Creative Writing v. Non-fiction

Apologies for the late reply! I just realized I'd forgotten to share.

I have to second the sentiments of everyone here regarding the readings, which have brought me to think a bit more about my own experiences teaching. Personally, I've had to convince my students that academic writing is not just dry; it needs to have the same love and care brought to it that creative writing does. I also try to encourage my students to engage in creative writing throughout my classes, especially for larger projects. Granted, none of mine took the opportunity this time around, but hey, it's the thought that counts.

I will admit that I preferred the non-fiction case study in comparison to the academic case study of Fei in terms of style. However, they are both in different modes, each trying to achieve different things.


So, my question to you all would be, how can we try to incorporate these techniques for our students, and try to break down the binary between heady intellectualism and evoking pathos? For example, I have my students do rhetorical analysis of things that they are passionate about, oftentimes which are based on pathos.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Within my readings for this week, I was particularly struck by the chapter on voice and audience. I was actually thinking about the same quote Lei did in her post: " “Good readers usually recognize a problem, though they may not always be able to explain it technically." Since I grew up only speaking English, this is a problem I've run into in my own life, and with my own students. So, I just want to second that thought as well! My question is actually quite similar to hers: What do we do if we have a student actually asking us for more technical grammatical advice, and while we are able to tell them what the fix is, what would you recommend aside from, "Oh, it just works"? I've found saying "Oh, this sounds more natural" is good enough for students, or asking them to read their work aloud, but that definitely doesn't hold up in terms of how grammar works. If it did, the English language would be far less messy! Another thing as well: If we h...
Read more

Asynchronous Tutoring

I appreciated Remington's piece immensely. While I understand Kyle's concerns about establishing rapport, the beauty of asynchronous tutoring in that such rapport is of a different timbre. There's less pressure to perform the "tutor" or "writing expert" role and more time to shift between being a reader, a modeler, a focused professional, a sympathetic fellow student or peer. I experienced a shade of this difference when I tutor appointment students, compared to returning Enrollment tutees. More rides on the Enrollment tutoring relationship because of its development over time. If I say something stupid, it means we may both be uncomfortable for weeks to come. The relational aspects of appointment tutoring allows me to get down to business more quickly. If the student thinks I'm a weirdo, it won't haunt us at every assignment we gather over together. As long as I attend to the student as writer, the student as acquaintance is happy and recedes....
Read more

Week 2 Posting - Randazzo - UI WC and Bedford Guide Questions / Thoughts

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Labor Day weekend. Today is my first day on the job for the WC, and I am super excited! However, like Rachel, I seem to have misplaced my syllabus. Still, my gushing aside, Here are my thoughts on both readings: Within The Bedford Guide to Writing Tutors, I did, in fact, find much of the advice to be helpful. However, I would also like to echo Kyle's question about laptop usage as a tutor. I tend to do my work digitally, and it is also far easier to edit things in terms of writing things and moving around paragraphs if need be. Meanwhile, one thing that struck me is the fact that try as a student may, we may not give them grade appraisals. Seconding Rachel, I was greatly surprised by the kind of detachment they seem to laud for "professionalism," when the process of tutoring, as they rightfully point out in the "many hats" section, contains so much personal interaction. When in my experience at The College of Woos...
Read more