Essays on Writing

Thinking and Writing Question – Page 142

 3. Leibowitz reports that technology has encouraged students to produce more pose that lack critical thought. The pieces in Chapter Two on the processes of writing addresses the need for writers to develop their ideas. Donald Murray calls this internal revision in which writers construct, refine, and develop the content of their writing. How can teachers employ technology to help students improve quality in their writing? How can teachers use blogs, a PowerPoint presentation, or other technology to teach internal revision?

The process of internal revision starts after the writer has completed the first draft. During the process of internal revision the writer starts with the entire piece and begins to revise. The writer will then move to the each individual page and then the writer will gradually critique every little detail of the piece. Technology helps the writers in a tremendous way during internal revision. Writers have the option of spell check, which is available to them through their device. Spell check benefits them while developing a piece of writing. The Internet is also something that is beneficial to the writer through technology. If the writer was to get stuck or they ran out of information, the Internet is there to give them a collection of data. Blogs are a great way to teach internal revision. Blogs are available to the public eye, this makes students revise what they are writing before they publish it. PowerPoint is also a great way to teach students internal revision. Usually when making a PowerPoint it is for a presentation that they entire class will see and the teacher to evaluate it. This makes students use the process of internal revision before showing it to the classroom. 

Advertisement

Essays On Writing

Essays On Writing 

Thinking and Writing Question: Page 52

4. At the beginning of Hannah’s writing career, she used inventive spelling to write her ideas. Do you ever use invented spelling when you are drafting and don’t know how to spell a word? Why? Why not? How do you invent when your brain won’t bring up the word or the ideas that you need?

Hannah is a five-year-old girl who used inventive spelling when she is writing because she does not know any better. Hannah used inventive spelling to spell words that she had no clue how to spell or even the meaning behind the word. It was similar to a guessing game, to see how close she could get to the correct spelling. I use inventive spelling all the time on words that I do not know the meaning behind and on some words that I do know the meaning of. It happens a lot when I am rushing through something and I am not quite sure how to spell it. I just guess and hope for the best as I try to get relatively close to the word. When that red squiggly line appears underneath the word, I cringe because I know I can only be a letters off. When I cannot think of the word I am trying to spell but it is on the tip of my tongue I keep writing until it clicks. I free write, which is a strategy I learned in college. Free writing helps me think and get my mind flowing with ideas or in the case words. 

Essays On Writing

Thinking and Writing Question: Page 16

5. Harrington explains a teaching strategy used by many writing teachers called conferring. The teacher sits down beside the student to confer about the students writing and progress. Collaboratively, the teacher works with the student to decide what to revise rather than returning the paper with notes that tell the students what to change. Does this conferencing worth with Harrington’s students? How do you know this? Would this conferencing work for you?

Harrington encourages his students to find their own subjects to explore because he gets more and better writing that way. During the writing process Harrington uses a different teaching strategy along with many other writing teachers called conferring. This strategy allows the student to continue writing and also be revised at the same time. It is very effective with Harrington’s students because they get one-on-one attention with their professor. I know this because Dick Harrington explains in “Writing about General Apache” that General Apache was skeptical at first about sharing his writing with him. General Apache soon learns that talking with Harrington made writing what he was feeling much easier. Harrington was not judgmental about any of his stories and the General also began to trust his professional opinion. Conferring with each other helped General Apache become a better writer because Harrington encouraged him to practice. Harrington believes that practice makes perfect and the more you write the better you become. Personally, I think conferencing would help develop my writing. The professor asking me what and why I chose that topic would make me think more critically. It would help me go into more detail and possibly open my eyes to something I would have never thought of.

http://gath267.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/essays-on-writing-chapter-1-attitudes/