Good writing takes hard work. The mental act of organizing ideas in a coherent fashion while consciously monitoring sentence structure and audience appropriateness can be exhausting. Learning to become a better writer does not make the work easier; moreover, it requires more effort. Through this course, my writing has improved tremendously. Writing is structurally better, introductions work to grab the readers’ interest, and the ideas are more logically sequenced and organized. I have learned numerous strategies that I have used effectively to help me get started writing, continue when stuck, and revise more objectively.
This introduction paragraph my not excite you uncontrollably, but I bet you have a clear sense of where I am going and what this paper holds in store. One of the most helpful tips from our readings is keeping the audience in mind at all times. The writer should constantly ask, “Is this interesting and to the point?” and “Will the reader understand what I am saying?”. By eliminating words and phrases I previously overused, clarity and readability improves. Tighter writing is more powerful writing. In this sense, my writing has improved by leaps and bounds.
I invite anyone to look at the first drafts of writings completed early this semester and compare to drafts later in the semester. You will find that the writing is much clearer and ideas flow more logically. Sentence structures are improved and many unnecessary prepositional phrases and words are eliminated. This is, in part, due to changes in my thought processes I as approach a writing project and during the actual writing. I have learned tools for organizing ideas like flow charts that allow me to see all of my brainstorming ideas and the relationship between ideas. I now take out some scratch paper when I get stuck and write some paragraphs or ideas that I have about other areas of the paper. I find that I am no longer stuck when I get back to the original.
Peer-editing practice has improved my ability to edit other’s writing and my own. I now read my own writing in the voice of others, and it helps to be objective about the writing. I hear what is actually written instead of what I meant to write. I anticipate errors I know I have a tendency to write. This process makes writing slower than before but worth the wait.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
What I have learned about my writing
My writing is not as good as I once thought. Ignorance is truly bliss. It is difficult to face old papers with a newly developed critical eye. I am glad that we are having this last chance to take a look at the way we actually write instead of solely focusing on the content of our writing. I know that this will actually have a long-term positive impact on my writing even though short-term it is driving me nuts. I can’t seem to write a single sentence without mentally calculating the lard factor and obsessing over prepositional phrases. Even while blogging, I have changed the sentence structure of the above sentences several times. It may be hard to see the improvements, but I assure you it is better than you would have read without revision.
The downside is I have slowed to a crawl developing papers. Even with the multiple strategies we have learned pertaining to writing and editing later, I put more thought into sentences. This takes time! I still think that this writing class pushes us to produce a good deal of writing, still focusing somewhat on quantity of work over quality. I believe that this course will really make a difference during dissertation writing, but I am afraid that in the interim I will fall back into my old writing habits. I am sure we will be assigned numerous papers each week during the next two semesters. Life and lack of time will dictate speed and efficiency. The idea that will improve my writing forever is the idea of “who’s kicking who”. I believe that I have learned getting to the point makes stronger sentences. Getting to the point period can be a problem if the writing doesn’t say what was intended. I would summarize my learning thus far in one sentence. Learned!
The downside is I have slowed to a crawl developing papers. Even with the multiple strategies we have learned pertaining to writing and editing later, I put more thought into sentences. This takes time! I still think that this writing class pushes us to produce a good deal of writing, still focusing somewhat on quantity of work over quality. I believe that this course will really make a difference during dissertation writing, but I am afraid that in the interim I will fall back into my old writing habits. I am sure we will be assigned numerous papers each week during the next two semesters. Life and lack of time will dictate speed and efficiency. The idea that will improve my writing forever is the idea of “who’s kicking who”. I believe that I have learned getting to the point makes stronger sentences. Getting to the point period can be a problem if the writing doesn’t say what was intended. I would summarize my learning thus far in one sentence. Learned!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Biography Revision #1
The first memories that I have of my writing do not involve the substance and style of the words that were written on the paper. These memories center around the struggle to form the letters used to write those words and how the teacher was more concerned with my inability to display good handwriting. That was second grade and a time when I scored the lowest grade, a C in handwriting, I would receive until college.
