When we had a discussion in class about what is more important between finding one’s voice and mastering academic discourse, I did not have an immediate answer. While I strongly agree with every individual having their own voice and being able to express them freely, I also value the importance of academic discourse and how it could improve and strengthen one’s writing. But more I thought about the question, I realized which one I valued more. We live in a structured world with rules and regulations that help us function fluently as a society. Even though we live within this structure, we build our own characteristics and become a specific individual. I know this is a very very far stretch, but I believe that this idea can be applied when it comes to literature and finding one’s own voice. Through academic discourse we learn how to write properly, express thoughts in a clearer way and acquire techniques that help paint more vivid images. And along the way, you develop your own style of writing, figure out what techniques you want to use and what not to use, find out how you can express your ideas in your own way, and find your own voice. Instead of viewing academic discourse as a cage that restricts writer from expressing freely, I see it as a tool that enhances writing. So, to answer the question from the class discussion, I believe writing class should put more emphasis on how to master academic discourse.
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Can English be considered a subject? Yes!
Yesterday in class, our discussion was in response to ideas presented in the first chapter of Joseph Harris’ A Teaching Subject. Soon, our conversation turned to the question, “Can English be considered a subject?”. In answering the question, most people answered yes, often citing that it is a very broad area of study encompassing multiple skill sets, but nonetheless a subject—from literary analysis and film studies, to rhetoric and writing, they all fall under the English umbrella. Many people, myself included, brought up the fact that the broadness of English as a subject is often what makes people question whether or not it can still be considered one entity. Given that new media in particular has added even more depth to the study of rhetoric and writing, one could say that English as a subject is ever-expanding. In response, I would say that I think that’s exactly the way it should be. As Harris states in the text, “We need, that is, to find ways of urging writers not simply to defend the cultures into which they were born but to imagine new public spheres which they’d like to have a hand in making.” For it is in imagining and expanding the spheres of English that English as a subject—reading, writing, rhetoric, everything—can be used as a means of invention and discovering new knowledge. Because isn’t discovering knowledge the point of studying a subject anyway?
Differences Between Men and Women Communicating
In class last week we discussed if we think men and women communicate differently. There is no question in my mind that we do. After living with both my dad and brother for over 20 years there are so many differences that I’ve gotten used to in our communication techniques that I don’t notice anymore, but looking back I realize occur frequently. We touched on in class that women tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Women are more open with their emotions and their actions usually reflect their current emotional state where as most men don’t communicate with emotion at all. For example, when interacting with my dad or brother if something is upsetting me I let them know immediately but if it’s the other way around and they’re bothered by something they usually hold it in and won’t bring it up until days later. This seems to be the trend with most of my guy friends as well; they are not very willing to discuss their emotions. Another way that women and men differ is that women sometimes will end their statements open-ended or with a question because they don’t want to come off too strong or over confident. Where as, men like to portray themselves as powerful as they can and even if they’re unsure about something they will say it with complete confidence. I feel there is much smoother communication between men and men and women and women. This is because when women are open and honest about their emotions with each other it is normal to them. But, when they are that way with men, the men feel they are disclosing too much unnecessary information. With men communicating with one another, being straightforward and not as emotional seems normal to them and neither of them read into it because they’re both doing it. Most times with women and men, if men are short and to the point because they feel that’s all that needs to be said, women read into it and question if there is a problem. These are just a few of the reasons I feel men and women differ when communicating.
Is English a Subject?
An interesting question that was brought up today in class that led to an important discussion was the topic of English as a class. What defines English? Is it a subject? This is a hard question, because I think that there are many aspects of English as a subject. I consider it to be a very broad idea, because I believe English is applicable to every other “subject” that we study in school. It is the foundation of our language and the way that we communicate. Communication is a key component in being successful in school, and without learning the basics of English, we would not be able to move ahead in our education development. I believe that there are different sections of the English subject that are divided into classes that students can take in school, for example, a writing course, a reading course, a journalism course, or a research methods course. The variety of classes help students zone in on specific skills that are appropriate to be learned for other subjects. In science classes, communication classes, and or any other subjects, the material being taught is different, but a research paper could be assigned to each one. Students would then use the skills learned in their English writing classes to efficiently write a paper. I think it is important for English to be learned, no matter the type of way, because without it, how would we communicate?
The Importance of Eloquence
As we went over in class last week times have changed in reference to the importance on spoken words as opposed to written words. Spoken word, or eloquence, was thought to be the deciding factor in which a person was declared to be well educated or not. In today’s education system most English classes are writing based and more importance is focused on a persons writing skill. In most high schools and universities public speaking classes are an elective and not required at all. Which I for one think is ridiculous because with less focus on speaking and more on writing it leads to a negative effect on face to face communication and public speaking skills. Since writing has become so popular whether it’s writing online, or using a pen and paper in a class, we lose the experience in getting out there and talking to one another or speaking in front of a crowd. We spend more time hiding behind a pen and paper or computer and start to lose interpersonal skills. I also think basing a person’s education level on speaking or writing isn’t necessarily fair. A person can be well educated because of the experiences they’ve been through in life. It isn’t all about being book smart. Like we discussed in class, book smart can only get you so far. Having experience, or street smarts, is very valuable and necessary in everyday life. I don’t think you can compare peoples education levels to one another or using a set scale because peoples levels vary in many different ways and really aren’t comparable. I loved the quote Robyn mentioned in class said by Einstein because it fit this topic perfectly, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Who Am I Writing For?
