Satellite Observation(s)

I observed a few sessions at the library a week and a half ago, and I also led three sessions in the same day (this post will focus on the former).

The library is a different world from Bessey Hall. Not just the needs and writing process stages of the clients but also the atmosphere—there's anxiety, there's tension, and there's a looming deadline slowly crushing souls and Word docs.

These fears are made evident in the high-strung behaviors of clients, who need to outline at least an idea or a place to start with their paper or project. The enormity of the library and the workload it implies seems to almost suffocate some students, who can't even locate a starting point in an assignment. The consultants I observed helped with strategy, optimism, and a calming exterior. Although these characteristics are important in any writing center environment, the satellite of the library is even more important of a place to exude these traits. Prompting questions — a less directive approach — guided the session toward a favorable endpoint, and it seemed success was measured in whether or not a solid direction was established and partially developed. I believed this to be a significant strength in the library consultants; even if the client had finished a paper and just needed polishing, there was always some kind of urgency or deadline. Tackling HOCs was, as the acronym implies, the number-one priority.

I soaked in these skills as much as possible and hopefully demonstrated them in my own sessions. I reveled in the practically palpable energy of this writing center satellite — I liked the people coming and going, I liked the fluidity of a paper and how it or its direction could change in an instant. Everything was malleable, everything was subject to discussion and revision, and desperation almost always seemed to transform to hope. I probably sound like a fiction writer right now, but that's how I interpret the scenarios retrospectively. I would break down each consultant's specific techniques, but 30 minutes only allows for so much of the consultant's ways to shine through. The tendencies I described were shared among them, and it seemed logical to discuss them as a whole.

I like the library.

Weekly post

Adams' "Satellite Writing Centers" opens with an acknowledgment of a general studies-intensive university involving writing in every discipline. Writing instruction followed a fairly traditional protocol, and naturally these universities knew of and believed in the importance of good writing in any field.

I detest general studies requirements. Here's why.

You attend high school and you are required to take certain classes each year. It's not up for debate that you take math, science, reading/writing/literature, and some sort of history or government course. In college, you have applied to, been accepted at, and are paying tuition for an educational institution carefully constructed to prepare you for a professional life. If you are interested in a general studies degree, such as the one U-Mich offers, then that's fine. But universities should not require students to invest in subjects inapplicable to their field of study. If you are studying a certain subject, however, and an interdisciplinary understanding of an unrelated branch of study is pertinent to doing your job correctly, that's a different story. But I don't need to learn about kingdom/class/phylum/whatever for the TENTH TIME in my student career because it's a freakin' general requirement for every college student. It's a waste of my time, the professor's time, and my money.

With that said, I agree with the professors' beliefs in this article: Writing is important across every discipline. It's the one thing that unites us when everything else has failed. Writing Centers, therefore, warrant a place in any kind of university environment, not just land-grant colleges or general studies-intensive institutions. Writing opens up your rhetorical understand of the subject and of your environment, and those tools are invaluable.

I realize that rant didn't have much to do with satellite writing centers...more soon to come!

literacy narrative

So, I finally wrote my literacy narrative, and contrary to what I hoped, it didnt all become clear as I was writing. I did the best I could, but so many things in my life have influenced my literacy that it just seemed to come out completely unfocused and all over the map. Not to mention how impossible it was to cover everything that has impacted my literacy, b/c there are literally tons and tons of factors that make us who we are today, as writers and otherwise. I just know that especially after reading some of your guys' naratives, there will be things I'll want to add and elaborate on. It will be interesting to see where this all goes and how it turns out...

I guess now I'll go ahead and put out there some things I think most or all of us are concerned about... something I know from discussion in class. I'm starting to be a little freaked out about all of the things we have to do for class in the near future.. for instance, I'm bad wth technology, and the thought of making this already-complicated literacy narrative digital is just scary. Also, I really am not sure what we're supposed to be doing with the Chalmer's thing... my group got moved and I'm feeling a little lost on that... Then there's the book presentation, and the rest of my observations, and the grammar lesson... I'm sure as we do these things they'll turn out to not be a big deal, but the semester is getting pretty hectic in all my classes, and I'm getting a bit anxious about it all... hope I'm not the only one!

Blog #6

Well we finally started our literacies project. (Is there a correct way to spell the plural of literacy?) And I can only imagine how diverse all of our project are, I am sure that once we begin to work on our other parts of the project it will get even more diverse.