Junior high school introduced me to an English teacher I would spend three years with writing and rewriting papers. Mr. Warren was one of those English teachers that believed diagramming sentences was a fun way to spend an afternoon. He surely had unlimited access to red ink pens, and he showed tendencies of being addicted to the smell of the red ink. Every paper that I turned in came back to me looking more like a Christmas decoration than a serious academic piece. There was no doubt that whatever the caliber of work the first draft of an assignment happened to be, the end result would be a sea of red ink and many future drafts that would have to be written. I do not jest when I say that six revisions of the same paper would be the norm.
There would be a few students in the class that could get by with four or five, but I stayed in the largest group of students that required six revisions before the paper was considered worthy of a grade. In retrospect, the biggest lesson I learned from Mr. Warren was that all writing could be endlessly revised and revamped. The end product is usually better than the initial offering. I also learned that eventually the papers would stop finding their way back into my backpack as a homework assignment. This revision process was much quicker when I became more proficient in proofreading my own work. I learned to anticipate the errors I made regularly and fix them before the paper was turned in the first time.
“Awkward- revise!” was probably one of my least favorite phrases that appeared above my sentences. I wrote what needed to be communicated but not in a succinct manner that was pleasing to the reader. I still struggle with writing sentences that include too many thoughts into one long and overdone sentence. While I despised the teacher and his incessant markings at the time, I now believe that writing in elementary and secondary school suffers because this is a lost practice. Teachers do not spend the time to adequately allow students to learn to proofread and revise their writing.
It’s odd that my high school years are fuzzy as I try to recollect teachers and class assignments that helped me grow as a writer. I know that I churned out papers in high school, but I cannot recall a single incident where I needed more than one draft to get a grade. There was a state writing test administered when I was in tenth grade. I received a score of a 2.5 out of 4. The two scorers of the paper disagreed on the score of the paper. This paper served two purposes pertaining to my writing. I learned that I do not write my best in a timed situation with a bad topic, and the quality of my writing is subject to the person evaluating the piece.
The one class in high school that probably added more to my ability to write than any others during this time period was typing class. While I would not reap the benefits of this class until college, probably no other single class in my life has helped my ability to write more than learning to type and word process. The reason that this class had little impact in high school was that papers were still handwritten. It would be several more years before I could unleash the potential of this new technology in a way that would impact routine class assignments.
My first year in college opened my eyes to the need to become machine-like in my writing. It was not uncommon in English 101 to have 3-5 page papers due on a routine basis. Most of the papers were reflections on material that inspired me little to read, much less write about it. What these assignments did accomplish was allow me to utilize my word processing skills. I was able to use words that I could not spell with out a dictionary, find synonyms to words without hunting down a thesaurus, and use the cut/paste capabilities to my heart’s content. This was quite a liberating experience! Grammar checks found some of the awkward sentences before they could make their way onto a professor’s desk. I felt like my writing improved because I was in much more command of my ability to revise my own work more efficiently. The act of typing also has some sort of liberating quality for me. I find that when I type papers, I am much more focused on the content of the writing. I have compared papers that were handwritten first and papers that were initially created through word processing. For whatever reason, my writing is much better when I type the paper even when I know that it is a draft version.
Part of the machine-like writing I did was my own fault. I would wait until the last minute to write the paper and then rely on my lightning fast typing ability and natural intelligence to get me through. There were many late nights and early mornings where I sat down at a computer and hit the print button on a 5 page paper an hour or two later. The other part of it is the way that college is structured. All papers seem to come due at the same time. Term papers due at the middle and end of a semester. Paper after paper was typed at a frantic pace to pacify professors and fill course requirements. Most professors were not concerned with improving my writing; they were only concerned with placing a value on what the paper had to say.
