Multigenre Paper

Im both excited and nervous for this assignment. While looking at the example papers on d2l, I realized that I am more confident when completing assignments that have a set structure, consistent expectations. Give a rubric and im golden. I am nervous that I'll lose myself in the creativity of the project, that I'll stray from the purpose. On the other hand, I have always enjoyed going above and beyond on projects, adding my own flare to simple assignments. So, I'm intrigued by this paper. I think it will be interesting and helpful to come up with multiple ways of demonstrating, teaching a grammar issue or topic. Heck, maybe I'll come p with a few good teaching strategies along the way. This is my first time completing a project of this time, so I'm nervous, but I'm also very excited to see what I, as well as my classmates, come up with.

Writing is Rough

Noden writes that content shapes form, but that writers select form to express their content. Later he writes that form and content should be simultaneously decided upon. I disagree. I think that form limits, even deforms, content. As teachers, we should first allow our students to write freely on their topic without constraint or regulation. Only after the students' original ideas and thoughts are recorded should we begin to apply form and revision. Noden says that critics began to ask, " where is the 5 paragraph theme?" I ask, why is there a 5 paragraph structure to adolescent writing? In my eyes, it only confuses students and limits their imagination. They see introduction, body, conclusion and suddenly their originality is transformed into robotic styled writing. In this way, content is not shaping form...form is shaping content. However, if a student takes an original, free-form work and then molds it into a more organized, engaging text...that is beneficial. A student may look at Noden's multiple possibilities for leads in introductions, realize their own is weak, and alter it to make their paper more interesting. The writers creativity is still in tact, but form is helping to push them a little further..make their writing a little better.

Noden's also Includes a strategy in chapter 9 called, Run a Magazine Search. I found this activity to be interesting and helpful. Sometimes students look at the 5 paragraph structure and they understand that their paper should follow that structure; however, they struggle with how to make their paper follow that structure. The activity allows students to view a large variety or professional writing...models of the forms they are going to write such as journal articles, features, research papers, etc. The students are able to look at examples of the writing that is expected of them. They can view appropriate models of introductions, conclusions, even the structure of the body. Students then have more to work of of than simply a structure; they have examples to follow. Again,MIT is important for students to first write freely and creatively so as not to encounter the issue of students copying other authors styles. It is better for them to take their own work and then only mildly change it rather than creating their work based entirely off of the mentor text.

Chapter 10 discussed students' perspectives on the revision process. Noden tells us that many students are frightened and confused by the prospect of revising simply because they don't know what they are revising, how to revise it, or why they revising it to begin with. Duh! Revision is certainly confusing. Harvey's take on proof reading makes sense...how can they catch the errors if they didnt know they were making their error to begin with? If they knew the grammar rules they wouldn't have made the mistake, so how can they catch it? I think that revision is flawed. Teachers hand back students' papers were x's and marks, but how often do students actually learn lessons from those corrections? Teachers need to be sure that the revision process is effective. That is, they need to be accurately identifying, explaining, and assisting in correction of the problem.

In Anderson, I really liked the visual scaffold for the vague pronoun lesson. Anderson shows a rapid image if a paper that has each pronoun circled with arrows that point back to the subject that the pronoun is referring to. At first glance, I found the scaffold to be boring and unhelpful, but after examining it more closely, I realized that the scaffold is actually perfect. The various arrows connecting throughout the paper adequately illustrate the confusing nature of vague pronouns. The visual scaffold would be an affective way to show students why it's important to use pronouns sparingly.