Genres

The audience we had in mind for this inquiry project was our classmates in Engl 409. They will be the ones seeing our presentation and, since we already have a rapport with them, we can show them our wikispace as an example of a genre of the writer’s workshop. We also realized that this wiki could be used to convince fellow educators when we are in the field to take their writing workshops and move them to a digital medium. It is also something we can put into our portfolios in getting those jobs, too.

The second genre we selected was making a list of writing prompts that could be worked on in a writer’s workshop setting. While making the list, we discovered that the National Writing Project has a very good list of ideas for such an activity. Since the National Writing Workshop has more experience than us, we decided to try some of the ideas that were workable for two students. The link: [|__http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922#Twentyseven__]

=Think like a football coach. =

The writing teacher should apply the KISS theory: Keep it simple stupid. Holt explains for a freshman quarterback, audibles (on-field commands) are best used with care until a player has reached a higher skill level. In writing class, a student who has never written a poem needs to start with small verse forms such as a chinquapin or haiku.

Firstly, the KISS theory is a cool name and a fun acronym. Using this suggestion, we created a haiku.

__The Kiss Method__

Use the KISS method when teaching writing, but don’t call your students dumb

=Help students ask questions about their writing. =

=
Some suggested questions for students to answer were listed, so we answered a few of the questions: =====

Why did I write this piece? Where did I get my ideas?

I wrote this piece because it was required to pass the class. I got my ideas from past experience and research.

Who is the audience and how did it affect this piece?

The audience is our professor and whatever evil is in charge of livetext. It made the paper a bit more formal than if it were written just for Professor Baker.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Was this piece easy or difficult to write? Why?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was difficult when we were still trying to decide on which questions to research. It was easy when we finally decided on a topic and began researching. Why? Because we’re in one of our last semesters before graduating and have written a lot of papers.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What parts did I rework? What were my revisions?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We reworked the entire thing multiple times. The revisions came from finding new references and working them into the paper.

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Work with words relevant to students' lives to help them build vocabulary. =

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For each letter of the alphabet, the students find an appropriately descriptive word for themselves. Students elaborate on the word by writing sentences and creating an illustration. In the process, they make extensive use of the dictionary and thesaurus.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Iconoclast

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">