Tres chouette, non?

Curtain call!!

treschouette — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:54:04 +0000

So here is my list of important personal lessons from English 112.

1) Accountability

Everyone is accountable for what they write. It’s the same as speaking; however, one has to be more careful with their diction in writing as some of the nuances of the spoken word (and its tone) are lost in the art of writing. Anything that is written for a public audience can and will create a reaction; positive, negative, or otherwise. As an author one must be sensitive to what the audience may be thinking or feeling about the subject of the writing: should a certain word or tone be used will it be considered offensive? Condescending? Funny? Smart? One of the most important aspects of accountability is how the audience will view the author based on what they have to say and how they say it. Which leads me to…

2) Connecting with the audience

Make sure that one’s writing is clear and understandable. Otherwise all is lost. Try to make the audience feel what you (the author) are feeling. Put yourself into your story, because your audience certainly will.

3) Editing

Too much editing is never enough. When you check your work over again, you can pick up on subtlties that you miss when quickly glancing for spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and typos. Think about what you write: is there a flow? Does your piece have a logical sequence and clear point? If not, it needs to be reworked in order to ensure that the intended point is the one that is being presented. Check and check again…it’s how your writing will be its best.

4) Critique

It’s important to be able to self-critique as well as critique others. This tool allows for good communication between author and audience. Such valuable interaction helps an author to fix their writing to be more clear/understandable/palatable to the audience. In turn, the audience gains a better understanding of what the author is trying to say through analyzing the author’s writing and through asking questions/getting answers.

5) Don’t stress

This lesson may be more for life in general than for writing, but it does still apply. When writing for and right up against a deadline, one is more likely to make a careless mistake and/or do less revising. Make sure to allot plenty of time for brainstorming, drafting, and editing; otherwise, the paper (or whatever else is being written) is not going to meet its potential. Guarenteed.

“You’ve come a long, long way, baby….”-Fatboy Slim.

“…Leave those kids alone”

treschouette — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:06:33 +0000

This post is rather cliche.

I feel that the sentiments addressed in this song are still alive and well today, in the form of the “emo” lifestyle. Most people just don’t care. I’ve noticed that this generation does not feel the need to label every little part of their life: no need to be solely “prep”, solely “jock”, solely “nerd”. Suddenly, it’s ok to like the show “Rent”, play football, and have a genuine interest in quantum physics. Not that I do—but I wouldn’t judge someone who did.

People do try to conform, but in a different way that does not effect individuality. Personally, it’s a matter of being organized, efficient, kind, and well-rounded that gives me a sense of self-fulfillment. Without that, it doesn’t matter how people judge because there is no complete person to judge. And with all of those traits—people are entitled to their own opinion.

Agree? Not so much….

treschouette — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:14:33 +0000

Of all the juniors, I find metalcircus’s ideas to be the lest similar to mine. Metalcircus says that “students should be relying more on other students for help…” (Metalcircus, par. 2) and that if the use of the wiki is more widespread, that there will be “more known about it” (Metalcircus, par. 2). Students should rely on other students for help, and that’s great in situations such as those I find myself in every class—“Where are we? What are we doing now? How do I get to x page?” In situations that concern the writing aspects of class, the teaching is best left to the professionals. Quick questions happen all the time, but when it comes to making sure that everything is good and that questions are answered properly, the teacher is always the safest bet. And the wiki—widespread use is not going to mean that there is more known about the wiki itself in terms of use, as metalcircus says. The overall level of comfort will go up with time, just as how when people are introduced to new material they need time to digest it and become familiar with it. I’m sure that when one first uses facebook they need to become acquainted with the interface, setup, and ways to update before their page is truly what they would like it to be.