One turning point in college involved my English 102 professor. He told me that I had potential to be a good writer. He actually spent some time on several occasions meeting with me to help improve my writing. Most of the conversations were centered on writing for a particular audience. His biggest critique of my writing was that I wrote the way I talked. I have never forgotten those conversations or the importance of writing for the audience that will be reading the paper. English professors are interested in a different type of writing than science or math professors. I once received a couple of points for my attempt at humor on a biology essay question, but that professor was obviously looking for substance that style and sentence structure could not overcome.
Graduate school has certainly improved my ability as a writer both because of the quantity of writing required and the quality of writings that I have read. Reading high quality writing provides me with a model that I can pattern myself after. I feel that I can, at times, write alongside of people that are published; however, sometimes I read articles and books that I have trouble typing direct quotes for papers because of the complexity of the sentences and thoughts.
As a principal, I have to write for varying audiences. I write recommendations, reprimands, newsletters, news releases, and formal observation summaries on a regular basis. I have learned to rely on others to help me with much of this writing, though some of it cannot be shared with others. I always have some teachers read my news releases and parent newsletters. They help me to see when I am writing over the heads of my parents and when I need to explain things in more detail. I find it a complement that my writing is at such a level that I am told regularly that I need to write in a way that more parents will be able to understand and use words that are not so “fancy”. I have not been accused of writing the way I talk for a long time.
Junior high school introduced me to an English teacher I would spend three years with writing and rewriting papers. Mr. Warren was one of those English teachers that believed diagramming sentences was a fun way to spend an afternoon. He surely had unlimited access to red ink pens, and he showed tendencies of being addicted to the smell of the red ink. Every paper that I turned in came back to me looking more like a Christmas decoration than a serious academic piece. There was no doubt that whatever the caliber of work the first draft of an assignment happened to be, the end result would be a sea of red ink and many future drafts that would have to be written. I do not jest when I say that six revisions of the same paper would be the norm.
There would be a few students in the class that could get by with four or five, but I stayed in the largest group of students that required six revisions before the paper was considered worthy of a grade. In retrospect, the biggest lesson I learned from Mr. Warren was that all writing could be endlessly revised and revamped. The end product is usually better than the initial offering. I also learned that eventually the papers would stop finding their way back into my backpack as a homework assignment. This revision process was much quicker when I became more proficient in proofreading my own work. I learned to anticipate the errors I made regularly and fix them before the paper was turned in the first time.
“Awkward- revise!” was probably one of my least favorite phrases that appeared above my sentences. I wrote what needed to be communicated but not in a succinct manner that was pleasing to the reader. I still struggle with writing sentences that include too many thoughts into one long and overdone sentence. While I despised the teacher and his incessant markings at the time, I now believe that writing in elementary and secondary school suffers because this is a lost practice. Teachers do not spend the time to adequately allow students to learn to proofread and revise their writing.
It’s odd that my high school years are fuzzy as I try to recollect teachers and class assignments that helped me grow as a writer. I know that I churned out papers in high school, but I cannot recall a single incident where I needed more than one draft to get a grade. There was a state writing test administered when I was in tenth grade. I received a score of a 2.5 out of 4. The two scorers of the paper disagreed on the score of the paper. This paper served two purposes pertaining to my writing. I learned that I do not write my best in a timed situation with a bad topic, and the quality of my writing is subject to the person evaluating the piece.
The one class in high school that probably added more to my ability to write than any others during this time period was typing class. While I would not reap the benefits of this class until college, probably no other single class in my life has helped my ability to write more than learning to type and word process. The reason that this class had little impact in high school was that papers were still handwritten. It would be several more years before I could unleash the potential of this new technology in a way that would impact routine class assignments.
My first year in college opened my eyes to the need to become machine-like in my writing. It was not uncommon in English 101 to have 3-5 page papers due on a routine basis. Most of the papers were reflections on material that inspired me little to read, much less write about it. What these assignments did accomplish was allow me to utilize my word processing skills. I was able to use words that I could not spell with out a dictionary, find synonyms to words without hunting down a thesaurus, and use the cut/paste capabilities to my heart’s content. This was quite a liberating experience! Grammar checks found some of the awkward sentences before they could make their way onto a professor’s desk. I felt like my writing improved because I was in much more command of my ability to revise my own work more efficiently. The act of typing also has some sort of liberating quality for me. I find that when I type papers, I am much more focused on the content of the writing. I have compared papers that were handwritten first and papers that were initially created through word processing. For whatever reason, my writing is much better when I type the paper even when I know that it is a draft version.
