Re-vision, seeing again.

Harper: what I liked about this article was it's focus on the most difficult aspects of writing and the specific strategies we can use to counteract those difficulties. "Snapshots," "Questions," "Thoughshots," " Exploding a Moment," and "Making a Scene" are all wonderful examples of how a change in perspective can be the boost that students need to progress in their writing.

I wonder how these techniques could be applied to essay writing. In the article they seem to be mostly regarding creative writing. I'm going to give this topic more thought, as some of the terms that we use in essay writing don't translate well to the novice writer. Analysis is an intimidating word, but why is not.

Dornan: This dense chapter reminded me of how necessary the classification of errors is. Developmental, rhetorical, and usage errors have critical distinctions for those assessing student writing. I had not thought about developmental errors in this way before. Dornan suggests thinking about these errors as an opportunity for scaffolding. Allowing certain errors, for example in the use of relatives, and pointing them out as areas of revision is important. The methods for teaching sentence variety were quite good. In any scenario, using authentic examples for teaching mechanics are critical.

Culham: I think it is important to understand voice or style, but I found Culham to be lacking in substance on this difficult topic. To a certain extent I feel like voice is not something as quantifiable as the other traits. Without background knowledge or prior exposure to an author's works, it would be very difficult to guess the identity of a writer from her compositions.

Culham links students losing their love of language with the emphasis on formal writing in primary and secondary classrooms. I agree with this, but I see the "loss of language love" problem originating elsewhere. We have relegated writing to the English curriculum only, and students writing in a variety of settings would help them to see writing as a tool and not a peculiarity found only in the English classroom. Also, if we don't balance formal, essay writing with informal, personal writing, we will teach students to see writing as only the province of "boring" analysis. This connects to the wholesale consolidation of disciplines within schools. Instead of teaching a broad spectrum of disciplines, we move towards a simplified (read cheaper) overall curriculum. If students are taught to have ownership of their skills rather than simply mastering them for a grade, they will want to internalize it and make it part of their life outside of school.

Resource Link: The UNC School of Education has some really good resources. Click on this link to see their section on teaching style.