WEEK 7: BASIC WRITING

I believe that Mutnick's article is very timely with the "threat" of graduation testing, the revisions on admission to community colleges, and budget cuts at all levels of education. Shaughnessy and Bartholomae bogh address the problems of errors on the written page. Yes, errors do detract, but revision and guuidance can help. The statement "do not worry, you have spell and grammar check" is the easy way out. some rudimentary knowledge of the basics are still required. Sometimes the written composition is like the first handshake-first impressions place the person in a place in their society. Personally I believe that the concept of an error free composition from day one adds to the problem of confidence in the student's ability to write. "We [do] need to show our students how to seek, in the possibility of revision, the dissonances of discovery. . . and thus to show them the potential for development implicit in their own writing"(Tate 188). Even today there can be no assuming of "a level playing field" m I believe that Bartholomae and Petrosy are wrong for assuming that "the academy is an ideologically neutral zone that fosters critical thinking and self-criticism"(Tate 191).
I believe this to be true because often education is promoting the business of education rather than the passion of education. I very much liked the observation by Coles and Wall that basic writers are "people who live between two worlds" (Tate 192). The assumption that these people are outsiders in the hierarchy of society of society poses the question yet again-How do we promote equal access to the potential of writing and speaking well and correctly? Another question would be,"how important is the correctness for communication and respect of others within our society?

The perfect sequae to this article in "Diving In" by Mina Shaughnessy. Basic Writing should not just be about "lackings". It should be about possibilities. The language that the Basic Writing Pegagogy is tainted. Her discussiion of the power of the teacher over the student . The concept of "Guarding The Tower" and "Converting the Natives" make the pedagogy of basic writing "THEM" and "US". Upon reflection of "Diving In" I agree with Leo Strauss "always assume that there is one silent student in your class who is be far superior to you in head and heart" (317). What value will we place on the creativity underlying the limitations of a student's compositiion.

Sommers' article on "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" once again connects the thought word with the spoken word with the written word. I love how Barthes says "speech is irreversible" (Villanueva 44). It was interesting to note that Sommers' methodology left the door open for a verbal explanation of the written words, particularly within the topic of how the student viewed revisions. The importance of vocabulary and word choice seemed to be the revision technique of the student writers who often had different perceptions from the teachers. The experienced writer attempts to discovery where the words take them in their composition. Again I would ask, who is giving meaning to the written word-the writer or the teacher? How brave will the writer be and how open-minded will the teacher be? I do love the ending statement, "Good writing disturbs: it creates dissonance. Students need to seek the dissoncance of discovery, utilizing in their writing. . . the very difference between writing and speech-the possibiility of revision" (Villanueva 53).

POST-CLASS

Thanks to everyone for participating with Vicki and me.

I think one of the most interesting observations that came out of the class was in regards to collaborative writing projects. How telling to realize that many of you did the collaborations because it was required, but ultimately wanted to create individually. Does anyone see this as a barrier to younger, less-secure students?

It was also fun to see how small group dynamics had a place in our class. Who wanted to be group leader, who was recorder, and just how did the group speaker bring everything together was very interesting to see "sitting in the front of the classroom".

Again, thanks to everyone.