After reading the assignments for this week, I feel conflicted regarding how far we as high school and college educators can go in teaching writing as writing. It seems to me that writing, being a mode of communication, is a most intimate and instinctual skill. The most educators can do is equip students with prescriptive rules, some handwriting, techniques, and the rest is largely up to these individuals. Whereas a skill like balancing equations in chemistry is something educators implant in the minds of students in a a classroom setting. The point i'm trying to make is "members of the writing public have learned ...to write, to think together, to act...largely without our instruction." (Yancey 301) So, what does that say about writing? Can it actually be taught in a classroom?
Sure, "educators can provide students with the opportunity to approach objectives such as using course readings and/or outside sources by contextualizing it in ways that are of interest or importance to them and even decide how, why, where, and when their arguments will be experienced by readers" ( Shipka 286) but is that enough? And does that constitute writing as writing? These individuals will still write for the purpose of class, for the primary audience, an instructor, and towards the goal of receiving an A. So, how then is that writing as we have read about in the 19th Century regarding the novel or as Andrew Fitzgerald, I have posted a link to his TED Talk at the very end of this post, has detailed regarding twitter novels and parodies?
I'm not sure how to narrow the distance between these two "kinds" of "writing".
In the end, I think it's important to note that new forms of writing continue to be born "outside of school" (Yancey 300) and that there is a significant reason for that. However, is it really possible to try to take control of this and even attempt to "teach it" in a classroom?
Just to kind of veer from this topic and touch on Christina Haas' Writing Technology: Studies on The Materiality of Literacy, I am curious to know who sees technology as transparent and if so does it differ from technology to technology. Is it transparent in the form of a laptop or a pen and paper? I have found that it is transparent at times yet not so when say time and purpose come into play.
Anyway, as usual I am always on the fence about ideas and have a difficult time expressing them; I can't wait to actually hear other opinions and interpretations of the readings.
P.S. Andrew Fitzgerlad conducted a TED talk on a genre and I guess subgenres, that I have never heard of, called twitter fictions. It blew my mind in ways and reaffirmed ideas in others. Perhaps Yancey would appreciate this clip.
https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_fitzgerald_adventures_in_twitter_fiction
"A new medium defines a new format which in turn defines new stories.."
- Andrew Fitzgerald
Sure, "educators can provide students with the opportunity to approach objectives such as using course readings and/or outside sources by contextualizing it in ways that are of interest or importance to them and even decide how, why, where, and when their arguments will be experienced by readers" ( Shipka 286) but is that enough? And does that constitute writing as writing? These individuals will still write for the purpose of class, for the primary audience, an instructor, and towards the goal of receiving an A. So, how then is that writing as we have read about in the 19th Century regarding the novel or as Andrew Fitzgerald, I have posted a link to his TED Talk at the very end of this post, has detailed regarding twitter novels and parodies?
I'm not sure how to narrow the distance between these two "kinds" of "writing".
In the end, I think it's important to note that new forms of writing continue to be born "outside of school" (Yancey 300) and that there is a significant reason for that. However, is it really possible to try to take control of this and even attempt to "teach it" in a classroom?
Just to kind of veer from this topic and touch on Christina Haas' Writing Technology: Studies on The Materiality of Literacy, I am curious to know who sees technology as transparent and if so does it differ from technology to technology. Is it transparent in the form of a laptop or a pen and paper? I have found that it is transparent at times yet not so when say time and purpose come into play.
Anyway, as usual I am always on the fence about ideas and have a difficult time expressing them; I can't wait to actually hear other opinions and interpretations of the readings.
P.S. Andrew Fitzgerlad conducted a TED talk on a genre and I guess subgenres, that I have never heard of, called twitter fictions. It blew my mind in ways and reaffirmed ideas in others. Perhaps Yancey would appreciate this clip.
https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_fitzgerald_adventures_in_twitter_fiction
"A new medium defines a new format which in turn defines new stories.."
- Andrew Fitzgerald