I had a writing assignment to do over the weekend, and so I did what every good writer would do, I cleaned out my hallway closet. My hallway closet is an unplanned community that houses every imaginable household object that has no other place to reside including my exercise ball pump, an air mattress with a hole in it, old computer disks, cell phones, and eye glasses. There are boxes of files from my high school teaching days that hold every file folder for every class, book, or lesson I ever taught. All of this had to be sorted through; I couldn’t write a single word until this nagging chore was taken care of. After the hallway closet was cleared and organized, there was no way the garage was going to get away with being in the shape it’s been in for the last three years. I organized every nut and bolt, swept away cobwebs, killed some awful-looking spiders (I’m not the catch-and-release-type of person), and hung up all lawn tools. Next, it was my clothes closet where I had to try on every item of clothing I own in order to decide whether it would go in the Goodwill bag or remain on my shelf for another year (yes, I know those jeans are still too tight, but I just know I can lose those nasty 10 pounds). This is all very important, you know, and takes a great deal of time…time I should have spent writing. In fact, at the end of the weekend, try as I might, I could not find another thing to clean or organize in lieu of writing my assignment.
I have no idea how I actually have become a professional writer with these kinds of “prewriting” habits. I convince myself that such organizing and cleaning activities give me a chance to think through my topic, angle, and construct original ideas, but the truth is, I’m simply procrastinating…and I love to write! If a lover of writing and language like me puts off the pain and agony of staring at a blank screen or piece of paper, can you imagine the brutal self-flagellation that those who hate writing go through? When I see how much energy I actually put into avoiding writing, I have to sympathize with students who say to me “I hate writing,” or “I am terrible at writing; it’s so hard for me.”
When I present writing workshops, I am constantly reminding students to use the writing process in order to do their best work. I tell them how I am one of those people who say I do my best work under pressure, but that’s not really true, especially when it comes to writing, which demands thoughtful presentation of ideas and skillful use of language. Can you really do your best when you press yourself up against an immovable deadline?
Many of our students avoid writing papers until right before they are due because they are petrified, extremely busy, or they just plain hate writing and they’d rather clean their gutters than sit down and write an essay; the process seems so long and involved for them. So how can we help students who have these habits that we all know too well ourselves?
Students, especially those who have a difficult time writing, will actually write a better paper if they use the writing process as well as the writing resources at Kaplan University. The writing process actually breaks up the overwhelming chore of “writing an essay” into several easy-to-manage tasks that can be done in 30 minutes to an hour each day. A few things that instructors can do to help students use the writing process to their advantage and prepare for an upcoming assignment are to:
• Announce the assignment at least two weeks in advance. If you think about it, it is very difficult to do a week’s worth of reading, post on the discussion board, and write an entire essay in one week. While we do not want to encourage students to work ahead, they can take a sneak peek at projects that are coming up in order to start the prewriting part of the writing process. Furthermore, they can take the assignment and their initial ideas to a live tutor in the Writing Center and ask for help brainstorming.
• Encourage students to break down the assignment into steps or parts and show them how that’s done. Break down one assignment for them and suggest ways to use the Writing Center, Library, or meetings with you to firm up their ideas. For instance, after they have an idea of what topic they want to write about, encourage them to start preliminary research and suggest they read a few articles from the online databases in the KU Library.
• Compose a working thesis statement. Students can take that working thesis statement to a live tutor in the Writing Center and ask for feedback on that as well.
• Ask them to write a first draft, as opposed to a rough draft, which many interpret as being all they need to do before they turn in the next draft, which is their final paper. The paper review service is most helpful to students when they submit a first draft because tutors offer holistic feedback, which means students are expected to revise and rewrite based on the comments (not simply edit and proofread). The revised draft is their second draft. This is a good time to meet with you, too, in order to discuss the comments received from the paper review tutor, as well as issues regarding content.
• Explain the difference between editing and proofreading so that they can spend time on the editorial aspects of their paper before turning in the final copy.
Our students are often so busy or intimidated about returning to school that they don’t always think ahead about their school work. A little reminding from you, however, can go a long way. When students are given reminders to break up their homework assignments into more manageable steps, they are more likely to succeed. This success is seen through what they learn about the subject or content of their paper because they are more thoughtful about the ideas they are working with. They also are more successful as writers because they have learned how to manage the assignment, structure and organize their thoughts, and considered the language they use. They have also learned to use the best resources available to them – the faculty and staff at Kaplan University.
Did you know...
... that Diane is a cake decorator? She has been asked to decorate her friend’s wedding cake this summer when she gets married at Lough Cutra Castle in West Ireland (http://www.loughcutra.com/).
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4 comments:
Diane, your thoughts on the writing process made me think of a recent article in Wired (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/st_thompson/) in which Clive Thompson points out that what cognitive scientists call mental drift is actually pretty useful. In particular, brain scans indicate that when our minds wander, the temporal lobes and prefrontal cortex are working, helping us with data storage and problem solving, respectively. The latter is especially useful for writing, particularly when we're in the invention stage. Letting our students know that a little mind wandering can be beneficial might make some of the writing process less intimidating, as you rightly point out.
Keith
'Wow' is what I began to think when I read your article on encouraging students to begin their writing assignments early and to use the resources at the K.U.W.C. I redundantly remind my students to avoid procrastinating on all of their assignments. Your suggestions on their papers makes perfect sense, which is important to students....the message I send them needs to make sense if they are going to accept it and respond. Thanks for writing about something so important that makes perfect sense and can easily be incorporated into the way I communicate with my students regarding time management and writing assignments.
William Patterson
I really enjoyed reading this article on Wired...I think...I don't know for sure as I drifted off a few times :) Actually, this could explain a few things like how some people say they work best under pressure or why we come up with some of our best ideas as we drift off to sleep, but we lose them because we never write them down. For the former, maybe all of the deep creativity has taken place prior to sitting down and working against a deadline, unbeknownst to the writer; therefore, ideas seems to spill forth in a thoughtful fashion even though some may say the person gave it little thought. Or we think he or she is a genius because the idea came about so quickly.
Love these ideas and the essay, Diane. (Plus, I think it's too cool that you decorate cakes!)
Honestly, a lot of writers find the subconscious as a deep mine to plumb in addition to doing repetitive work (the dishes, taking a shower, folding laundry, driving to work, etc.). There's something important about rote or repetitive activity that supercharges the brain. I can't wait to read the Wired article, too.
Fascinating!
From a semi-reformed procrastinator,
Kella
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