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<p class="MsoNormal">I think that the tactics described in chapters 4, 5, and 6
of The Practical Tutor are framed for just that – absolute practicality. And I
definitely hear what Christine’s saying about separating the students’ overall
emotions from composing a paper as an academic conquest but when I write, there’s
got to be <i style="">some</i> type of engagement. Papers
about subjects I don’t give a crap about were always painful to write, and I’ve
always loved writing, so I can just imagine what non-writers go through. I'm so with you on having students struggle on passive/active voice, though. Any tips on how to better communicate that would be appreciated, it's hard to explain.<br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John, I just recently had a tutoring session where almost
the entire block of time was spent on shaping the first paragraph. Oddly
enough, I didn’t mind because I could see that one of her main struggles was
getting that down as an anchor to hold the whole paper down. She seemed to feel
a lot more confident after that part was dealt with.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As far as freewriting, I don’t remember ever employing the
technique in any of my sessions because it is time consuming and I feel that it
only helps some people – very luck of the draw. Plus, it’s a lot of pressure
when it’s just two people sitting at a table as opposed to a whole class doing
it as an exercise. I’m a big hippie and feel like there needs to be a positive
and pressure-free environment when getting ideas to flow.</p><br><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">--R<br></p>
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