Blog #4

Fulwiler: Each term, I write weekly letters with one of my classes, composing my syllabus as a letter, requesting letters back. I would write letters with all my classes if I had the time and energy, but I don’t. I ask other classes to keep journals and share selected entries with me to which I informally respond (16).

Albanese: Is it just me or does this sound unfair? I completely understand how he would not have the time to write letters with multiple classes. However, it just seems completely unfair to the classes who do not get the opportunity to participate. If Fulwiler is advocating the use of these letters and arguing their effectiveness, then isn’t he also saying that his other classes who are not participating are receiving the short end of the stick? Isn’t he failing them in a sense? This is similar to choosing a favorite student; it is like he is choosing a favorite class and providing them with special treatment. If he cannot do it with all of his classes, then shouldn’t he find a different, more efficient method that he can provide to all of them, a method that doesn’t leave any student or class out?

Fulwiler: Most people write letters in their natural voices: first person pronouns, contradictions, personal asides, digressions, humor, slang, expletives…I prefer dashes to semicolons, ellipses to transitions, sometimes sentence fragments, other times endless sentences (19).

Albanese: In other words, I believe that Fulwiler is trying to say that letter writing is in a sense the most simple and basic form of writing. People generally tend to let their guards down when writing letters because they are not bound by limitations or conventions. They have the freedom to express themselves in their own unique ways, without the risk of being penalized or incorrect. Letter writing seems comfortable. Therefore, anyone can write a letter.

Fulwiler: At term’s end, I move the letters from an informal to a formal assignment-or as Peter Elbow would say, from low to high stakes- and expect now to see more focused, deliberate, and crafted writing examining themes, patterns, and concerns of a term’s worth of correspondence (23).

Albanese: I believe that this can be a good method because students have the opportunity to practice and experiment with their own writing all semester before they are required to present a formal piece of writing. At the point where students are asked to complete a high stakes writing assignment, they have already had enough practice with all of the low stakes writing assignments that have been assigned throughout the semester. Therefore, they are likely better prepared to succeed with their final writing assignments of the semester.

Bean: Although students normally write only a few formal papers for a course, they can do behind the scenes exploratory writing on a daily basis (6).

Albanese: This reminds me of Fulwiler’s letter writing assignments. Those assignments were a form of exploratory writing on a weekly basis. In the letters students grappled with and explored concepts from each of the texts and other class based issues. This is one good example of how to structure a form of low stakes writing. Those students were most definitely expanding their critical thinking skills as they wrote those exploratory letters each week. Journal entries also seem like a good form of exploratory writing.

Bean: Good writing, I like to tell my students, grows out of good talking-either talking with classmates or talking dialogically with oneself through exploratory writing (7).

Albanese: I completely agree with this statement. It is often true that hearing one person’s ideas, whether it be in a classroom discussion, small group, pair, or otherwise, tends to spark a connected or entirely new idea in another person. Hearing a survey of other people’s ideas might also assist in helping one come to their own informed conclusions. What one person knows another might lack knowledge of, talking collaboratively tends to help fill in the gaps.

Bean: No matter how much we exhort students to write several drafts and to collaborate with peers, most of our students will continue to write papers on the night before they are due unless we structure our courses to promote writing as a process (8).

Albanese: I believe that this quote is completely true. Unfortunately, I know people on the graduate level who still write papers the night before they are due! I believe it becomes a force of habit after a while. If we teach our students that writing is a serious process early on and get them into the habit of consistently writing drafts and making revisions for all of their formal writing assignments, then they will likely continue this habit for the rest of their academic careers.

McLeod/ Miraglia/ Soven/ Thaiss: The warning years of the twentieth century mark higher education’s winter of discontent a bleak time of scarce resources and few bright days. Survival is most on our minds, not doing extras that help our students learn more and better. The quest for students, external funding and ways to save money saps most of our institutional energy while faculty busily sandbag against rising teaching loads and class sizes (2).

Albanese: I agree with this quote to a certain extent. However, I recall reading somewhere that the beauty of WAC programs is that they do not necessary require a lot of funding to implement and teachers do not need extensive training in order to incorporate them into their classrooms. WAC is both simple and effective in many ways.

McLeod/ Miraglia/ Soven/ Thaiss: Service learning programs vary considerably across institutions, but they all have one thing in common: they attempt to connect the classroom to the community in a way that encourages experiential learning on the part of the students. In other words, they attempt to link town and gown in ways that simultaneously help the community and fulfill educational objectives (9).

Albanese: This reminds me of a project in which I participated in when I was in the seventh grade. Our science teacher had brought the class on a trip to a local park to plant flowers in the garden. We had a connected writing project in the classroom. I both enjoyed the project and learned more than I usually did in the science classroom. I still remember it to this day, it must have been effective. Therefore, I personally believe in the effectiveness of this method.

