DISCUSSING MIKE ROSE’S “RIGID RULES, INFLEXIBLE PLANS, AND THE STIFLING

OF LANGUAGE: A COGNITIVIST ANALYSIS OF WRITER’S BLOCK”

Tuesday, 11/1

Journal Prompt

Look at the issues that Rose identifies in each of his study participants (Ruth, Laurel, Martha, Mike, Sylvia, Dale, Ellen, Debbie, Susan, Miles). Can you relate to any of these students? How so?

Quiz in groups…

Create a list of writing rules or patterns that your character follows in his or her writing process. Are these algorithms or heuristics?

What is writer’s block?

Blockers vs. non-blockers

Quiz Part 2: In your group, make a list of either:

A) Blockers: What causes your writer’s block? How do you try to overcome it?

B) Non-Blockers: What do you do during the composing process that keeps you from experiencing writer’s block?

What Rose Found…

“It was constant, surprising, almost amusing if its results weren’t so troublesome, and, in final analysis, obvious: the five students who experienced blocking were all operating either with writing rules or with planning strategies that impeded rather than enhanced the composing process.”

How do you add up?

Just write.• If rules don’t make sense or apply,

reject them.• Keep going.• Reject what isn’t working.• Three out of five of nonblockers

always get to know professors and ask for help.

Non-Blockers:

Put it all together…

“Portrait of a Writer” due in class Tuesday, 11/8

Remember to record yourself and bring your transcript on Tuesday, 11/8

Portrait of a Writer

The portrait of my relationship with writing is saturated with pigments of academic growth and exposes a struggle between who I am and what I aspire to be. Writing to me is like an endless canvas; a painting that continues to beautify.

The person who helped me identify writing as a canvas is my mother. When I was young, she would always read my class papers to see if they were acceptable or not.

Write…

What suggestion would you make to this student? What is unclear?

In your own “Portrait of a Writer”: --Describe your current relationship with

writing --Explain how this relationship was

established --Describe the factors (people, rules, things)

that have affected your relationship with writing and your writing process

Remember…

No Class on Thursday!

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