Part of the machine-like writing I did was my own fault. I would wait until the last minute to write the paper and then rely on my lightning fast typing ability and natural intelligence to get me through. There were many late nights and early mornings where I sat down at a computer and hit the print button on a 5 page paper an hour or two later. The other part of it is the way that college is structured. All papers seem to come due at the same time. Term papers due at the middle and end of a semester. Paper after paper was typed at a frantic pace to pacify professors and fill course requirements. Most professors were not concerned with improving my writing; they were only concerned with placing a value on what the paper had to say.
One turning point in college involved my English 102 professor. He told me that I had potential to be a good writer. He actually spent some time on several occasions meeting with me to help improve my writing. Most of the conversations were centered on writing for a particular audience. His biggest critique of my writing was that I wrote the way I talked. I have never forgotten those conversations or the importance of writing for the audience that will be reading the paper. English professors are interested in a different type of writing than science or math professors. I once received a couple of points for my attempt at humor on a biology essay question, but that professor was obviously looking for substance that style and sentence structure could not overcome.
Graduate school has certainly improved my ability as a writer both because of the quantity of writing required and the quality of writings that I have read. Reading high quality writing provides me with a model that I can pattern myself after. I feel that I can, at times, write alongside of people that are published; however, sometimes I read articles and books that I have trouble typing direct quotes for papers because of the complexity of the sentences and thoughts.
As a principal, I have to write for varying audiences. I write recommendations, reprimands, newsletters, news releases, and formal observation summaries on a regular basis. I have learned to rely on others to help me with much of this writing, though some of it cannot be shared with others. I always have some teachers read my news releases and parent newsletters. They help me to see when I am writing over the heads of my parents and when I need to explain things in more detail. I find it a complement that my writing is at such a level that I am told regularly that I need to write in a way that more parents will be able to understand and use words that are not so “fancy”. I have not been accused of writing the way I talk for a long time.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Dissertation Interest
My interest in teacher workdays originates, in part, from lessons and ideals that were instilled during my youth. My father, the youngest of eleven children, was raised in a home where farming and hunting provided the substance that kept them alive. Everyone had to do his or her fair share to survive. After completing a tour in Vietnam, my dad spent his entire working career at the same company. He was a skilled, blue-collar worker that grew to despise co-workers who did not pull their share of the workload. In our family there were clearly defined chores assigned to each of the five children. Laziness was considered a sin and worthy of a good switching. A hard day’s work was the golden standard of worth.
Ironically, it was my dad who insisted that I try for the North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship. Despite the value of manual labor, it was my father’s wish for his children to get an education that would lead to a life of high pay and limited physical requirements. My mom went back to teaching when I was in high school, and Dad made it no secret that he believed teaching was not “real” work. When I was hired for my first teaching assignment, my dad was happy for me, but he frequently made comments about how I should not be tired after a day of talking to kids.
Not long into the school year, I found myself a little appalled at the laziness of some of the teachers in the building. I could hear my father’s voice inside my head pointing out the ways that teachers were lazy. Some taught from a chair, and some barely planned lessons. Others simply wasted much of the class time by talking about issues that were not even remotely related to the subject being taught. People in the teaching profession, by and large, certainly had a different work ethic than the one I was accustomed to seeing displayed. Sure, I have been exposed to all kinds of slackness, but here were relatively well-paid professionals displaying a nonchalant attitude toward their duties.
