into writing. Bloggers explore different styles and techniques of writing before they choose one that suits their personality. Honestly, I was apprehensive to write my first blog post because it was going to be up for everyone to see. I gradually started to realize that each blog is just as unique as the person that wrote it. Blogs are great because it gives people a chance to share their ideas and thoughts in a voice that they choose.