1. In Part 3 of the Teacher's Guide, we are seeing different strands for the major assignments in the writing comp classes. They start out very broad and personal, with the student evaluating their experiences with writing, or how they view themselves, etc. Then, they go into working on skills such as research and citation, and they are more audience based (having them think who they are writing to/for). Each of these projects requires drafting and revision. So, in line with Sommer's essay on revision strategies, how would you go about helping the students understand the revision process and what that entails as they embark on these projects?
2. The readings talked a bit about revision and how students or basic writers don't really understand how to revise, or they have misconceptions of the way that revision is done (that's it's changing words around, line-editing, etc.). How do we, as teachers, give enough feedback to guide them in their revision, but make sure that they still understand that they have the agency to and to not revise certain things? In other words, how do we keep them from just changing the things we highlighted or commented on just because they think that we know best, rather than what they really think is best for their essay?
Hi Liana!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most effective teaching strategies I've found for this and similar problems is not to give answers, not to mark up the paper with the red pen, so to speak, but instead to divide the class into groups. For instance, our class today was working on developing their thesis statements. We'd spent some time working individually with students in a instructor/tutor-to-student, one-on-one setting--to little avail. Today, however, we paired them off with each other. We asked students to identify the components of their partners' questions (in conversation). We had THEM develop each other's questions (again, in conversation). They worked it out... in conversation. The results were predictably wonderful, and I wonder if we might see similar results from having students workshop each other's essays (in conversation) for grammatical soundness, for structural and argument-related issues. I haven't tried this yet, but I suspect that putting conversation at the root of essay issue would draw attention not to expectations but to how they might organically think through and develop their ideas for clarity.
Hi Liana - This is a question that I have been asking myself while reading that article. I feel like the student's linear revision perspective is completely (ok maybe not completely) because of how it has been presented. While seemingly over simplistic, I feel as though it comes down to explicit modeling of the recursive revision process. Allowing for workshop time in class to explain, model, and then allow for guided practice to help students understand what to look for, what to ask themselves, and how to look globally and not just locally with regards to their revision. I feel as though we also have the opportunity to contextualize vocabulary such as rhetorical situation in their writing. I was also wondering if in doing this, it would increase their level of authorship? I couldn't help but interpret the "student writer's" perception of revision as a kind of distancing from their writing and if we can better workshop with them, perhaps they may better "own" their writing.
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