Along the lines of the wiki, I also found some discord with the post by Kmb04. Their dislike of the wiki is apparent, although I feel that they have not given it a second (or third, etc.) chance and are not willing to. That is fine, but based on my experiences in the freshman class I think their statement is a little exaggerated. “However in an intensive writing class like this I think that maybe we should focus a little more on the actual act of writing rather than spending entire class periods learning how to get around the UmassWiki website” (Kmb04, par. 1) I have never had a class that was solely devoted to learning the ins and outs of UMassWiki. As a member of the wikiteam, I know that there are issues with the wiki—it’s not the most user-friendly program out there. The perks of having a place to share work outweigh the pitfalls of needing to get accustomed to a new technology.

A third entry that is different from mine is that of Anon136, who devotes an entire paragraph to expressing their frustration. I do not think that their feelings are unfounded, but I appreciate the blog and wiki and embrace them as technological, futuristic educational tools. “I did a lot better in a class where things were written down on paper and permanent” (Anon136, par. 2)

Carmella7 and I do not necessarily disagree; however, she did not include much information about the technological aspects of class like everyone else. She talks about how Steph interacts with our class, and her only mentions of the technology are about how the blog allows anonymous writing and critique. “By using blogging…being anonymous allows students to write freely with out feeling criticized.” (Carmella7, par.1) T.C. Bibliography Anon136. “Kill Your TV!” Weblog Posting. 26 October 2007. U of Massachusetts. 1 November 2007. Carmella7. “I Like Your Style.” Weblog Posting. 24 October 2007.

U of Massachusetts. 1 November 2007.

Kmb04. “There is Always Pros and Cons.” Weblog Posting. 24 October 2007. U of Massachusetts. 1 November 2007. Metalcircus.“OH, You Know, Summary, Analysis, Political Stance, 3:45 AM.” Weblog Posting. 25 October 2007. U of Massachusetts. 1 November 2007.

Conversation Created!

treschouette — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:05:34 +0000

Of all of the students in the Junior “Writing as Communication” class, I think that Keithjagger’s thoughts on the Wiki are similar to my own. As a member of the “Wiki Team”, I’ve had to learn how to navigate and edit the Wiki—and it is not impossible. Just as Keithjagger says, “The wiki will become easier to navigate” further into the year, once students are more comfortable with it (Keithjagger, par 5). Hopefully the other members of the Wiki Team and I can facilitate a high level of comfort with the wiki, even change it so that it is more user-friendly. (There’s talk of using a different program and even individual user pages with links to other information, somewhat like facebook).

Confusioniseasy also makes a great point, talking about how education and communication are changing. “This new change in rubric and culture is difficult to adapt to, but not impossible.” (Confusioniseasy, par. 4)This person clearly understands the need for at least some basic techno-literacy as computers and internet-based technology integrate more and more into people’s daily lives. The changes are indeed possible, and once people adapt to these changes both classes should run more smoothly—I’m sure the Freshman one will.

Another great point comes from Hippo86, who says that the aspect of anonymity is great to encourage honesty in feedback and critique yet “…is not reflective of the real world.” (Hippo86, par. 4) I’m sure that other people in my class have tried to guess who the author of a certain username is. Some are obvious, others are not as obvious. That is the problem with the blog aspect, especially with the Freshman-Junior dialogue. Within writing 112 there have been assignments where students would write feedback for other students where both identities are known. Personally, having my name on the assignment did not deter me from saying what I felt was necessary to provide honest and complete feedback to the author I read. Hippo86’s point about experiencing honest, face-to-face feedback (as in a situation from a boss at work) is also quite valid, yet can be learned in ways other than one specific college writing class.

Shininginthewind speaks to an aspect of the wiki and blog system that I find to be rather important, which is the dialogue that is created between different writers. This system allows for authors to grow through comments and feedback. I find the anonymity in the internet commenting prevents any bias in how the author understands and/or validates the comments. There is no judgment of people based on their feedback, just as there is no feedback based on the judgment of people. That is even more important that the sheer anxiety of having one’s work commented on in public or of how a person may react to one’s feedback. Most people fear being rejected or ostracized—if someone were to make a negative comment that is unfounded and mean-spirited, I would think that some sort of moderator (in this case Steph) would intervene and speak with the appropriate parties.

T.C.