Over the course of these past two days, we have discussed at length the theme college student writing and how it either caters to that of the student’s creativity or “voice” or a faculty’s professional discourse. Generally, I personally write in my own style with a spice of my professor’s. Although, I sometimes find myself in classes that have required me to suspend my methodology of writing and fully own that of my professor’s. In hindsight, it’s not a crime for that to be so because our teachers do know far more than we may know, but it becomes problematic when I am given no room to exercise my creativity with my professor’s writing methodology. As an English major, I have had professors who have loved my style of writing and others who were not down for the cause. Not to say that I am a perfect writer, but I try my best to write my best. The professors who challenged my writing, I came to realize, unconsciously wished for me to adapt their style perhaps. I remember in one certain class I received a terrible grade on my first essay…and the second. It wasn’t until my third essay that I realized I needed to sit down with the professor to try to understand her style of writing. I didn’t review the first few essays with her because she commented on all of the others and I challenged myself to take all those comments into consideration on every paper. When I met with her, the “issue” was not so much with my content, but how I presented my content. She was looking for a more professional vocab inventory. Basically, my writing was a bit basic. Now I don’t find this to be wrong because through that, I challenged myself (still am) to read more in order to expand my vocabulary, but I had to write “for her.” In understanding her style, guess what? I got a much better grade on the last essay. So even though creativity and experimenting with one’s own style is encouraged, do we end up truly writing for ourselves or for our professors?
What should a writing class teach?
An important discussion that we had in class today was started off with a question about what should a writing class teach, whether in college or high school. The first few things that popped into my head right away that I think are very important to be including in a writing class are grammar, sentence structure, and precise writing skills. One of my classmates mentioned the concept of “developing ideas,” which I agree in that I think this is an important idea to be included in a writing class. I think grammar and sentence structure are extremely important, because no matter what or who your writing for, grammar is the main key to good writing. Whether it is for you job, your social media, your family, or to communicate your message in the best way, you need to have grammar skills. Without advanced knowledge in grammar, I think that your writing will not be valued as much from your audience. I also think that learning how to write precisely is specifically important for my major, and eventually the career path that I want to pursue. I am a communications major, looking to go into the field of public relations, so this is very important. Precise and clear writing allows you to get your message across quickly and efficiently, so this can allow you to reach your audience in the most effective way.
Stresses of Social Media
Social media has undoubtedly changed the way people communicate with one another. In today’s generation, most people have some platform of social media whether it is Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or Linkedin. While social media is an excellent way to share life moments with far away family members or get a message across quickly, it has taken over our lives. As discussed in class, people feel a different kind of stress when it comes to social media. It is known that there are different moments throughout the day when more people are on social media, therefore you need to wait for the perfect time to post in order to get the most amount of likes possible. I have a friend from home who will even delete a post on Instagram and then repost the same picture later for more likes. Social anxiety takes over. However, what I think is baffling about using social media is that our communication suffers the more we use it. This is comical because the purpose is to connect us with our friends and family. Unfortunately, people have become so obsessed with social media that they would rather sit and scroll through Facebook than go out with friends and create new memories. In addition, social media has made conversations shorter. People use phrases like lol or idk, but that is only the beginning. Using the internet to express thoughts shortens the message and lessens the impact. For instance, the other day a girl from our university posted her UDance link online with just the word “Donate!” How will we know what we are donating to unless she verbalizes the cause? Is social media taking communication in the wrong direction? Sometimes, I would have to say yes, it absolutely does.
Finding Your Voice
Today in class we discussed whether a writing class should teach students to find their voices or if it should teach them how to master academic discourse. Initially my immediate answer was that students should be taught how to find their voice. Starting in elementary school when we first start learning to write essays we are taught a certain structure we need to follow and if we stray from it in the slightest our grade would be penalized. I don’t feel that’s the correct way to go about teaching students to write. I feel students would benefit more if they were taught to write however they felt they could get their point across and not try to just write to fulfill a certain guideline. This would give writing a more fun aspect rather then having it start to feel like just an assignment, or a chore right off the bat. Students would have the freedom to express themselves and things they aren’t able to express in speaking. Teaching students their writing has to fit specific guideline and rules strips the fun out of writing for them and takes away their voice. If writing classes were designed first to give students the chance to find their voice and then later tied in teaching the student the correct grammar, punctuation, etc. to use they would get more out of it. They would also be more willing to learn to improve because of how much they learned to enjoy writing. In addition, with that students would be learning both how to find their voice and how to master the academic discourse portion.
Considering Your Audience on Social Media
Yesterday in class we touched upon the topic of posting on social media. The main social media sources we discussed were Facebook, Snapchat, and Instgram. We were debating whether or not people think about their audience when publishing posts. I feel that it depends on the form of social media and how many people are able to see someone’s post. For a platform like Facebook, typically a person has friends, family, co-workers, old professors, etc that are ‘friended’ to them. Because of this they seem to monitor more closely what gets posted on their page from others and what they decide to share themselves. So, in this case the audience is heavily considered. However, for social media such as Snapchat or Instagram, which are becoming more popular, this is not always the same. They are more prevalently used by the younger generations in a way to communicate with one another. Most of the older generations aren’t apart of the movement. Because parents, relatives, or teachers aren’t a consideration the users are not as selective with what gets published for others to see. We also touched on if people are strategic with the timing of posting online. When using social media if someone wants more people to see what they are posting they may wait to post later in the day or at night when they feel more people will have time to log on and check social media. This tied into our reading for the day because we went over how writing has evolved so much from using just a pen and paper to get your ideas out. Writing has moved to being done on a computer using programs like Word, to being published straight to the Internet on blogs, and moving from blogs to other social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Dr. MMcC's class 