The Paper Rush

I just happened to be looking at my Facebook newsfeed, and it seems to me that there is an ongoing "paper rush." Status updates such as "Done page 3 of 12," and "Only 300 more words" have filled my newsfeed. It makes me wonder, though--has school allowed us to view writing assignments as simply the amount of pages we have to fill with words, or the amount of words we have to place on paper to hand in to a professor?

What happened to writing something that you were passionate about--something that you viewed as a work, not as a countdown of pages? At this time in the semester, most writing assignments have become the opposite.

Then, we have issues of academic bullshit that arise once again--writing fluffy, imaginative ideas that are really too far-fetched to be truly taken seriously by anyone, but are accepted in the world of academia. So many issues arise in writing at this point of the year that I wonder if it is even meaningful for teachers to assign works to be due at the end of the semester, because the level of effort is usually devoted to fulfilling a word count or a page quota.

Anyone Recall "Academic Bullshit?"

First-Year Students and the Writing Center - What Challenges Might They Face?

In short order, I will soon find myself among the ranks of the University of Richmond Writing Consultants. This is a university experience, and therefore there are no boundaries or limits to what I can face during my time as a consultant. During the semester, we discussed the kinds of writers we can encounter as consultants, and these ranged anywhere from older students, to students whose primary language is not English, to students of disciplines that we are not familiar with. Perhaps the most interesting, yet probably the highest population who seek out consultation sessions, are first-year college students. They are usually the ones with the most apprehension towards college-level work, and are usually unsure as to what is expected of them as a writer at an institution of higher learning.

Earlier in the semester, I blogged about my perceptions of writing as a high school student (think the 5 paragraph essay) and how quickly those were shut down through my first few college writing assignments. Thus, as I writing consultant, it's important to be able to help a first-year student through this transformation. The question is, though, how exactly to we do that?

There was a study conducted by Velda McCune on the "Development of First-Year Students' Conceptions of Essay Writing." She investigated how first-year students perceptions of the process that goes into writing an essay and what a finished essay product should be like (the students involved were all first-year psychology students, but the concept can be applied to students of all disciplines). The method of assessment was through interviews, and students all gave different responses. Some faced trouble in focusing and putting effort into their writing; some even cited fear of negative feedback from professors and TA's. 

As I'm only a sophomore and can clearly remember my days as a freshman and some of the challenges I faced. Some of them were:

1. What my professor truly wanted from me.

A lot of times it is difficult for first-year students to truly understand what a professor expects of them, especially coming from a high school system which is usually more straightforward.

2. How to fulfill the prompt but maintain my individuality.

In college, a lot of times writing is not very "creative," but tend to involve arguing a point. Sometimes students (largely first-years) feel inclined to argue a point that they feel their professor is in favor of.

3. How to properly organize a paper.

Organization seems to be the number one cry of anyone faced with a writing assignment...First-year college students are no different.

As I continue the process of completing my final project for the ENGL 383 class, I am able to use my experiences in the writing center and my own observations to develop more detailed answers to these questions.

Cited Works:

McCune, Velda. "Development of First-year Students' Conceptions of Essay Writing." Higher Education 47.3 (2004): 257-82. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

What is unpreparedness?

On Monday, we once again worked with Amy from the Boys and Girls Club. This week she seemed a bit more excited, but she once again did not bring her materials...so we were not able to accomplish much.

Because she is so young, we were inclined to excuse her lack of preparedness, but this made me ponder the following situations: What about in the case of college students who we may encounter in the Writing Center? Also, in an institution that is conducive to freedom and learning, what exactly is unpreparedness? 

I thought back on one of my shadowing sessions where a freshman young man (I'll call him Sam) came in to with nothing but a prompt and half a page of jotted down ideas. One would think, at first, that he came unprepared for his consultation, as he had nothing of substance. However, that session turned out to be one of the most productive that I've ever seen, simply through the development of ideas and a clear structure and plan that he used to later write the paper.

At the same time, it's possible for a student to come into the Writing Center with a nearly finished product and not get as much from a session as Sam did. So really, what is unpreparedness?

College Mentoring Project - Take 2

I conveniently had my second experience tutoring for the College Mentoring Project one day after conducting my classmate consultation session. It allowed me to incorporate some of the ideas I used to create my plan for the classmate consultation session into my time with my high school student, who I'll call Lisa.

Last time we met, she simply had an outline of what she desired to talk about in one of her college essays. This time, 2 months later, she gave me a partially finished product that we worked through and managed to complete. The most fulfilling thing for me was giving her tips and allowing her to make her own decisions on the changes she would make to her writing--and watching her face light up when she thought of a better idea (whether a better word or more effective phrase).

I also noticed my own self-progression as a writing consultant as well. I've changed from a proofreader into one who helps generate ideas and facilitate good writing. That, I would say, is definitely invaluable.

How would I like to be treated?

At the moment, as I formulate my plan for my consultation with my fellow student on her work, I've asked myself, "How would I like to be treated?" Well, that's pretty easy.

1. I'd want my work and creative expression to be respected, regardless of its quality.

2. I would appreciate positive comments, but I would value constructive criticism even more as it would directly benefit my paper and my future written works.

3. I would want to feel like I have a good portion (if not the majority) of control over the session.

4. At the same time, I would want to feel guided by my consultant as to which direction the consultation should take.

What do you think? What would be your idea of the "perfect consultation?"

"Pearls of Wisdom"

For the past month or so, we've worked on two occasions with the kids at the Boys & Girls Club on their digital story project under the theme "Pearls of Wisdom."

The little girl that myself and another one of my classmates has been working with (I'll call her Amy) appeared to be slightly disinterested during our first meeting together. She had not yet began the interview process, but was still in the very basic stages of formulating suitable questions in order to get the information she desired from her interviewee. At the end of that first session, we managed to get her moderately interested and more excited to begin the interview process.

Fast forward to two weeks later.

Amy, for some reason, seemed even more disinterested than she was when she had not even started her interviews. As she had brought none of her materials with her to the session, we tried to prompt her to brainstorm ideas for her script, first verbally, then in written format. However, she blatantly told us she no longer wanted to do the project, as it did not excite her very much and she felt pigeonholed into asking a few generic questions that had been set in place (or recommended, I don't know for sure) by the lady supervising the project.

Once again, we, with the aid of Professor Dolson, had to try and motivate her, which was even less successful that it was previously.

This made me realize that, as a writing consultant, I'm probably going to be faced with students who didn't come to the consultations of their own free will, but did so through the prompting of a professor (some of whom make writing center consultations mandatory for their students). It is always a challenge to motivate people to be excited about their own work, but is the destruction of the creative mind (something Amy felt she was suffering from) a huge killer of the writer's soul and drive?