Bibliography:

Confusioniseasy. “Kill your TV.” Weblog Posting. Confusioniseasy. 26 October 2007.

U of Massachusetts. 30 October 2007.

Hippo86. “The Devil-Wiki.” Web log Posting. 30 October 2007.

U of Massachusetts. 30 October 2007.

Kiethjagger. “The Wonderful World of Wiki.” Weblog posting. Kiethjagger. 25 October 2007.

U of Massachusetts. 30 October 2007.

Shininginthewind. “Adding to the Conversation.” Weblog Posting. 24 October 2007.

U of Massachusetts. 30 October 2007.

“I’m in a nutshell! I’m in a nutshell!!”-Austin Powers.

treschouette — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:32:58 +0000

So, let’s talk about my day a little bit.

I awoke, reveling in the fact that my TA cancelled my 8AM Muisic Lit. discussion—then I heard that there was a bomb threat and class was cancelled until 11. Great, until I realized that I had a piano test at 2:15 and I needed my 10:10 practice room time to ensure that I wouldn’t fail. Of course, that never happened. I missed the test! I don’t know how, but I did. And I made it purposely right before another class, which I was almost late to, but that’s ok.

So I’ve had this really funny feeling all day, and it’s kind of hard to put into words. Like the weather is so beautiful, and the sun hits the leaves on the trees just so, and it’s not hot or cold out. It just speaks to me. So despite all of this craziness around me I see beauty everywhere. Walking to this class I had a moment. Just by myself, walking by the pond from FAC to where this class meets where I felt completely content. Just like life was going to be everything I wanted and more—a dream come true, in a sense. I just want to savor that feeling forever. Bottle up my enthusiam and happiness to have with me all of the time and keep me on my proverbial “A-Game”. Today I don’t think I’m going to stop smiling (from now on.) It’s great, really.

So in a nutshell: (and I’m really long winded so writing my day in a sentence is UBER-challenging)

Even though there are times that life wants to screw you over, there are still those moments of sheer bliss that make everything alright.

T.C.

“Tell me more, tell me more…!”

treschouette — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:23:42 +0000

-“Summer Nights” from the musical/movie “Grease”

Musicals are not the subject of this post; however, one could say that telling people more is. Looking at the feedback that I got from Steph, it looks like I need to be a little more specific in giving feedback to other writers in order to make it really clear what the author needs to do in order to improve their paper. Simple adjectives are good for giving the author a general feel of what feelings and impressions they have left the reader with, but the specifics let the author know what exactly they did in order to achieve those effects. Another way to improve my feedback skills is to focus on what questions (if there are any…in this case there are) are being asked and answering them. Irony is not a narrative thread—according to Steph it is a rhetorical strategy. So by “narrative thread” Steph means a “theme”, and so the theme would be understanding and disproving stereotypes. Other than being more specific with examples and understanding if there are specific ideas that need to be addressed in the feedback, I feel that my feedback is just fine—it shows my ideas and understanding of the paper.

Art Objects

treschouette — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:22:57 +0000

“I have to work for art if I want art to work for me.”-Jeanette Winterson

There is so much truth in that sentence. It’s amazing the insight that Jeanette Winterson has on humanity and on herself through that sentence. Through her artistic “studentship” she tells her audience that it is possible to make sense of the non-sensical and to have an understanding of a (once) foreign concept or topic. After all, it is with age and experience that people begin to better understand other people and humanity itself. The young musician does not know the benefits of etudes for creating a virtuoso should they only play the works of the Masters. Teachers do not know how to best teach students unless they have been students themselves. Doctors better understand their patients feelings after experiencing the practice of medicine through their eyes. All different examples of how learning, thinking, and experiencing can change a person’s views and understanding of something. People can easily remain static on their ideas, views and understandings—it is the desire to want to know and understand more (either quantitavely or qualitatively) that allows for the growth that comes in experience.

So how has this affected me? I realize that I can uncover many different meanings from a piece that I would have thought had only one meaning—there is the potential to uncover a message behind the message. My mind is stimulated to look for these messages in order to have a greater understanding of any given piece. Thus I would give a better performance or be a more active audience member.

