entry 1: reflecting on my reading and writing processes
While reading Tierney and Pearson (1983), I learned that the reading and writing processes have a lot more similarities than differences. Tierney and Pearson (1983) believe that people should "view reading and writing as essentially similar processes of meaning construction" (Tierney & Pearson, 1983, p. 568). There are five steps in the writing process: "'prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing'" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 2). Tierney and Pearson (1983) list five similar steps that "address the essential characteristics of effective composing: planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring" (Tierney & Pearson, 1983, p. 569). Tierney and Pearson (1983) really opened my eyes to all of the steps I go through before and during reading. I never really thought about how I might draft or revise while reading before reading this article. It is much easier for me to see where I might go through these steps while writing, but before reading this article it wasn't as clear to me how I might go through these steps during the reading process.
I don't partake in the prewriting and planning/drafting stages of the writing process as often as I should. I have noticed that I don't prewrite or draft formal writing assignments like I did when I was in high school unless a rough draft is an assignment from a professor. I jot ideas down about what I might like to include in my piece or where to find certain information, but I don't write rough drafts like I did when I was in high school. Since I have been in college, unless a rough draft is an assignment given to me to be turned in for a grade, I don't write them. I dive right into what will end up being my final draft. I think this is because technology has made it so easy to copy and paste sentences and move them around the page without having to erase everything and make a mess of your paper. The only time I can remember being hyperaware of my audience for a formal writing assignment was for my English 102 class where I was writing an op-ed. I wrote about the layoffs of teachers that were occurring in the Rochester City School District, and I remember being very aware of trying to write in a way that would really grab my audience's attention and bring awareness to the situation.
Freewriting has always been difficult for me. I always want to go back and change things as I am writing or add things or think deeper about what I just wrote and if it makes sense right in the moment. I struggle to write for even just a couple of minutes without going back and editing my work. As I think about what is expected in this Reading/Writing Blog Assignment, freewriting is a skill I plan on working on during these blog entries. As I think about what is expected in the Genre Pieces Project Assignment, I think I will do much more planning and drafting once I figure out what I want my topic to be and who my audience will be. I plan on looking at the sheet we filled out on the first night of class that we used for our If I Were In Charge Of the World poems. I know I came up with a lot of ideas in the four quadrants of that sheet, so I plan on referencing it to think about a potential topic for this assignment. I think a lot more planning and drafting is going to go into the Genre Pieces Project than this Reading/Writing Blog as this blog is structured more informally while the Genre Pieces Project is more of a formal writing assignment.
60(5), 568-580.
Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Sam, as you continue to write your entries for this blog, another strategy you might want to work on is allowing yourself to use this writing to explore your thinking beyond just answering the initial prompts. For example, when you wrote in the first paragraph how you had not considered the ways a reader "composes" I couldn't help but wonder what you were thinking about when you said the article helped you to better see how you engage in similar processes.
ReplyDeleteI was also intrigued with the way you described your typical writing process. It sounds like in addition to allowing yourself more time to engage in prewriting, you might also want to allow yourself time to fully explore the possibilities in the revision stage. At times the way you described your drafting process, it sounded like you would skip to editing while drafting.
I do agree that thinking about the topics you identified in your brainstorming sheet for the I Am In Charge of the World is a great place to start with your consideration of what topic you want to write about. I will be interested to see what directions this project takes you.
In regards to the format for this blog, I think you have selected a really engaging template/background. The font size and type also makes it easy to ready. Nicely done.
PS. I noticed that when I clicked on your blog link in Moodle, your blog did not open up in a new window. Can you please go back into the wiki and then add this feature? Thanks.
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