“This is a redneck argument!”
After reading this article the line that stuck with me was “who we are affects what we do in inscrutable ways at times.” The point that Gorkemli makes is crucial, and brings me to this question:
When a tutee comes in asking for assistance in a particular area, and the tutor finds more urgent problems in the writing, which issue is more important to address?
“Reflections on teacher comments: Lessons from the tutorial”
Each scenario brings about an interesting point concerning how students interpret their teacher or professors comments. One student says, “that experience left me feeling less as if I had gained insight and more like my inadequacies had been laid bare for all to see.” This brings me to this question:
To what extent should the professor word the comments in the margin such that the tone sounds inviting? Or, should they just write how they are feeling; is that more beneficial in the long run?
Hjortshoj, Chapter 5: Rules & Errors
“[The professor’s] uses of language and evaluations therefore represent the standards to which all college students must try to conform.” I find this statement to be a bit controversial, as it brings me back to the same question:
Should writers write to fit their professor’s expectations? Does this hinder creativity?
Bedford Guide, Chapter 4 (second half)
This section of the chapter talks about sentence level mistakes as well as how to tackle writing a long paper. This reminded me of how we helped the students last Saturday, when they were told the paper had to be longer.
I feel that this process of talking through an idea for a long paper in order to “break it down” should be used for shorter papers as well. Do you agree?
Final Shadowing
16 years ago
I'm going to respond to your Bedford question.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think that the 'talking through' process would be equally as helpful on a shorter paper, because it would serve the same purpose - to keep things focused and on the right track.
In response to your comments on the "Redneck Argument" article, I think it's most important to point out the most glaring mistakes of a paper even if the author hasn't come in for that specific reason. There's a possibility that they might not be aware that they're making these kinds of errors, so they might come away a better writer having fine-tuned their paragraph organization rather than gained a better understanding of proper quote formatting, for example.
ReplyDeleteHjortshoj:
ReplyDeleteI think that Professors that hand out very specific and detailed prompts often hinder creative writing. The more specific and detailed a professor is about assignment guidelines, the more restriced students will feel in their writing. When a student feels pressured to answer specific questions within a prompt, they are less likely to incorporate their own insight, unless they are told to by their professor. If teachers do not encourage students to add insight and creativiy within their writing, then students may end up being too timid to go "beyond" the assignmet, for fear of displeasing the professor, and thus receiving a bad grade.