Winterson had to research art in various aspects to write this piece. The history surrounding works and and the techniques the artists used to paint them, not to mention the artists themselves are all explored through Winterson’s work.

Winterson’s work is in The Text-Wrestling Book and is titled Art Objects.

T.C.

A Question of Privacy

treschouette — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:08:19 +0000

Well, there is certainly a question of privacy vs. publicity that can be addressed concerning the use of Marco, Blendi, and Christine as class discussion material.

First, their work is being published on a website—somewhere very public. Hence, the privacy that they all may be accustomed to in writing for school is not there. But there’s more: they are receiving feedback from the class and the teacher in an open forum. This criticism, ranging from praise to censure, can be embarassing and lower the authors’ self esteem. However, asking for permission is one way to ensure that situations such as the aforementioned don’t occur.

Second, a privacy barrier was crossed in the sense that each piece piece is a personal introduction. Again, asking permission is key, as people may not want information shared about them in front of the whole class. Hopefully each subject self-censored any information that they did not want publicized, but that may not have happened.

So generally, the issue is that people may not want their personal information or their personal academic work (and the feedback associated with each) shared with a public audience, regardless of the size of that audience.

“For losers like I’ve been it’s so hard to say….”

treschouette — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:30:32 +0000

I am blessed to have an author who truly understands what I have to say. The hard times in my life are very difficult to talk about to new people. Just not a place that I really enjoy visiting because it brings back some bitterness and I don’t want to come across as someone with just about as much baggage by volume as Logan Airport handles in a day. So first off, the interview was great in the sense that I didn’t have to completely re-visit these issues for my ideas to make sense. I am EXTREMELY grateful that my introducer was able to focus more on the positive results and the optimism that define me instead of my cloudy past. My responses to the interviewer’s questions were long-winded and rather complex…I have a tendency to go off on tangents when I talk to people. Out of those outpourings of my inner self, my author made a coherent introduction that has defined one of my most important traits to those who do not get to listen to me speak personally of my relationship with music. One thing that I love about this paper is how examples of music that I have listened to in order to feel better or to pump myself up for something. Thus, the audience can listen to some of my favorites and maybe relate to me on an even deeper level—a musical level.

In terms of one of the five “choices” for an essay topic…”The Contexts that Make Me” or “My Self in Words” would be safe choices. Both could explain me and my musical feelings rather well.

For the record—the title of this post comes from one of those examples. It is a snippet of the lyrics of “Suddenly, Seymour” from the musical “Little Shop of Horrors”, and is one of my all time favorite duets.

T.C.

Review: The Wall for Eng112

treschouette — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:31:26 +0000

So, let’s talk about a paper, shall we?

The author I recently read made a great connection between the movie and their life, talking of their personal struggles and how they parallel the plight of the boy from the movie. Author (or A as they shall be called) tells quite a compelling story of trying to find inner strength through a scary and confusing time in life: moving to a new country. I agree with A’s thoughts, which can be summarized in several sentences. First, moving to a new country is a scary and alienating experience that presents social challenges. Second, that coming to the US provides many opportunities like the long hallway and locked doors in the movie, yet there are barriers (language, for example) that must be overcome in order to achieve success. The third point contrasts the similarities between A and the movie by discussing the rebellious nature of the teenagers at the riot. A’s ideas made me consider what it would be like to be an immigrant to a totally new place—something that would indeed be a big challenge.

Author blatantly made their point only once. Although I as a reader understood what they meant through the paper in regards to immigration as a source of conflict, some reiteration of the main idea relative to the subject of each paragraph would have served the paper well. Their case would have been helped through revisiting some word choices in order to give the paper a smoother flow and make it more palatable to a wider audience. One thing that tends to annoy me as a reader is when an author presents an idea and then does not expound upon it sufficiently, as was the case with the third idea in this paper. If they could have re-worked the paper to save space in introduction and/or closing paragraphs they could have explained more of what they meant in order to strengthen the overall message of the paper.