Okay, last one. Here we go.
I had probably my least favorite primary consultant session a month ago. It was with a journalism student who felt very confident in her writing and just couldn't stop complaining about how ridiculous the professor grades because EVERYONE seems to be doing well except her. So, I said, let's do this thing.
She was writing a paper about causes and American involvement in the Vietnam War, and this client talked a mile a minute. Half the time I wasn't sure if she even wanted my help and instead just preferred to discuss how great her writing was and how inept everyone else seemed to be. The other half, she was arguing with me about my suggestions because someone ELSE told her this and that and how if she did this, that made more sense, and blah blah...so, that was frustrating. I feel that if you're coming to a writing center, you should at least entertain new ideas and perspectives, even if you wholeheartedly disagree with them. At least have the tact to politely ignore every single opinion the consultant gives you.
Nope. Not happening with this client. But I think, with my newly adopted non-directive approach, I was able to show her a few errors in her thought process without pointing them out. I asked her, "So, how do you know this?" and she replies, "Everyone knows this." And I said, "Is it even true?" And she said "How could it not be true?"
I wanted to die a few times, but I managed to ask her enough questions to show her that, no, that wasn't necessarily true, and no, it wasn't even something everyone else believed to be true. But she had a horrid fear of finding more sources for citing, so she decided to take out entire portions that either required citation or ended up not being relevant. She definitely seemed to want to put work into the paper, but she didn't seem to want to put in any work she deemed irrelevant or unacceptable.
It's difficult to deal with this type of client. I feel that no one is ever right or wrong in a session, but when you can't reach any kind of consensus on anything in a paper, it feels as though both of you are completely wasting your time, and in those situations, I feel I need to speak up and clearly express the responsibilities of the writing center, what we do here exactly, and how having a more open mind might help in the future.
Okay, I might not say the last part, but I feel as a center we need to come up with a blanket tactful statement for these situations. It's also possible I overlooked a few strategies to deal with it, but I think my frustration overcame my sense of clarity and direction. Hopefully I can manage to have a more level head in the future.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Final Reflection on Literacy Narrative
The literacy narrative literally made no sense to me when it was first introduced in class. Granted, I hadn't read the syllabus very thoroughly, but did I realize there were three parts to it? No. Did I recognize any literacy beyond reading and writing? No. Was I being responsible in any way? No.
But the heavens parted, and I saw the light. I chose to expand on my musical literacies, and although I felt very confident about my first narrative installment, the multimedia remix made me nervous. According to my classmate feedback, I had left out a lot from my presentation, and that saddened me. I felt I went very in depth with my musical literacies, specifically regarding being a drum major, and others, who had chosen to focus solely on growing up and learning to read and write, seemed perfectly well off. As they should! I enjoyed the nature of their presentations and I provided corresponding feedback praising them for kicking butt and taking names. I loved the different approaches everyone had to their own literacies, but I lost a lot of confidence after my presentation. All of the feedback I received was constructive, and yes, I'm sure the fact that I presented in PowerPoint feedback was a bit of a turn-off and a deterrent for praise, bu I still felt that I had taken something at face value and had parsed it into almost every important element that relates to overall "life" literacies.
I'm a bad creator. And that's not a good excuse for not pursuing mediums beyond what I'm used to (i.e., PowerPoint), but iMovie was impossible. I attempted to create a movie three separate times, and all either magically deleted (on my own computer, not a WC) or made up their own transitions. It didn't make any sense. The class we had one day explaining tips and tricks with iMovie was very helpful, and I had a really good start to my project (it was a fake one at that time because I didn't have my pictures or content, so I deleted it). But then the three consecutive failures occurred. Did I want to resort to PowerPoint? Not really. I mean, yawn? How many PowerPoints have all of us seen in the past two, three, four + years in secondary and post-secondary education? Too many, my friends. Too many. So, I tried to use PowerPoint as a way to showcase my pictures. Didn't work out terrifically well. I thought about creating a composition on my flute or tenor sax to play in class to showcase my literacy, but that sort of took away from the "multimedia" thing...and would have made me look friendless, which would have been fine, I don't mind what people think of me particularly, but honestly no one would have gotten it. I don't even know what I would have played, beyond the different genres I know.
So, the point is, I don't like trying to be creative. I like structure, I like clear rules, I like rigidity and outlines and yes, I'm Type A. So no, the literacy narrative triad didn't particularly please me, and yes, it is my fault that I didn't love it, and no, I won't continue to have a clear set of rules in front of me throughout life, so this project has helped me get used to the fact that I'm not going to have a clear roadmap in life. This has become an existential diary entry, so I digress.
The creative piece was fun. But I'm not sure what it did for me besides providing entertainment. I would have preferred some kind of minimum instruction, like page limits or something. I don't know. It all comes back to the rules I lack in my life, and needing them for limits.
And honestly, I think there needs to be a set of rules or more structured feedback with our pieces. I think that would help more than just me, but who knows.
