Some more thoughts about Haas...
Looking back over my post about Haas (Haas Post from Class), I got to thinking more about the way that computers changed the way I write and think about my writing. How, I wonder, does this affect new writers? While by no means a professional or expert writer, I was most of the way through college before I truly abandoned printing a large number of paper copies. The computer didn't really stop being little more than a good typewriter till college. But, if writers tend to plan less and do fewer deep revisions when using the computer, what does this mean for beginning writers?
When I led writers workshops for remedial writers, we really pushed revision. I found it difficult to get the students to see the difference between editing and revision on a deeper level. Students had this view of their papers as a complete text. Once typed and saved, it was finished. Basic editing changes could be grudgingly made, but more than that was incomprehensible. Haas writes about the computer getting between the writer and the text. Perhaps feeding their words through a machine and getting what looked like a finished product made students feel as if the process was over.
Though I do it differently now, I still do a great deal of revision. I waste less paper and more hard drive space. But if a student has never really used the process, how do I convince them of the importance of it?
My professor made a good point about my earlier post. Although I do it differently, I am still pre-writing and planning my writing. When a paper is assigned, I often spend a day or two (if I have the time) running all the possiblities through my mind. I'm not sitting down and filling pages, but I am working it through in my head. Often, when I do sit down to write, whole phrases and paragraphs come out fully formed. But again, I arrived at this process through practise and figuring out what worked for me. I am not at all sure that I could have done effective pre-writing mentally if I hadn't spent so many years doing it physically.
So I still find myself wondering how to get students to see the process of writing and revision as just that: a process. After my last post, I wonder if blogging could do it. If technology changes the way students percieve thier texts, perhaps technology can be used to make a process that has become more hidden less so.
When I led writers workshops for remedial writers, we really pushed revision. I found it difficult to get the students to see the difference between editing and revision on a deeper level. Students had this view of their papers as a complete text. Once typed and saved, it was finished. Basic editing changes could be grudgingly made, but more than that was incomprehensible. Haas writes about the computer getting between the writer and the text. Perhaps feeding their words through a machine and getting what looked like a finished product made students feel as if the process was over.
Though I do it differently now, I still do a great deal of revision. I waste less paper and more hard drive space. But if a student has never really used the process, how do I convince them of the importance of it?
My professor made a good point about my earlier post. Although I do it differently, I am still pre-writing and planning my writing. When a paper is assigned, I often spend a day or two (if I have the time) running all the possiblities through my mind. I'm not sitting down and filling pages, but I am working it through in my head. Often, when I do sit down to write, whole phrases and paragraphs come out fully formed. But again, I arrived at this process through practise and figuring out what worked for me. I am not at all sure that I could have done effective pre-writing mentally if I hadn't spent so many years doing it physically.
So I still find myself wondering how to get students to see the process of writing and revision as just that: a process. After my last post, I wonder if blogging could do it. If technology changes the way students percieve thier texts, perhaps technology can be used to make a process that has become more hidden less so.
posted by Spelunker at 4:41 PM
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