I have been tempted these past few days to do what Marcy does so well, leap
in and say my piece; but those moments have passed, and now Roberta's note
triggered a response I must get down. I guess it's that sense of urgency
Roberta mentioned and the challenge she threw out.
I do not want to make an issue of the authentic/non-authentic division and
I don't wish to equate one with workplaces and the other with school. I
do, however, want to stress the notion of engagement or commitment, what
some of you have called ownership. Ownership rightly begs the
question: ownership as opposed to what? Plainly stated: ownership by the
teacher (or the textbook, or the institution, or all three). The effect is
more or less the same: writers must continually monitor what someone else
wants, expects, and how with minimal effort (there are other courses, after
all) they might meet such expectations. I am sure all of us are aware of
such stances and the constraints they impose; and we try to work against
them. But I sense the institutional setting works against our best
intentions. I recall one of my colleagues who insisted that late papers
would be penalized. The "real world" has its norms. But surely, no one in
that world is expected to produce four or five major papers in more or less
the same period.
My own take on requests for extensions was, "Sure, why not," simply because
I saw no point in reading and grading something that had been rushed, was
unfinished in the writer's eyes, and that therefore did not provide fair
evidence of the writer's capabilities (of course, there were other pieces
as well). But it also struck me as well, that I was being unfair in laying
such expecations on the writer. There were other courses with similar
demands; and the writer had a life.
Here again because of the dialogic imperative, I hear Inkshedders saying,
"but, but, but. ...."
I believe Roberta is saying, we need to get out of the way, not front and
centre, not the primary audience, and then at least, writers will attend to
finding, discovering, what it is they want to say, what matters and what is
realizable given constraints of time and other commitments. It is in such
contexts that we learn whatever we learn as writers (as I learn now, thanks
to your attentiveness and concern). And, why are workplaces more likely to
produce such learning (for those who write in them)? It's because, writers
in those settings live within such demands and challenges seven to eight
hours five times a week; whereas the writing contexts we create in our
classrooms can hardly measure up to such concentratedness.
(In case you are wondering, Anthony, I am just warming up to write that
response to Russ's review.)
Patrick
Patrick Dias
518 Montford Drive
Dollard des Ormeaux, QC
Canada H9G 1M8
Phone: 514-626-3605 (Home)
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