[Bkn-english-646-fall-2009] Assignment 4

[yani29 at aol.com]

(Sorry so late)


Assignment 4



It was interesting to see there is an actual "term" for writers that write too little. A reticent writer is very common in the writing center. I think the majority of my students fall into this category. Many times they come in with a page and a half for a four page paper. Here is where the, " thinking out loud on paper" comes in. Lately a big part of my sessions are dedicated to brainstorming, developing an outline, freewriting and thought provoking questions. I agree with the  book that reticent writers are not neccessarily lacking in ideas but in writing skills. When I ask students to tell me about the paper and where they think they want to go with it, a stream of ideas usually start to flow but when I ask them to write them down the flow stops. So there is this constant dialogue of me asking them to repeat what they just said and then writing it down. We do this until they get most of their ideas down. I believe, "thinking out loud" is a good way for all writers to let their ideas flow and flow without restrictions. I have used this method many times, either for a poem or academic essay. Sometimes hearing it out loud makes us hear/see things we didn't before. It allows for new ideas to develop and old ones to be refined. 



I use the technique of tree graphs or bubble charts to make students see their ideas clearly. I am a visiual person and I often use bubble charts for an assortment of reasons, not only w
riting. They can be great in organizing conflicts, thoughts, plans, it's a simple way of looking at the whole picture. I know that students have different ways of learning and when I have exhausted my verbal explaination and outlines-i bring out the bubbles. And this actually works with most students. They start to "see" what I'm speaking about or rather than just hearing it. 














-----Original Message-----
From: Rajul Punjabi <rajul_punjabi at yahoo.com>
To: bkn-english-646-fall-2009 at lists-1.liu.edu
Sent: Wed, Oct 7, 2009 1:47 pm
Subject: [Bkn-english-646-fall-2009] Assignment 4




Assignment 4:

When tutoring someone, I can’t help but offer them tips on organization that I use to get my writing coherent and clean, because it’s all over the place sometimes.  The “thinking aloud” technique really stuck out to me the most because the most thought-provoking and paper-building ideas seem to come around through live and active conversation. Students who are getting tutored often come in to the writing center and look at it as a technical workshop, a place to construct something articulate. I believe that’s only part of the battle, and the main concern should be the content.

Apologies for the late response, but I’m kind of glad I’m writing now because a lot of the class has provoked ideas and questions for me. To Rachel’s comment on how students need to talk out a topic before getting on the computer and typing – I feel like that9s a strong tool when it comes to tutoring because a topic becomes so much more accessible and easier to handle once words spill out of one’s mouth rather than directly onto a Word document. I go so hard with the grammatical errors too! It’s the damn editor in me. I’m learning that that’s supposed to come later, after carefully working through the content.

As for Christine & Co. who hate graphic organizers, I’m right there with you. I feel like its suffocating for a writer to try and categorize their style. This is random, but it’s in the same vein is how I feel about getting graded on poetry. How can you tell someone that the way they’re spilling out their soul is in the correct format or not?

Last but not least, I love outlines. They take discipline but can curb that natural ADD that occurs when trying to get thoughts onto paper.



-Rajul 




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