WRITING WITH POWER ALSO MEANS GETTING POWER OVER YOURSELF & OVER

THE WRITING PROCESS

- PETER ELBOW, U MASSACHUSETTS -AMHERST

Peer-Supported Academic Writing

WE WRITETO WORKOUT WHATWE THINK.

-BARBARA KAMLER-PAT THOMSON

Peer-Supported Academic Writing

And [Barbara Kamler] is right.  Writing isn’t an activity that you do to whip up a study or report after understanding ideas and thinking up insights.  Writing is the very route scholars take in order to think things through.  As such, it isn’t such an extrinsic instrument, but an essential process in scholarly work.   What is even more interesting, … is that writing is not only thinking, but it’s also forming your identity as a scholar.

So today, I’m not just writing up my research proposal.  I’ll be gathering the ideas accumulated from research, processing them and thinking them through. 

strugglingSCHOLAR blog: http://jcgosj.wordpress.com/

READ AND RESPOND LIKE A REAL READER

- CLEO MARTIN, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Peer-Supported Academic Writing

WRITE WHAT YOU REALLY THINK.WHAT IF YOU ACCEPT THAT YOU CAN DO

IT?- ILENE D. ALEXANDER, U MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES

Peer-Supported Academic Writing

Let’s Talk a Bit

What Is (the use of) Human Flourishing?

“[B]roadened mindsets carry indirect and long-term adaptive value because broadening builds enduring personal resources, like social connections, coping strategies, and environmental knowledge.”

“Positivity, by promoting approach and exploration, creates experiential learning opportunities that confirm or correct initial expectations….[and] over time builds more accurate cognitive maps of what is good and bad in the environment. This greater knowledge becomes a lasting personal resource.

“Positive Affect and Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing” American Psychologist

What Is (the use of) Human Flourishing?

To flourish means to live within an optimal

range of human functioning, one that connotes

goodness, generativity, growth and resilience.

positive affect widens scope of attention broadens behavioral repertoires / flexibility increases intuition and creativity positive impact on physical and mental health

“Positive Affect and Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing” American Psychologist

How Is this Adult Learning?

think dialectically decision-making moves between objective/subjective, universal/specific

employ practical logic attend to internal features of a given situation to reason contextually “in a

deep and critical way”; inferential reasoning)

“know how we know what we know” conscious of own/others’ learning, ability to adjust styles situationally; know

grounds for decision-making

engage in critical reflection assessing match between earlier rules/practices/practical theories and

emerging understandings in “interpersonal, work and political lives”

Stephen Brookfield, 2000

Why Not Say, “Yes, and…”?

I am going to say 'yes' to you, accepting whatever you have said

I will add what I want to say via 'and,' build on what you have said 

 

'Yes and' is a conversation; 'yes but' is a conversation stopper ‘I hate the beach!' 'Yes but I really want to go the beach today!' 'Yes, but I hate the beach!'- and on to infinity.

 

'I hate the beach!' 'Yes, and I think the park would be a better choice!' 'Yes, and at the park we could play baseball!' ‘Yes, and the big umbrella in the trunk will keep you out of the full

sun.’

'Yes and' … opens up your mind, helps you listen, and moves you mindfully forward in creating a supportive environment

Let’s Talk Again

What is your writing history?

For those who like creating narratives, write for 5 minutes about one or two pivotal writing experiences – perhaps one you would call successful or challenging and one you would call unsuccessful or frustrating.

For those who prefer lists, focus on listing (1) your strengths as a writer, (2) improvements you could make as a writer based on feedback from readers you trust, (3) attitudes and situations that lead you to spark or shut down as a writer.

NOTE WELL: This isn’t a time or place to dwell on or generate put

downs –assess skills and analyze problems openly and honestly.

Only you will read this writing. And, we’ll all discuss ideas.

Where Am I as Someone Who Is “Writing Steady”?

Where and when do you write?Why and when and where do you not write?What prompts you to write? to revise?What do you see as the relationship between

writing and thinking, between writing and reading in your research process? Why is writing early important?

Where and when in your writing or research process does writing seem an unmanageable process?

What do you try to not do when writing – because someone told you to not do that thing?