The first few workdays after the school year had started also provided some insight into the world of educators. The few that were actually present in the building seemed more content with taking care of personal tasks and taking long lunches rather than preparing for the next few weeks of school. Two-hour lunches were not uncommon for some of these teachers; furthermore, I witnessed on numerous occasions where people signed in on the office payroll sheet and then left the building not to return. I remember asking some fellow teachers that I trusted about how people got by with such actions. There was no system of accountability for these workdays; therefore, teachers did as they pleased. I tried the extended lunch a few times, but I always felt guilty of ripping off taxpayers for paying me to do a job I was not doing.
When I became an assistant principal, I realized the need to utilized teacher workdays for staff development. Workdays became a precious resource I needed to help the school improve student achievement. This was the same time that the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation reducing the number of workdays overall and protecting some of the days that were left from being controlled by LEA’s. Now not only were workdays still being wasted, but there was legally nothing I could do about it. I remember being embarrassed when parents called the school for a teacher during a workday only to be told that the teacher was not there.
As a principal I found that the problem is in all schools, but nothing has been done to address the problem. The school calendar law clearly prohibits all but a few days before the start of the school year or at the end to be used for staff development. Teacher organizations still lobby to reduce or protect the rest of the workdays that are still required. Current legislation made it even easier for teachers to stay home during workdays by allowing teachers to use personal leave vacation on workdays without penalty. I have an awesome responsibility placed square on my shoulders to run a school effectively and continue to make leaps and bounds in student achievement; however, the tool, teacher workdays, I need to make these improvements keeps being further limited. There are numerous factors that drive these decisions concerning teacher workdays, but none appear to be in the best interest of students. North Carolina is squandering one if its most precious resources; moreover, there appears to be no one that is championing the cause to improve this situation. I would like to be part of a movement that would be able to reverse these conditions. I believe that the general public would be outraged if they knew the full extent of how workdays are wasted. Outrage is the only vehicle that I know of strong enough to turn this tide. My plan is to study what teachers actually do during teacher workdays. I believe that a successful study, while it would be widely unpopular with educators, would provide sympathetic legislators, or those with an axe to grind against the political party that empowers these actions, with enough ammunition to begin the process of change.
Ironically, it was my dad who insisted that I try for the North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship. Despite the value of manual labor, it was my father’s wish for his children to get an education that would lead to a life of high pay and limited physical requirements. My mom went back to teaching when I was in high school, and Dad made it no secret that he believed teaching was not “real” work. When I was hired for my first teaching assignment, my dad was happy for me, but he frequently made comments about how I should not be tired after a day of talking to kids.
Not long into the school year, I found myself a little appalled at the laziness of some of the teachers in the building. I could hear my father’s voice inside my head pointing out the ways that teachers were lazy. Some taught from a chair, and some barely planned lessons. Others simply wasted much of the class time by talking about issues that were not even remotely related to the subject being taught. People in the teaching profession, by and large, certainly had a different work ethic than the one I was accustomed to seeing displayed. Sure, I have been exposed to all kinds of slackness, but here were relatively well-paid professionals displaying a nonchalant attitude toward their duties.
The first few workdays after the school year had started also provided some insight into the world of educators. The few that were actually present in the building seemed more content with taking care of personal tasks and taking long lunches rather than preparing for the next few weeks of school. Two-hour lunches were not uncommon for some of these teachers; furthermore, I witnessed on numerous occasions where people signed in on the office payroll sheet and then left the building not to return. I remember asking some fellow teachers that I trusted about how people got by with such actions. There was no system of accountability for these workdays; therefore, teachers did as they pleased. I tried the extended lunch a few times, but I always felt guilty of ripping off taxpayers for paying me to do a job I was not doing.
When I became an assistant principal, I realized the need to utilized teacher workdays for staff development. Workdays became a precious resource I needed to help the school improve student achievement. This was the same time that the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation reducing the number of workdays overall and protecting some of the days that were left from being controlled by LEA’s. Now not only were workdays still being wasted, but there was legally nothing I could do about it. I remember being embarrassed when parents called the school for a teacher during a workday only to be told that the teacher was not there.
