Whoa, Tania, congratulations! Heading back to the west, eh? I'm really
glad this position worked out for you!! (You're in the best phase of the
job hunt, in my opinion -- that lo-oong stretch where you can think really
happy thoughts about the job but you don't actually have to do it yet!)
Good luck finishing the dissertation, and with your move, and everything.
And I'm sure I'll see you at an Inkshed sometime soon . . .
Marcy
--On Friday, May 17, 2002 5:54 PM -0400 "Tania S. Smith"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This issue of "real" writing situations has been a preoccupation of mine
> ever since I first started conversing with Inkshed colleagues. I think
> Russ's comments on writing situations have been some of the most
> influential to me over the years. Rob Irish, I'd be interested in
> perusing some of the literature you mentioned on metacognition... once
> I'm not so busy with my dissertation and moving to my new job in Calgary!
>
> I think "owning" a piece of writing is all about learning to respond to a
> rhetorical situation you've thought carefully about. I keep trying new
> ways of encouraging students to do this.
>
> In the current class I'm teaching (intermediate writing), the short
> assignments early in the quarter require that students actually address
> the classroom audience, especially in the introduction. Students learn to
> exercise some rhetorical muscles by directing their writing in this way.
> For example, here's an introduction to a research assignment that went
> along with a presentation on a chapter of John Trimbur's text "The Call
> To Write" :
>
> "The chapter that we chose to present to you today is about public
> documents. Since this is such a huge genre, we decided to narrow it down
> to a specific community, and then focus on some genres within that
> community. The chapter does a good job of explaining many different types
> of genres within different communities, so we encourage you to read
> through it. Some of these documents you may see on a daily basis. Some
> you may have never seen before. After reading through this chapter, you
> may also be surprised to find out how public documents are incorporated
> in your everyday life."
>
> I'm trusting that I'm not the only one who asks students to write this way
> in formal assignments even though it's so unlike the usual academic essay.
> I am not focusing on only preparing them for other university classes.
>
> The ethos that comes through these words is a student (actually a group of
> 3) who took time to think about the impact of the essay on a real
> audience.
>
> And yes, their fellow students were assigned to read a draft of this paper
> before the presentation. It really did reach the "real" audience. At the
> end of class the classroom audience filled out an online form addressed
> only to me (with room for comments) that assessed the integration of the
> paper and the chapter they covered in their presentation. That classroom
> assessment counts for half their presentation grade, and perhaps even
> more, since I also consider the students' discursive comments as I make
> my own assessment. Then the presenters get the comments of their peers
> with the students' names removed. We also have an online discussion area
> where some students have posted their feedback on the paper and
> presentation.
>
> Hey, I sure am trying, anyway.
>
>
> Tania Smith
> Ohio State University
> (Soon to be @ U of Calgary)
> [log in to unmask]
>
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>
> For the list archives and information about the organization,
> its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
> http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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Marcy Bauman
Media Consultant
College of Pharmacy
University of Michigan
734-647-2227
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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