The following points were brought up as possible topics for class discussion:
John Maguire’s “The Secret to Good Writing . . .”
Many of us liked his essay. Now how do we go about helping students be more “precise, specific, and object-oriented in their writing and thinking (Danica)?”
Danica could explain more about her “Demonstrate and Explicate” exercise
Focus on verb choices – preferably strong, specific and clear ones (Karen)
Help students become comfortable with academic language but “be relieved from the need for it to be natural (Paul).” Sometimes they think they’re not good writers but are underestimating their own abilities.
Encourage students to emulate other writers and give mini-lessons on structure (Jonathan)
What exactly do we mean by specific ideas? “If we define things, ideas and objects in an article, are we losing sight of something more fundamental (Heather).”
Creative Writing vs. Analytical Writing
Many of the essayists we read seemed to view this as an oppositional either/or debate – you’re either in one camp or the other. Why must academics privilege one above the other, in many cases, instead of finding ways to effectively combine the two? The “answer lies somewhere in between (Eric)” or as he suggests, perhaps one means of synthesis is to ask students in a creative writing class to write a paper analyzing a poem or a section of prose.
On one hand: You need to learn the rules before breaking them and poetry can sometimes alienate students, as well as awaken them (Mike). And form shouldn’t be viewed as “some horrible rote exercise (Beth).”
On the other hand: All of us seem to agree that creative writing is important and worth incorporating. There’s value in having a strong, negative reaction to a poem and Lasky is “advocating poetry as a way of drawing students’ attention to language (Alexa).”
Also, is it unfair to expect academic writers to also be “creative” writers?
The Common Core standards (Imanje)
Pros – writing across the curriculum
Cons – continued emphasis on test results as a measure of academic success