LeAnn Anderson's Blog

Group Project

leannanderson — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:47:41 +0000

Okay, so we’re starting the group collaboration project, today. Our group name is “B Team.” We’re kind of castoffs from another group, since Dr. Cadle didn’t want our groups to be more than four people. We’re all going to be grades 9-12.

So the topic of our paper is going to be on situational revision. We’ve got it all started on Google Docs, and hopefully it will turn out alright. I’ve not had a bad experience with cooperative writing, yet, so I’m optimistic.

I’d feel a lot more like writing, though, if some stupid idiot in the previous class hadn’t put gum on the bottom of the desk I was using.

leannanderson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:59:40 +0000

Where I fit on the landscape of composition pedogogy

There are good things about both Expressivisim and Social Constructivism. I like them both equally, mostly becasue they can both be put to different uses inside the classroom. I understand that some students will learn better with Expressivism, and some with Social Constructivism, and so it is important that I teach both.

In the Context of M. Harriss’s article

leannanderson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:32:32 +0000

After reading Harriss’s article a bit more thoroughly, I’m starting to believe that there’s no such thing as a true one-drafter. This change of mind comes from her mentioning of pre-text. If the use of pre-text is considered a form of revision when writing, then everybody at some point does soem revision. This revision is simply not always visible. I was not even aware that I did it until I read the article, or, more accurately, I didn’t know that there was a name for it. I just always assumed that if you arrange everything in your head, with perhaps a few written out notes, and then wrote your paper from that point, that it was written without revision and therefore in only one draft.

Based on both my own process and from what Matt told me about his process, I would say that he and I both use quite a bit of pre-text. At the same time, however, I can’t stand it when a teacher tells me to do a rought draft, first. I can see how that would have been useful when everything was written with pen and paper, or even with a typewriter. However, in this day and age, when we have the internet and word processers, the turning in of rough drafts shouldn’t be forced. It should be a personal choice of the student who is writing the paper.

Matt’s Writing Style

leannanderson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:50:29 +0000

Matt writes in his bedroom. He prefers it to be quiet, and he prefers to write in the early afternoon. He likes to write short stories and to write his school stuff. He likes sci-fi/fantasy, historical biographies, and some academics. He dislikes some other academic subjects. He writes in one big sprawel, chipping back extra later. He loops, constantly going back.

Yes, he feels like he’s a good writer, saying, “I feel like I’ve taken enough classes,” and that he has lots of experience.

My Writing Style

leannanderson — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:50:56 +0000

I write in the living room, in the middle of pure chaos. I will write any time of day. My desk is crowded and cluttered. On the second level of my desk is an old monitor, and on top of the monitor is a stack of books on apologetics and some papers. Next to me is the loveseat that belongs to the other couple that my husband and I live with. They both smoke, and often the cigarette smoke waftes over into my face. Directly in front is the other couple’s computer desk, and behind that is my husband’s computer desk. We also have a lab puppy, who is a hyper little thing, and I’m constantly having to keep him from chewing on pretty much everything.

I write a lot of fanfiction, which is basically stories written about and involving characters from books, tv shows, movies, and such, and written purely for the writer’s own entertainment, so it falls under the fair use clause of copywrite law. I also write short stories, novels, participate in National Novel Writing Month, some essays, my general blog, my restaraunt review blog, and, of course, whatever I have to write for school.

I like sci-fi/fantasy and historical fiction. I also really like fairy tales. When it comes to academic writing and reading, it really depends on the subject. I won’t touch math or science, but I do like history, especially if it is on costuming, the Rennaisance, Titanic, or the Civil War.

I like to write in one big sprawl, mostly because I procrastinate. If I realize I screwed something up or that I forgot something, I’ll go back later and fix it. I also loop, going back.

Do I feel like I’m a good writer? Yeah, I do. I at least feel like I’m better than Christopher Paolini. He follows the hero’s journey far too closely, and his plot lines are far too predictable, and that is what happens when homeschooling goes unchecked and parents are allowed to use the “unschooling” method, not forcing their children to actually study anything if they don’t want to.