How I feel about writing.

For all intent and purpose, there are five stages to the writing process.  They are:

• creation
• research
• drafting
• revising, and
• editing

How are we as future teachers expected to teach these five steps to our students?  According to the Purdue OWL there are two categories to pursue.  The first road to travel down consists of higher order concerns.  Higher order concerns are thesis, purpose, audience, organization and development. They make up the first two stages of the writing process.  The second category is lower order concerns.  Lower order concerns involve grammar, word choice and spelling, or the final three stages of writing.  These techniques are very clear and helpful, but they do not take into account the emotional toll and the challenge of putting pen to paper and painstakingly creating a written masterpiece.  

For some of us, writing is our art, but it comes at a price.  It pulls, it draws, it sucks the energy out of you leaving your brain a tangled mess as you choose each word carefully, cross it out, and try and find another way to say the same thing.  It is easy to be distracted from writing.  You may need to be put it aside when the cat has to go out, or the refrigerator needs cleaning, or the silver needs polishing or you must check Facebook for the thousandth time that day and let's not forget to watch Dr. Oz.  

Working under pressure or with bad conditions, however, sometimes produces the best work.  I wonder how many other writers go through this same pressure.  It's been 15 minutes of semi-torture to create this masterpiece and this is all I have to show for it.  Imagine how your students might feel!!!!!

Grammar Corner    

Try this exercise the Purdue OWL to improve your writing abilities.  

Exercise : Eliminating Wordiness Exercise 1

Revise these sentences to state their meaning in fewer words. Avoid passive voice, needless repetition, and wordy phrases and clauses. The first sentence has been done as an example.

1. Many local farmers plan to attend next Friday's meeting.

2. Although Bradley Hall is regularly populated by students, close study of the building as a structure is seldom undertaken by them.

3. He dropped out of school on account of the fact that it was necessary for him to help support his family.

4. It is expected that the new schedule will be announced by the bus company within the next few days.

5. There are many ways in which a student who is interested in meeting foreign students may come to know one.

6. It is very unusual to find someone who has never told a deliberate lie on purpose.

7. Trouble is caused when people disobey rules that have been established for the safety of all.

8. A campus rally was attended by more than a thousand students. Five students were arrested by campus police for disorderly conduct, while several others are charged by campus administrators with organizing a public meeting without being issued a permit to do so.

9. The subjects that are considered most important by students are those that have been shown to be useful to them after graduation.

10. In the not too distant future, college freshmen must all become aware of the fact that there is a need for them to make contact with an academic adviser concerning the matter of a major.

11. In our company there are wide-open opportunities for professional growth with a company that enjoys an enviable record for stability in the dynamic atmosphere of aerospace technology.

12. Some people believe in capital punishment, while other people are against it; there are many opinions on this subject.