why is it so hard to just say what you want to say? table of contents
TRANSCRIPT
Why is it so hard to just say what you want to
say?
Table of Contents
Julie Tonnesen
Major: Middle Grades Education with concentrations in Language
Arts and Social Studies
ENG 110 Prof:Paula PatchHometown:
Salisbury, NC
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TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle SlideInfo about authorFraming ConceptProject DescriptionMy ResearchEnglish 110 ObjectivePurposeAudienceVoiceAwarenessHow they work togetherChallengesWhat I learned
THE PROJECT: Framing Concept
“Many of our conceptions, or common-sense understandings, of
writing are actually misconceptions that don’t hold
up under close scrutiny.” –Elizabeth and Doug Downs, Writing about Writing
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PROJECT DESCRIPTIONMy concept:
“Writing is hard because I know what I want to say, I just don’t know how to say it.”
To figure out why it is so hard to figure out how to say it, I interviewed several peers about their own writing processes and read several articles pertaining to this subject in Writing About Writing.
I found that students have a hard time figuring out how to say it because they are too concerned with answering the prompt in the first paragraph, writing an excellent first draft, and pleasing their teacher/professor.Table of Contents
MY RESEARCHGreg: High School sophomore, football
player, hates reading/writing.
Katie: Middle school 7th grader, horseback
rider, loves to write but not for
school.
Wes: NCSU freshman, Civil Engineering
major, really hates reading but good
writer.
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ENGLISH 110 OBJECTIVE
• A more sophisticated understanding of the relationship of purpose, audience, and voice, and an awareness that writing expectations and conventions vary within the academy and in professional and public discourse.
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PURPOSE
• To figure out: – Why students of all ages have difficulties verbalizing their thoughts
– If students of different ages facing the same difficulties
– What causes these difficulties
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AUDIENCE
• Professor Patch• My classmates• Writing Scholars• Anyone who is interested in the writing process
• My research subjects
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VOICE• Formal but conversational
– Important to use proper grammar and punctuation, but not overdo it because I was “entering a conversation” about writing.
• Informative– Had to present what I learned
• Positive– Wanted struggling writers, particularly research subjects to rest assured they weren’t only ones who struggled, and it’s possible to alleviate their difficulties
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AWARENESS
• Didn’t have to be as formal as a research thesis
• Wide range of people had to be able to understand it
• Able to break some rules, but had to take extra caution with others
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HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER
• Awareness of audience and how to say it shaped purpose
• Purpose gave flexibility to use real voice; not put on show
• Audience made me aware of discourse community
• Voice was affected by who would be reading paper
Voice
Audience
Awareness
Purpose
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CHALLENGES
• Trying NOT to be too conversational
• Accepting that my first draft was going to stink and would need to be revised
• Listening to and learning from constructive criticism
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WHAT I LEARNED• It’s hard for students to say what they want to say because:– Too focused on answering the prompt in the first sentence
– Expect their first drafts to be their final drafts
– Too concerned with limits and guidelines placed by the teacher
– Too concerned with giving an answer their teacher will like instead of what they actually think
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