McLeod/ Miraglia/ Soven/ Thaiss: By its very nature, then, WAC has been and continues to be a dynamic movement, one well suited to a postmodern paradigm of change in higher education (22).

Albanese: This quote specifies the usefulness of WAC programs in ‘higher education.’ If WAC programs are appropriate for all school levels (elementary, middle, high school and so on), I am wondering why this chapter repeatedly focuses solely on higher education, failing to mention WAC’s use or effectiveness at any other level. I would like to read about WAC programs used on the secondary level because I feel that that would be most beneficial to me as a secondary teacher in training.

Williams: The great thing about repetition is that it makes items look like they belong together, even if the elements are not exactly the same. You can see here that once you establish a couple of key repetitive items, you can vary those items and still create a consistent look (59).

Albanese: The information in this particular quote sounds like it can be very useful to our individual website creation projects. I have highlighted and noted this quote to refer back to during the process of creating my website.

Williams: Don’t overdo it with repetition, but try to ‘unify with variety’ (61).

Albanese: I believe that this is a very important suggestion to be conscious of when creating any visual design. It is important to be cautious because if the repetition is overdone, the design can appear very cluttered and or overcrowded and therefore, visually displeasing to the reader.

Williams: A repetition of visual elements throughout the design unifies and strengthens a piece by tying together otherwise separate parts. Repetition is very useful on one-page pieces, and is critical in multi-page documents (where we often just call it being consistent).

Albanese: I have observed that each of the principles mentioned thus far, serve, in part, to unify the design. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that unity must be one of the top priorities in a design. Second, I have learned that repetition will be essential in our web design projects because they will each be ‘multi-page documents,’ where we need that consistency in order to create unity in each of our designs.

Emig: Critics of these terms like Louise Rosenblatt rightfully point out that the connotation of passivity too often accompanies the notion of receptivity when reading, like listening, is a vital, construing act (123).

Albanese: I agree with Rosenblatt as well. I also believe that reading should be an active activity as opposed to a passive one. A reader should be continuously attempting to make meaning of the words on the pages and to make connections as they are reading.
Emig: But to say that talking is a valuable form of prewriting is not to say that writing is talk recorded, an inaccuracy appearing in far too many composition texts (123).
Albanese: I believe that talking as pre-writing is more like of brain storming. Speaking is typically more spontaneous, while writing is typically more crafted, except in special cases, such as making a speech or presentation.

Britton: An ‘illusion of life’ she says, ‘is the primary illusion of all poetic art. It is at least tentatively established by the very first sentence, which has to switch the reader’s or hearer’s attitude from conversational interest to literary interest, i.e., from actuality to fiction. We make this shift with great care, and much more often than we realize, even in the midst of conversation; one has to say ‘You know about the two Scotchmen, who…,’ to make everybody in earshot suspend the actual conversation and attend to ‘the’ two Scots and ‘their’ absurdities. Jokes are a special literary form to which people will attend on the spur of the moment [1953 p.23] (153).

Albanese: I disagree with this quote. I believe that even a literary piece can begin sounding like a conversation and that a conversation can at times begin sounding like a literary piece. I believe the distinction between whether it is literary or conversational can come later, not always at the beginning. This can happen in cases where an artist is using the element of surprise and when everyday people attempt to sound more intellectual or artistic. In a way I believe that the two can be interchangeable at certain points. The ‘shift’ that she speaks of can take place later than she assumes.



Letter to My Partner


Dear Jayme,

This week I came across many interesting quotes in the readings. Some really stood out to me. I have passionate responses to some of these quotes, especially some of those I found in Fulwiler and Bean’s pieces. I found those two pieces to be the most compelling and most interesting readings of all of this week's readings. I also believe that they connect the most as well. In some instances, it seems as if the two authors are in dialogue with each other. I was wondering if you agree with my responses to some of their quotes or if you have a differing opinion that you would like to share with me.

The following are some of the Fulwiler quotes I found, my responses to them, and some questions for you.

“Each term, I write weekly letters with one of my classes, composing my syllabus as a letter, requesting letters back. I would write letters with all my classes if I had the time and energy, but I don’t. I ask other classes to keep journals and share selected entries with me to which I informally respond” (16).

Is it just me or does this sound unfair? I completely understand how he would not have the time to write letters with multiple classes. However, it just seems completely unfair to the classes who do not get the opportunity to participate. If Fulwiler is advocating the use of these letters and arguing their effectiveness, then isn’t he also saying that his other classes who are not participating are receiving the short end of the stick? Isn’t he failing them in a sense? This is similar to choosing a favorite student; it is like he is choosing a favorite class and providing them with special treatment. If he cannot do it with all of his classes, then shouldn’t he find a different, more efficient method that he can provide to all of them, a method that doesn’t leave any student or class out?