As a principal I found that the problem is in all schools, but nothing has been done to address the problem. The school calendar law clearly prohibits all but a few days before the start of the school year or at the end to be used for staff development. Teacher organizations still lobby to reduce or protect the rest of the workdays that are still required. Current legislation made it even easier for teachers to stay home during workdays by allowing teachers to use personal leave vacation on workdays without penalty. I have an awesome responsibility placed square on my shoulders to run a school effectively and continue to make leaps and bounds in student achievement; however, the tool, teacher workdays, I need to make these improvements keeps being further limited. There are numerous factors that drive these decisions concerning teacher workdays, but none appear to be in the best interest of students. North Carolina is squandering one if its most precious resources; moreover, there appears to be no one that is championing the cause to improve this situation. I would like to be part of a movement that would be able to reverse these conditions. I believe that the general public would be outraged if they knew the full extent of how workdays are wasted. Outrage is the only vehicle that I know of strong enough to turn this tide. My plan is to study what teachers actually do during teacher workdays. I believe that a successful study, while it would be widely unpopular with educators, would provide sympathetic legislators, or those with an axe to grind against the political party that empowers these actions, with enough ammunition to begin the process of change.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Writing autobiography
The first memories that I have of my writing do not involve the substance and style of the words that were written on the paper. These memories center around the struggle to form the letters used to write those words and how the teacher was more concerned with my inability to display good handwriting. That was second grade and a time when I scored my lowest grade, a C in handwriting, that I would receive until college.
Junior high school introduced me to an English teacher that I would spend three years with writing and rewriting papers. Mr. Warren was one of those English teachers that believed that diagramming sentences was a fun way to spend an afternoon. He surely had unlimited access to red ink pens, and he showed tendencies of being addicted to the smell of the red ink. Every paper that I turned in came back to me looking more like a Christmas decoration than a serious academic piece. There was no doubt that whatever the caliber of work the first draft of an assignment happened to be, the end result would be a sea of red ink and many future drafts that would have to be written. I do not jest when I say that six revisions of the same paper would be the norm. There would be a few students in the class that could get by with four or five, but I stayed in the largest group of students that required six revisions before the paper was considered worthy of a grade. In retrospect, the biggest lesson that I learned from Mr. Warren was that all writing could be endlessly revised and revamped. The end product is usually better than the initial offering. I also learned that though the papers would stop finding their way back into my backpack as a homework assignment eventually, this process was much quicker when I became more proficient in proofreading my own work and learned to anticipate the errors I regularly made and fix them before turning in the paper in the first place. “Awkward- revise!” was probably one of my least favorite phrases that appeared above sentences that said what needed to be communicated but were not structured succinctly and pleasing to the reader. While I despised the man and his incessant markings at the time, I do now believe that writing in schools now suffers because this is a lost practice.
It’s odd that my high school years are fuzzy as I try to recollect teachers and class assignments that helped me grow as a writer. I know that I churned out papers in high school, but I cannot recall a single incident where I needed more than one draft to get a grade. There was a state writing test during my high school years where I received a score of a 2.5 out of 4. The two scorers of the paper disagreed on the score of the paper.
The one class in high school that probably added more to my ability to write than any others during this time period was typing class. While I would not reap the benefits of this class until college, probably no other single class in my life has helped my ability to write more than learning to type and word process. The reason that this class had little impact in high school was that papers were still handwritten. It would be several more years before I could unleash the potential of this new technology in a way that would impact routine class assignments.
My first year in college opened my eyes to the need to become machine-like in my writing. It was not uncommon in English 101 to have 3-5 page papers due on a routine basis. Most of the papers were reflections on material that inspired me little to read it, much less write about it. What these assignments did accomplish was allow me to utilize my word processing skills. I was able to use words that I could not spell with out a dictionary, find synonyms to words without hunting down a thesaurus, and use the cut/paste capabilities to my heart’s content. This was quite a liberating experience! Grammar checks found awkward sentences before they could make their way onto a professor’s desk. I felt like my writing improved because I was in much more command of my ability to revise my own work more efficiently. The act of typing also has some sort of liberating quality for me. I find that when I type papers, I am much more focused on the content of the writing. I have compared papers that were handwritten first and papers that were initially created through word processing. For whatever reason, my writing is much better when I type the paper even when I know that it is a draft version.
