I'm not saying here that we should not try to help our students
by sharing what has worked for us. But I am saying that we should be
helping them try out multiple processes to find the ones that work best
for their particular habits, needs, and abilities.
I wouldn't wish my writing process for my dissertation on anyone.
It is painful, hyper-recursive, and at times down right destructive. ON
the other hand, there are times when I produce lucid prose for smaller
works that imulate a process I wish I could manage in other contexts and
that I would share with students. I have done some of my best work
collaboratively. But with the wrong partner, that too can be a nightmare.
I think we need to think a great deal more before we start
comparing the processes of experts to the processes of novice learners.
cheers,
jrg
\
\ Jeffrey R. Galin
_/ Department of English
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On Tue, 23 Jul 1996, Beth W. Baldwin, PhD wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Jul 1996, Jane Lasarenko wrote:
>
> > I suspect very few of us writing professionals practice what we
> > preach. (It would really be an interesting study to collect our
> > actual practices on the list. I'm not sure what kind of pedagogy
> > we'd end up with from that.) But as professionals, we've already
> > internalized so much of the process and product conventions, we
> > probably don't need to break much of it down. We freewrite (if one
> > ever does), draft, revise, proof, etc. as/when we first take fingers
> > to keyboard.
>
> While Nick (I think -- forgive me if that's the wrong citation!) doesn't
> feel particularly guilty about practicing what he preaches, I do. I not
> only want to practice what I preach but preach what I practice.
>
> As Jane suspects that not many of us writing professionals practice what
> we preach, so do I. And like Jane, I think that it would be a fascinating
> and useful study to collect narratives of our writing practices. As a
> matter of fact, I would say that this would be a wonderful project for a
> real-life Rhetnet forum at a future CCCC. Let's imagine that we collect
> these stories and study them, looking for patterns of practice and
> similarites/differences between actual practice and contemporary theories
> about writing instruction. IF we did discover major departures between
> theory and practice, what would we DO about it? Would we recommend
> changes in pedagogical practice? Would we be concerned about our failures
> to practice what we preach or preach what we practice?
>
> Personally, I chose to change my teaching practice and being preaching
> what I practice.
>
> Anyway, I think Jane has made a wonderful suggestion. What about this as
> a group project? I think something like this could make us electronic
> rhetors more visible (and more credible) to the established community.
>
> Beth Baldwin
> University of North Carolina at Greensboro
> Office of Continuing Education
> bobaldwi@hamlet.uncg.edu