“Most people write letters in their natural voices: first person pronouns, contradictions, personal asides, digressions, humor, slang, expletives…I prefer dashes to semicolons, ellipses to transitions, sometimes sentence fragments, other times endless sentences” (19).

In other words, I believe that Fulwiler is trying to say that letter writing is in a sense the most simple and basic form of writing. People generally tend to let their guards down when writing letters because they are not bound by limitations or conventions. They have the freedom to express themselves in their own unique ways, without the risk of being penalized or incorrect. Letter writing seems comfortable. Do you agree with my observations?

“At term’s end, I move the letters from an informal to a formal assignment-or as Peter Elbow would say, from low to high stakes- and expect now to see more focused, deliberate, and crafted writing examining themes, patterns, and concerns of a term’s worth of correspondence” (23).

Do you believe that this can be a good method because students have the opportunity to practice and experiment with their own writing all semester before they are required to present a formal piece of writing? At the point where students are asked to complete a high stakes writing assignment, they have already had enough practice with all of the low stakes writing assignments that have been assigned throughout the semester. Do you think they are likely better prepared to succeed with their final writing assignments of the semester?

The following are some of the Bean quotes I found, my responses to them, and some questions for you.

“Although students normally write only a few formal papers for a course, they can do behind the scenes exploratory writing on a daily basis” (6).

This reminds me of Fulwiler’s letter writing assignments. Those assignments were a form of exploratory writing on a weekly basis. In the letters students grappled with and explored concepts from each of the texts and other class based issues. This is one good example of how to structure a form of low stakes writing. Those students were most definitely expanding their critical thinking skills as they wrote those exploratory letters each week. Do you agree? Do you think journal entries also seem like a good form of exploratory writing?

“Good writing, I like to tell my students, grows out of good talking-either talking with classmates or talking dialogically with oneself through exploratory writing” (7).

I completely agree with this statement, do you agree? It is often true that hearing one person’s ideas, whether it be in a classroom discussion, small group, pair, or otherwise, tends to spark a connected or entirely new idea in another person. Hearing a survey of other people’s ideas might also assist in helping one come to their own informed conclusions. Do you think what one person knows another might lack knowledge of? Do you also think that talking collaboratively tends to help fill in the gaps?

“No matter how much we exhort students to write several drafts and to collaborate with peers, most of our students will continue to write papers on the night before they are due unless we structure our courses to promote writing as a process” (8).

I believe that this quote is completely true. Unfortunately, I know people on the graduate level who still write papers the night before they are due! I believe it becomes a force of habit after a while. Do you think if we teach our students that writing is a serious process early on we will get them into the habit of consistently writing drafts and making revisions for all of their formal writing assignments, then they will likely continue this habit for the rest of their academic careers?

Lastly, there is one quote from McLeod/ Miraglia/ Soven/ Thaiss’ piece that I would like to share.

“By its very nature, then, WAC has been and continues to be a dynamic movement, one well suited to a postmodern paradigm of change in higher education” (22).

This quote specifies the usefulness of WAC programs in ‘higher education.’ If WAC programs are appropriate for all school levels (elementary, middle, high school and so on), Does this chapter make you wonder why it repeatedly focuses solely on higher education, failing to mention WAC’s use or effectiveness at any other level? Wouldn’t you like to read about WAC programs used on the secondary level because they would be most beneficial to you as a secondary teacher in training?

Sincerely,
Rachael

Response to my Partner's Letter

Dear Jayme,

I do agree with your theory that Chapter 1 of WAC is a great outline for thinking about Writing Across the Curriculum as a whole. I think that is an excellent observation.

Also, I completely agree with your notion that students should be learning integration at an even earlier level in high school. In fact, I even asked you a similar question in my letter prior to reading your letter. High school definitely should not be for learning information and fact only, leaving college as the time to actually start thinking critically! And to answer your question, I do not think that critical thinking can be separated from active learning. In fact, I believe the two go hand in hand with each other.

Also, Yes, I do think that WAC should be a part of all levels of schooling, since writing is needed for students to think critically and make connections.

And yes, I do think that WAC has become ECAC (Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum). I also do think that WAC changing to ECAC is just another restructuring and transformation to allow for more critical and active thinking and if students are comfortable with technology and will likely need to be familiar with different forms of technology for most future careers, then why not?

Lastly, I am not completely sure of what you mean when you say “Would [that] mean that WAC has integrated into another domain?” I believe that WAC is its own domain in certain ways. However, I apologize, I cannot answer that question directly and specifically because I'm not exactly sure what you mean.

Sincerely,
Rachael