Response to Developing Writers: Workshop 6

Jessica Sumpter

English 484

February 24, 2008

Developing Writers

A lot of what the teachers are talking about sounds like good sense to me. You know, be aware that every student is different, every student responds differently to different techniques. It’s very plain on the video from the student comments. One says positive feedback helps the most, another says negative feedback; and there’s a lot of gray in between those, too. I suppose the best we can do is try to expose them to as many different strategies as possible so they can find what works for them.

When is the most effective time for feedback? This one teacher talks a lot about getting to the student very early in the writing process, but I disagree, to a point. I say to a point because this is just like everything else; it will be different for every student. Personally, a quick check-in early in the process and one more in-depth review very late in the process, like right before the final draft, works best for me. As long as I know I’m on the right track, I just want to be left alone until I’m done with it. That’s what works best for me, but I’m aware that it’s different for everybody. Professor Emery breaks his students up into groups

What about the fragility of the student? Yeah, don’t hold with that too much. I suppose, as a student, I resent being called fragile. However, I agree with one of teachers who says that we should tell our students the point of our comments. I would definitely say to my students that I’m here to help them develop their skills and to do that, they need to know where improvement is possible. How can I correct something unless I tell them it’s wrong to begin with? And that’s also something I would explain to them. I’m not saying that we should just write whatever criticism we see on a paper without thinking about how we word it so it doesn’t come off the wrong way. However, I don’t think holding back criticisms is helping the student either.

I totally agree with clearly stating what is expected of students in a class, for an assignment, etc. I really think it’s a stress reducer. If I don’t feel like I know exactly what’s expected of me, then I feel a constant low-level anxiety that I’m not living up to those expectations, or I’ve somehow missed the point of what I’m supposed to be doing. However, if a teacher has told me what is expected, then I feel much more confident that I can accomplish what I’m supposed to. Letting the student know what you expect can be done a lot of different ways. In discussion, by saying directly, ‘this is what I expect of your papers,’ or, less directly, ‘…and that’s something I’ll be looking for in your papers,’ or ,’here’s what I’ll be looking for.’ You can give them a checklist, or a list of goals, like ‘you should be looking particularly at…’ or ‘in your paper you should…’

One of the teachers said that students should “develop a thick skin” and I agree with him. Students should have an understanding that whatever they write, not everybody is going to like it, and that’s okay. You’re allowed to make mistakes, not like somebody else’s writing, and to have your own disliked.

Oh man, I don’t like group work. Any kind of group work, and my classrooms will probably reflect that. My own opinion is extreme. I would rather get it wrong on my own than get it right in a group. I think it’s hard to make group-work, work well.