Let’s Talk Some More

What Ideas Do I Have about Mentored Writing and Peer

Support?Dialogue on/about/for writingFeedback on/about/for writingGenerate exercises on/about/for writingCreate, Share, Assess goals and action plans on/about/for writing

Less of the formalities of crafting a “writing sandwich” (Rowena Murray) writing, talking, writingMore about the process of “writing like a real writer” – push, extend, engage in meaning making

What Are Options for Setting Up Mentored Writing and Peer

Support? Writing Partners Writing Dialogues - Panels, Forums, Conversations

Writing Groups - Multidisciplinary, Multigenerational

Writing Lessons – Practice, Mimic, Rhetorical Forms across Disciplines/Cultures, Processes of Writing

Writing for Conferences Rehearsals Writing Retreats Writing Coaches Writing Supervision

What Might We Do? What Might We Talk about as Writing Peers?

Revision – Content and Organization Where and why it’s needed Strategies for content development, overall

organization and development of cohesive analysis / argument / knowledge construction

Transitions Coherence UnitySurface Features

Key sections, paragraphs, sentences Section, paragraph, sentence structures Conventions – of language, of citation style, of

formatting- Notice that this is dead last on my list – and Peter Elbows’

list!

What Might We Do? What Might We Talk about as Writing

Peers?Audience – real readersPurpose – writerly and readerly concernsResearch question – methods, organizationThesis statement – initially and carrying it

forwardFocus – idea(s) and argument(s)Flow – sign posts and transitionsReadability – real readers, real audienceAcademic context – conversation

around/launchingSo What? – implications, interest, integrity,

impact

Let’s Talk About What You Want from Peers

So, How Might Peer Mentoring and Feedback Groups Be Structured?

Vision Driven – cannot be “another meeting”Optimal number of participants for type of

groupSame stage, range of stagesInvited participants, open call; fixed group,

revolvingShifting Facilitator, Fixed-term ConvenerPurpose Structured – fixed focus; participant

focusForward Looking Feedback – FIDeLity Ground rules – participation, conflict,

competitionBetween sessions – check in routes, jealousy

So, How Might Peer Mentoring and Feedback Group Sessions Operate?

Let’s Try This Out

What Do We Need to Learn?

Less about “how a dissertation works” and more about how “argument works.”

Do study good dissertations.

Do think about chunks, transitions, signposts, threads.

Do compare across disciplines, cultures, methods.

Do talk with supervisors and with peers.

Do share discoveries – aloud and in writing.

What Do We Need to Learn?

Writing with Purpose / Power / Intention

“The writing process actually starts before you pick up a pen or place your fingers on a keyboard. It begins with defining what you are writing, for whom you are writing, why you are writing, and which writing approach to use. "Writing with Intention" addresses these defining matters, which you need to consider every time you sit down to write.” (www.ces.sdsu.edu/Pages/Engine.aspx?id=57)

- your full audience – characteristics beyond your committee (content)

- your real readers’ roles – cultural considerations beyond peers (org)

- your own scholarly tone – move beyond setting out ideas to asserting ideas by looking at word choices, attribution patterns, shaping ideas through evidence, strong verbs, crafted phrases (surface features)

What Do We Need to Learn?

Ways of responding Summarizing – Narratives, Dialogues, Comparisons Telling – Stories, Scenes, Portraits Showing – Ideas, Options, Missed Moments Pointing – 1st Thoughts, Asking

What Do We Need to Learn?

What Do We Need to Learn?

Good Questions – Good Questioning

Open Ended Questions Asking for Information Diagnostic Questions Challenge Questions Extension Questions Combination Questions Priority Questions Action Questions Prediction Questions Generalizing and Summarizing Questions

Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge, Comprehension, Application,

Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation

Let’s Try that Peer Feedback Again – and with a Question or

Two

Resilience

The healthiest, most creative, most productive work comes with moderation – not, as tradition would have us believe, with pressure for high rates of work and ever more output.  Efficiency practiced efficiently requires patience and tolerance, not greed and intensity. - Robert Boice

from Brandon Shuler’s Yahoo blog

Resilience

a positive capacity to cope with stress & catastrophe

an ability to bounce back after a disruptiona capacity to use exposure to stress to provoke

strategy to address future negative events / challenges

a positive behavioral / cognitive / kinesthetic adaptation in encountering significant adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or sources of stress

involves two judgments one about "positive adaptation" one about significance of risk or adversity

Resilience

selection from Robert Boice’s How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency (1994

Time for Action Planning