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)
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