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Writing - Connect and Dream [Oct. 25, 2012, 1:28 p.m.]



 

Generate some writing by doing one of the following in a new Google Doc: Freewrite,LoopsComposing Guidelines. Then revise your writing based on feedback you recieve from your teacher and peers and by adding, subtracting, rearranging, replacing text. Use Structured Essays to organize your writing, but don’t post it yet. Finish the next two tasks before you post.

Choose one of the following:


Image for a mission on Youth Voices

At the beginning of
each new project,
inquiry, or writing
assignment you should
create substantial
personal, committed,
passionate pieces of
writing. It's a good idea
to collect your freewriting,
focused sentences, and
more freewriting 
in
Google Docs (or a similar
platform) that you can
share with your teacher
and others. It's important
to give the time, not just
at school but at home as well.

Image for issue at Youth Voices

"The loop writing process
is a way to get the best
of both... control and
creativity. On the one
hand it lets you steer
where you are going...
But on the other hand it
expands your point of
view.... It is especially
useful if you can't think
of much to write or are
stuck with a topic that
bores you." (Peter Elbow,
"
The Loop Writing
Process
," Chapter 8 in
Writing With Power.

Image for issue at Youth Voices

Sondra Perl's Composing
Guidelines sometimes
work differently for
different people--and
even differently for you
on different occasions.
The main thing to
remember is that they
are meant for you to
use on your own,
flexibly, in your own way.
There is nothing sacred
about the exact format
or wording. They are not
meant to be a straitjacket.
The specific details of the
procedure are much less
important than the
charitable, supportive,
and generative spirit
behind the whole thing.


 

It may seem strange at first to generate a free flow of writing from freewriting, loops or guidelines (in the first part of this task)...

... and then be told in the second part of this task to use a very structured guide, some of which almost seem like fill-in-the-blank exercises.

You need to find your own way between these two extremes. Try both, and you'll end up with a mess, but from this mess you can begin to create your own argument.

Try one of these!

Choose a title in the list below to find detailed scaffolds that make explicit what is expected in many different types of discussion posts and comments on Youth Voices. Once you've internalized these guides, we encourage you to mix and match different paragraphs, and to go beyond the use of a guide as well.

 


When you have finished your second or third drafts by getting feedback from your peers and by using one of the guides listed above, copy this draft from your Google Doc and paste it into a comment here (on this P2PU task), then click Yes, I'm done .