Charles Thurston

ENGL 1102-027

Interacting With Texts

Artifacts :

Free Write: Matt’s Pitch

Matt is pitching Myspace which includes all kinds of text. These texts could be called social media texts. Social media is a more social form of communication. This kind of text is informal. This pitch would be convincing if Myspace was still popular today. He was saying that Myspace was changing the text of current and future generations. This would be convincing if it hadn’t been outdated. He could have improved his pitch by giving us examples of the effects that Myspace was having on people.

RJ#1

The first idea from the text that I agree with is that grading reduces the interest in learning itself. This is the idea that students work for the grade rather than to learn. I agree with this because I have personally experienced this. A lot of the time in classes I am only focused on passing the class with a good grade rather than trying to actually learn the material. Whenever this happens I tend to only know the information needed for the grade and then forget it after the course.

One idea that I have a question about is the fifth idea, Grades distort the curriculum. I do not understand the explanation for this idea. I am unsure what other curriculum styles are available other than teaching facts. I am entirely confused by his last sentence, “The tail of assessment thus comes to wag the educational dog.” I have no idea what this means or what it has to do with grades and curriculum.

This reading reminds me of a positive grading experience that I had when I was a senior in high school. My English teacher used a grading method that I think is effective. He graded assignments based on individual progress. At the beginning of the year he assessed our writing skills and used that for the basis of our improvement. Rather than being graded by our skills relative to the class as an average, we were graded relative to our individual writing styles and the improvement that we had made since his first assessment. I received an “A” in this class but I also learned something about writing and how to improve. I received a grade for how I had improved rather than where I was compared to a general standard.

RJ#2

The first thing that I found interesting and agreed with is the comparison made between writing and life. I agree that writing doesn’t come out ready to go from the start. When it is comparing a baby and a twelve year old child to writing it is comparing different stages or writing. The first draft is like a baby. A baby is a person but isn’t developed and ready for life. A revised draft is like a 12 year old in comparison. They have learned to basics of life and have the ability to survive on their own unlike the baby.

One thing I don’t understand is how to take complete charge of your writing while also following someone else’s instructions on writing. Is it more important to write as yourself and control your own writing or to follow someone else’s instructions and write like they do? I don’t quite understand how he is trying to explain these things.

The authors approach is similar to mine when it comes to the importance to having a writing process. Having a writing process is what makes writing good. Just throwing ideas down on paper is not enough to make good writing. Good writing must be evaluated before it is completed. Good writing requires a process with multiple steps.

RJ#3

One thing that I agree with is that freewriting is a good way to get words on paper. Free writing is basically a good cure for writers block because you write as you think. There is nothing in your mind telling you not to write something. Free writing is also a good form of prewriting.

I don’t get how some people can randomly free write. I can only free write about something that I have knowledge about.

RJ#6

One of the most important thing to consider when using a source is reliability. You must make sure a source contains credible information before using that source. If the information of a source is not credible then all your work that uses that source is not credible.

The second most important thing to consider when using a source is its relevance to your work. Does the source have information that is relevant to your topic? If a source doesn’t have information that relates to your topic, then it is a useless source. Sources must be able to contribute to your work by relating to the topic.