2. In Sommer's study she notes that some students "...approach the revision process with what could be labeled as a 'thesaurus philosophy of writing'; the students consider the thesaurus a harvest of lexical substitutions and believe that most problems in their essays can be solved by rewording. What is revealed in the students' use of the thesaurus is a governing attitude toward their writing: that the meaning to be communicated is already there, already finished, already produced, ready to be communicated, and all that is necessary is a better word 'rightly worded.'” I believe this is largely what I was taught to believe revision was prior to college. Does this sound like a familiar process to you? Or at least to who you were as a high school (or younger) writer?
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Keri Miller 7/11
1. Bishop suggests, "If a text is viewed as revisable, then a student
should not be encouraged to edit at the local, sentence level while pushing to
develop ideas because those very sentences may disappear in a future draft. If
a student spends too much time at this initial thinking-through stage on local
issues, he’s much less willing to discard an ineffective sentence or paragraph
in the interest of improving the global effect of the paper." As a writer, do you practice this in your own drafting? As a teacher, would you advise this to students?
2. In Sommer's study she notes that some students "...approach the revision process with what could be labeled as a 'thesaurus philosophy of writing'; the students consider the thesaurus a harvest of lexical substitutions and believe that most problems in their essays can be solved by rewording. What is revealed in the students' use of the thesaurus is a governing attitude toward their writing: that the meaning to be communicated is already there, already finished, already produced, ready to be communicated, and all that is necessary is a better word 'rightly worded.'” I believe this is largely what I was taught to believe revision was prior to college. Does this sound like a familiar process to you? Or at least to who you were as a high school (or younger) writer?
2. In Sommer's study she notes that some students "...approach the revision process with what could be labeled as a 'thesaurus philosophy of writing'; the students consider the thesaurus a harvest of lexical substitutions and believe that most problems in their essays can be solved by rewording. What is revealed in the students' use of the thesaurus is a governing attitude toward their writing: that the meaning to be communicated is already there, already finished, already produced, ready to be communicated, and all that is necessary is a better word 'rightly worded.'” I believe this is largely what I was taught to believe revision was prior to college. Does this sound like a familiar process to you? Or at least to who you were as a high school (or younger) writer?
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Hey Keri,
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your second question "thesaurus-style revision" was definitely common in my younger days. As I've gotten older though I've gotten more comfortable reusing the same words because I place importance on being as simple and understandable as possible. Also, as I've gotten older I've come to appreciate that sometimes there is an aesthetic benefit to being repetitive, if the repetition is composed thoughtfully.
Hi, Keri,
ReplyDeleteYour first question: I do tend to practice that method in my own writing. I rarely go back and edit for sentence level issues until i believe I have a final draft. Misspellings and other issues won't be addressed until I'm ready to say "hands off." I would also advise this to students. Ultimately, the ideas (aka higher order concerns) are more important to me than perfect grammar/spelling.