Part of the machine-like writing I did was my own fault. I would wait until the last minute to write the paper and then rely on my lightning fast typing ability and natural intelligence to get me through. There were many late nights and early mornings where I sat down at a computer and hit the print button on a 5 page paper an hour or two later. The other part of it is the way that college is structured. All papers seem to come due at the same time. Term papers due at the middle and end of a semester. Paper after paper was typed at a frantic pace to pacify professors and fill the course requirements. Most professors were not concerned with improving my writing; they were only concerned with placing a value on what the paper had to say. One turning point in college involved my English 102 professor. He told me that I had potential to be a good writer. He actually spent some time on several occasions meeting with me to help improve my writing. Most of the conversations were centered on writing for a particular audience. His biggest critique of my writing was that I wrote the way I talked. I have never forgotten those conversations or the importance of writing for the audience that will be reading the paper. English professors are interested in a different type of writing than science or math professors. I once received a couple of points for my attempt at humor on a biology essay question, but that professor was obviously looking for substance that style and sentence structure could not overcome.
Graduate school has certainly improved my ability as a writer both because of the quantity of writing required and the quality of writings that I have read. Reading high quality writing provides me with a model that I can pattern myself after. I feel that I can, at times, write alongside of people that are published. Sometimes I read articles and books that I have trouble typing direct quotes for papers because of the complexity of the sentences and thoughts.
As a principal, I have to write for varying audiences on regular basis. I write recommendations, reprimands, newsletters, news releases, and formal observation summaries on a regular basis. I have learned to rely on others to help me with much of this writing, though some of it cannot be shared with others. I always have some teachers read my news releases and parent newsletters. They help me to see when I am writing over the heads of my parents and when I need to explain things in more detail. I find it a complement that my writing is at such a level that I am told regularly that I need to write in a way that more parents will be able to understand and use words that are so “fancy”. I have not been accused of writing the way I talk for a long time.
Junior high school introduced me to an English teacher that I would spend three years with writing and rewriting papers. Mr. Warren was one of those English teachers that believed that diagramming sentences was a fun way to spend an afternoon. He surely had unlimited access to red ink pens, and he showed tendencies of being addicted to the smell of the red ink. Every paper that I turned in came back to me looking more like a Christmas decoration than a serious academic piece. There was no doubt that whatever the caliber of work the first draft of an assignment happened to be, the end result would be a sea of red ink and many future drafts that would have to be written. I do not jest when I say that six revisions of the same paper would be the norm. There would be a few students in the class that could get by with four or five, but I stayed in the largest group of students that required six revisions before the paper was considered worthy of a grade. In retrospect, the biggest lesson that I learned from Mr. Warren was that all writing could be endlessly revised and revamped. The end product is usually better than the initial offering. I also learned that though the papers would stop finding their way back into my backpack as a homework assignment eventually, this process was much quicker when I became more proficient in proofreading my own work and learned to anticipate the errors I regularly made and fix them before turning in the paper in the first place. “Awkward- revise!” was probably one of my least favorite phrases that appeared above sentences that said what needed to be communicated but were not structured succinctly and pleasing to the reader. While I despised the man and his incessant markings at the time, I do now believe that writing in schools now suffers because this is a lost practice.
It’s odd that my high school years are fuzzy as I try to recollect teachers and class assignments that helped me grow as a writer. I know that I churned out papers in high school, but I cannot recall a single incident where I needed more than one draft to get a grade. There was a state writing test during my high school years where I received a score of a 2.5 out of 4. The two scorers of the paper disagreed on the score of the paper.
The one class in high school that probably added more to my ability to write than any others during this time period was typing class. While I would not reap the benefits of this class until college, probably no other single class in my life has helped my ability to write more than learning to type and word process. The reason that this class had little impact in high school was that papers were still handwritten. It would be several more years before I could unleash the potential of this new technology in a way that would impact routine class assignments.
