In Unit 1, we focused on writing in terms of emotion in two ways:
- our relationship to language and literacy, and
- setting good habits of writing practices and processes to help mitigate issues of anxiety around getting writing done.
Below is from the syllabus:
| Unit 1 – Identity, Language, and Process: Emotion and Writing |
| The focus on this unit is primarily grounded in the first two Learning Goals of the course (i.e., Composing as a process; Compose with an awareness of how intersectional identity, social conventions, and rhetorical situations shape writing). We will explore together the emotional foundation of writing, language, and rhetoric—that our feeling is integral to how we know our worlds and communicate about them. Sometimes, for sure, the feelings associated with language can make writing difficult, even lonely. Thus, we will focus on thinking strategically about the entire process of writing. The sub-goals we explore will include:
· Understand language as social and as part of who you are · Experiment with the rhetorical power of tapping into the full range of your rhetorical expertise (i.e., your rhetorical practices in all of the contexts in which you use rhetoric) · Understand the role of reading in writing (e.g., procedures of annotating, reading to revise) · Set goals and a process for checking in on your progress on an ongoing basis. Re-evaluate goals, periodically. · Develop a writing practice (e.g., creating the best environment for productive writing sessions as possible, managing distractions, time management) · Develop your writing process (e.g., planning, outlining, drafting, reflecting, revising, editing) · Receive feedback, apply it, and give constructive feedback (e.g., in peer response, workshopping writing, interpreting comments, integrating feedback in a global sense rather than only locally, managing the embodied nature of having an audience for your writing) · Using examples effectively in your writing to help illustrate things you are trying to explain or argue |
You have 2 tasks to complete for this page before moving on.
First, post to our Slack workspace to update us on how your writing process (i.e., the order in which you go from ideas to a finished piece of writing) and practice (i.e., the habits and environment you have set for getting writing done) have been going.
On our Slack channel for writing process and practice, give a brief update on what you have been doing that has been going well and what maybe has been a recent challenge in terms of your process and practice. Take about 100-200 words to do this. Feel free to post in response to others rather than have your own separate post if that can happen!
Second, comment below to talk about which subgoal best represents the area of your writing you’d most like to work on and why. Take about 100 words to respond.
After posting to our Slack workspace and commenting below, click on the button below to continue.
I think I could improve my feedback process. So far, I’m improving in implementing the feedback I get but sometimes I had trouble giving. I try to ask certain topics to be fleshed out and help organization but I don’t have much to say beyond that. I guess I’m not as good as helping with stylistic improvements. I think the idea about implementing feedback globally is good. You generally don’t want to make the same mistakes over time.
I would like to experiment with rhetorical tools to enhance my writing. I haven’t been reading much since middle school, so I have little experience with different styles of different authors. I think that by experiencing different rhetorical tools, I will have a bigger pool of knowledge from which I can pull from to write. Maybe after that, I will find the style I like the most and sharpen it.
I would like to work on setting foals and having a better process of analyzing what I am doing in my writing. I would like to be able to stay on schedule for multiple things and make sure to adhere to the schedule to avoid any lack of effort on any assignment. If I give it all my effort, I tend to do my best work and when I am left to make due dates for myself, I tend to push it off and without goals, I have nothing to work towards often. The reward process helps to be able to compensate for the long writing sessions.
I think I can improve on how personal I am with my writing. I usually do not share any personal experiences, and use quotes and facts instead to fill space in my writing. I use these facts and quotes from others in order to prove my point without having to give any personal ideas or thoughts. I will try to improve on this, as I think that it is important for the reader to understand where the writer is coming from.
* Using examples effectively in your writing to help illustrate things you are trying to explain or argue
I think this is a subgoal I want to work on the most because I want to be able to explain my ideas and arguments coherently for the reader. This is important because I understand my argument because it comes from my brain. But that is not the case for the reader.
I can work on my revision process. I think sometimes I fall short on really utilizing comments and suggestions that could really transform my writing for the better. I think a lot of it has to do with my thought on writing, I need to keep in mind that the process is never finished so I should never stop trying to make my piece better. In the future I won’t always have feedback so quickly available to me so in utilizing it now I can also learn how to revise and critique my own work better.
The subgoal that best represents the are of writing that I would like to work on is experimenting with the rhetorical power of tapping into the full range of my rhetorical expertise. I think that this area poses a challenge because there exist many rhetorical devices and it thus becomes difficult to determine which one would fit a particular narrative or audience during a textual analysis or when writing. I believe that if I improve this area, I will write more catchy stories and will get better at analyzing texts to determine the intent of the author.
One subgoal I have is to receive feedback, apply it, and give constructive feedback. In doing this I can become a much better writer and learn to revise more effectively. Constructive feedback is also important to me because it helps me revise more efficiently and makes others feel good about their work.
I can work on both receiving and giving feedback to my peers. My issue when receiving feedback is that I never know what I want to get rid of or keep in my writing. This causes stress because I will overthink my writing. When it comes to giving feedback, I struggle because I do not criticize other people’s work as hard as I do my own. I will make 2-3 comments at most. I need to improve this so I can truly help my peers in their writing.
I would say that my sencodary goal is between, experimenting with the rhetorical power of tapping into the full range of rhetorical expertise and working toward the improvement of my writing process and structure overall. The aspect of process is more about how I write and exploring rhetorical analysis is about the way I write.
I would like to work on setting personal writing goals for myself. Sometimes I just go into my writing and the only thing I’m thinking about is that I just need to get this finished. I think it would be helpful to know what I want to do with my writing and then maybe go online and look at how other writers have achieved what I am going for.