"That's not writing, that's typing" Truman Capote on "On the Road"

Dr. Cauthen wants us blog writers to loosen up, reduce the filter as we write.  I’m not used to writing like that in an academic setting.  I might write something that makes me look dumb.  I like Lindemann’s idea to ask our students to write quickly, non-stop for 10-20 minutes without hurrying.  The stream-of-consciousness idea also works well for me while writing clusters for prewriting.

I’m going to force myself to use the cluster model before I write.  I don’t like it but I know it’s good for me, like broccoli.  I did one before I wrote this and I feel less fearful that I’ll have to struggle to organize the writing.  I resolve to slow down in the classes I teach and insist that my students use the cluster model.

All of those heuristic lists in chapter 7 are daunting but useful.  I’m going to take them to work and see which ones are the most effective in lowering my students’ fear of the blank page.  As suggested by Lindemann, I’ll let them share their drafts in small groups.

I never knew until I read chapter 7 that using student work as a model of good or bad writing was an accepted academic tool.  I thought I thought it up and thought I was the only one doing it.  For years I’ve copied one side of a student’s writing for everyone in class and guided the whole class in a lesson in group editing and revision.  The writer is often shocked when they see their work on everyone’s desk even though I make clear that all class writing is public writing.  When I ask some students to edit and revise their own paper they act as if I’m asking them to deface great art, as if I were asking them to put bra and panties on the Venus de Milo.  But when it comes to editing someone else’s paper they smell blood in the water.  They eagerly shout out suggestions about how to improve their unfortunate classmates’ art.