My first year in college opened my eyes to the need to become machine-like in my writing. It was not uncommon in English 101 to have 3-5 page papers due on a routine basis. Most of the papers were reflections on material that inspired me little to read it, much less write about it. What these assignments did accomplish was allow me to utilize my word processing skills. I was able to use words that I could not spell with out a dictionary, find synonyms to words without hunting down a thesaurus, and use the cut/paste capabilities to my heart’s content. This was quite a liberating experience! Grammar checks found awkward sentences before they could make their way onto a professor’s desk. I felt like my writing improved because I was in much more command of my ability to revise my own work more efficiently. The act of typing also has some sort of liberating quality for me. I find that when I type papers, I am much more focused on the content of the writing. I have compared papers that were handwritten first and papers that were initially created through word processing. For whatever reason, my writing is much better when I type the paper even when I know that it is a draft version.
Part of the machine-like writing I did was my own fault. I would wait until the last minute to write the paper and then rely on my lightning fast typing ability and natural intelligence to get me through. There were many late nights and early mornings where I sat down at a computer and hit the print button on a 5 page paper an hour or two later. The other part of it is the way that college is structured. All papers seem to come due at the same time. Term papers due at the middle and end of a semester. Paper after paper was typed at a frantic pace to pacify professors and fill the course requirements. Most professors were not concerned with improving my writing; they were only concerned with placing a value on what the paper had to say. One turning point in college involved my English 102 professor. He told me that I had potential to be a good writer. He actually spent some time on several occasions meeting with me to help improve my writing. Most of the conversations were centered on writing for a particular audience. His biggest critique of my writing was that I wrote the way I talked. I have never forgotten those conversations or the importance of writing for the audience that will be reading the paper. English professors are interested in a different type of writing than science or math professors. I once received a couple of points for my attempt at humor on a biology essay question, but that professor was obviously looking for substance that style and sentence structure could not overcome.
Graduate school has certainly improved my ability as a writer both because of the quantity of writing required and the quality of writings that I have read. Reading high quality writing provides me with a model that I can pattern myself after. I feel that I can, at times, write alongside of people that are published. Sometimes I read articles and books that I have trouble typing direct quotes for papers because of the complexity of the sentences and thoughts.
As a principal, I have to write for varying audiences on regular basis. I write recommendations, reprimands, newsletters, news releases, and formal observation summaries on a regular basis. I have learned to rely on others to help me with much of this writing, though some of it cannot be shared with others. I always have some teachers read my news releases and parent newsletters. They help me to see when I am writing over the heads of my parents and when I need to explain things in more detail. I find it a complement that my writing is at such a level that I am told regularly that I need to write in a way that more parents will be able to understand and use words that are so “fancy”. I have not been accused of writing the way I talk for a long time.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Bradley7065Fall08
I am so happy that I have created my first Blog. This is better than I ever imagined. This first class has exceeded my expectations for any class that has a title pertaining to writing. Who would have thought a few days ago that we would be using avitars and entering virtual worlds as part of "professional writing"? Thanks to Dr. Miller for addressing our hopes and fears for what will likely be the last writing class of our professional schooling career.
The class breathed a collective sigh of relief when we learned that we would finally have some training in the ways of APA. We also were elated at the prospect of continuing to refine and find our voice for our respective dissertation topics. The writing assignments do appear to be time consuming, but I know now that we will have the support and encouragement from each other to make this a successful class for the entire cohort.
This class will certainly be a change from the class prior to it. We will have to change gears quickly to be mentally ready for the challenges that both classes will present.
The class breathed a collective sigh of relief when we learned that we would finally have some training in the ways of APA. We also were elated at the prospect of continuing to refine and find our voice for our respective dissertation topics. The writing assignments do appear to be time consuming, but I know now that we will have the support and encouragement from each other to make this a successful class for the entire cohort.
This class will certainly be a change from the class prior to it. We will have to change gears quickly to be mentally ready for the challenges that both classes will present.
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