While working on my literacy narrative one of the aspects of it that struck me the most is the diversity of my literacy background. It seems to me that the literacies of my life are completely intertwined and interweaved to the extent that every advanced literacy, such as understanding poetry and the ability to drive a car, is completely dependent on more basic literacies, like the ability to read and follow directions. It also seems to me that not only do all of my literacies simply influence each other, but all of my literacies influence each other to the extent that I have a set of experiences and understandings that are completely different than any one else’s could be. This concept and understanding of individuality is very interesting to me, and although I had never looked at it in this light before it seems very true and accurate.

Literacy Narrative

Lauren’s post reminded me of something that I should have included in my own literacy narrative. Like her dad, my mom frequently made up bedtime stories for my older brother and me. Her stories were often in the Beatrix Potter vein, and included characters named after the two of us. I always marveled at her creativity and the fluidity with which she wove her narratives. In first grade, when I was asked to write a story for the first time, I remembered the characters that had lulled me to sleep for so many years. I decided that even though my mom had since stopped creating new stories, that didn’t mean their adventures had to be over. When my mom read my story, she was delighted that I had taken those characters and created something unique that was mine alone. It is only looking back on that now that I realize this story was essentially fanfiction. Given that my “discovery” of fanfiction in junior high helped foster my digital literacy, it’s interesting to see how much earlier I was actually introduced to the concept.

I genuinely struggled writing my literacy narrative, but not because I had trouble defining “literacy.” Rather, I wanted to explore the ways in which my literacies have developed, but at the same time I wanted to make that explanation meaningful. Though I acquired my literacies on my own, I recognize the influence that others have had on their development, as well as my own personal growth. Traditional and digital literacy are not just skills I possess; they are factors that have had an active role in shaping who I am today. My passion for language and my enthusiasm for technology have brought me to the point in my life I am currently at, and hopefully they will carry me into my future.

Thoughts about the literacy narrative...

I had trouble focusing on just one topic in my paper. And yet I feel like it is all irrelevant, because I'm not sure if I'm really answering the question... It just seems so vague! And how can anything shape a writing literacy? I suppose I'll find out that answer as I continue on writing.

I agree with Gabe. We are going to have a great spectrum of narratives - it'll be interesting to see what other people thought. The concept of literacy also gets a little shaky. I kept referring to the dictionary to make sure that what I described as literacy wasn't technically just a hobby or something. But I suppose literacies are apt to develop out of one's hobbies anyway.

I could not connect another literacy to reading and writing literacies. First it was the two, and then others came. Sure, I took ballet, tap and jazz lessons and played the piano for eleven years and the violin for three. What of it? Reading and writing were already present in my life in those time periods. The main point of my narrative is beginning to revolve around the circumstances and situations in which the literacies developed, rather than which other literacies developed with them. Then I wrote about how reading and writing created a few other literacies later in life. I'm also focusing on my family and how they helped to shape my literacy.

My problem lies in the creative aspect of this project. It's horrible, I know. Professional Writers in my track of Digital and Technical Writing have to be creative! But this is just too broad a subject, and my life is too boring. I need a narrowing of topics and a definite definition for literacy. I've heard literacy used in so many ways and different contexts that it never seems to mean the same thing. It's like a default term, a shadow word for bazillions of other words.

Here's a random query: Why does spell check think "literacies" is not a word?

About the Literacy Narrative

I think I really just want to write about how I enjoyed writing my literacy narrative. I focused on how my early interest in creative writing (which I called a "subliteracy") led to the development of two more literacies that are now crucial to me--word processing and web exploration and posting. When I was really little, my dad would tell stories to me and my younger brother Kevin, but there was a twist--every once in a while he would leave a blank and ask me or my brother to fill it in. This included character's names, the creature that suddenly jumped out at them, or where they were going on their adventure. Honestly, until we drew our literacy timelines in class two weeks ago, I didn't even realize I remembered those stories, so first off I'm grateful to this project for allowing me to explore those memories again.

However, as I wrote, I realized what an integral part of my life those stories were. They made me love to write creatively, which made me want to learn to type and format using word processors, and then when I started posting my writing online I developed web literacies for working with HTML, uploading files, and using message boards. I've never had to write a piece about how I learned something before, and without it I never would have made the connections between the stories from my childhood and the skills that are invaluable to me now as a professional writing and English major. It's interesting how our own ambition to improve one literacy can make us develop entirely new ones even if they are just for the sake of efficiency in the first literacy.