But the heavens parted, and I saw the light. I chose to expand on my musical literacies, and although I felt very confident about my first narrative installment, the multimedia remix made me nervous. According to my classmate feedback, I had left out a lot from my presentation, and that saddened me. I felt I went very in depth with my musical literacies, specifically regarding being a drum major, and others, who had chosen to focus solely on growing up and learning to read and write, seemed perfectly well off. As they should! I enjoyed the nature of their presentations and I provided corresponding feedback praising them for kicking butt and taking names. I loved the different approaches everyone had to their own literacies, but I lost a lot of confidence after my presentation. All of the feedback I received was constructive, and yes, I'm sure the fact that I presented in PowerPoint feedback was a bit of a turn-off and a deterrent for praise, bu I still felt that I had taken something at face value and had parsed it into almost every important element that relates to overall "life" literacies.
I'm a bad creator. And that's not a good excuse for not pursuing mediums beyond what I'm used to (i.e., PowerPoint), but iMovie was impossible. I attempted to create a movie three separate times, and all either magically deleted (on my own computer, not a WC) or made up their own transitions. It didn't make any sense. The class we had one day explaining tips and tricks with iMovie was very helpful, and I had a really good start to my project (it was a fake one at that time because I didn't have my pictures or content, so I deleted it). But then the three consecutive failures occurred. Did I want to resort to PowerPoint? Not really. I mean, yawn? How many PowerPoints have all of us seen in the past two, three, four + years in secondary and post-secondary education? Too many, my friends. Too many. So, I tried to use PowerPoint as a way to showcase my pictures. Didn't work out terrifically well. I thought about creating a composition on my flute or tenor sax to play in class to showcase my literacy, but that sort of took away from the "multimedia" thing...and would have made me look friendless, which would have been fine, I don't mind what people think of me particularly, but honestly no one would have gotten it. I don't even know what I would have played, beyond the different genres I know.
So, the point is, I don't like trying to be creative. I like structure, I like clear rules, I like rigidity and outlines and yes, I'm Type A. So no, the literacy narrative triad didn't particularly please me, and yes, it is my fault that I didn't love it, and no, I won't continue to have a clear set of rules in front of me throughout life, so this project has helped me get used to the fact that I'm not going to have a clear roadmap in life. This has become an existential diary entry, so I digress.
The creative piece was fun. But I'm not sure what it did for me besides providing entertainment. I would have preferred some kind of minimum instruction, like page limits or something. I don't know. It all comes back to the rules I lack in my life, and needing them for limits.
And honestly, I think there needs to be a set of rules or more structured feedback with our pieces. I think that would help more than just me, but who knows.
Literacy Narrative Reflections
Creating my literacy narrative really opened my eyes to how literacy has developed in my life. I guess before, I just always took it for granted... It was just always with me. After the first literacy narrative, I was astounded by how much I remembered and how my family had such a profound influence on my development. When we were first assigned this project, I had no idea what I would write about. After I began brainstorming, however, I couldn't keep my ideas of literacy to one specific topic - I was scribing memories, incidents, and dialogues that had existed in my head my entire life. I really enjoyed this part of the literacy because it's a task that no one had ever asked me to do before.
The remix (part 2) was a new and exciting way to look at my paper. I took so much time picking the music and accompanying photos for my movie. And I had never made an iMovie before, so that was even more fun! I love learning new technology, and in that remix it just seemed like the perfect experimental environment to learn a new way to express my thoughts.
Part 3 was my favorite part of the entire literacy narrative because I love creating new, colorful things with my hands. Just sit me down with some glue, scissors, and construction paper and I'll be happy for quite some time. Although I ended up doing the entire thing on the computer, I enjoyed designing my cookbook and trying to make it as creative as possible. I was astonished at what I could think of once I had the topic down!
All in all, the project really opened my mind to new ways of thinking about a concept. It also provided me with the opportunity to analyze my own development, which is something that I never had to do before. I learned a lot about myself from this project and I think it should definitely be continued for the next Writing Center class.
The remix (part 2) was a new and exciting way to look at my paper. I took so much time picking the music and accompanying photos for my movie. And I had never made an iMovie before, so that was even more fun! I love learning new technology, and in that remix it just seemed like the perfect experimental environment to learn a new way to express my thoughts.
Part 3 was my favorite part of the entire literacy narrative because I love creating new, colorful things with my hands. Just sit me down with some glue, scissors, and construction paper and I'll be happy for quite some time. Although I ended up doing the entire thing on the computer, I enjoyed designing my cookbook and trying to make it as creative as possible. I was astonished at what I could think of once I had the topic down!
All in all, the project really opened my mind to new ways of thinking about a concept. It also provided me with the opportunity to analyze my own development, which is something that I never had to do before. I learned a lot about myself from this project and I think it should definitely be continued for the next Writing Center class.
Literacies Reflection
This was the first time I was asked to take a written piece and transform it into two different genres including multimedia. I really enjoyed the project. As a writer, it helped me focus on applying my skills in different contexts. I have much experience writing personal narratives and poems. When it came to a digital remix I chose a genre I was unfamiliar with and created an imovie. I have worked with Power Point presentations and web design. I concentrated a large amount of time focusing on the visual elements of the imovie. I defined the success of my imovie by how well i portrayed my story through images, shorter text, and music.
There was a certain precision necessary for my imovie to become a good imovie. I tried to keep all aspects appropriate for my overall message while contributing unique details with each scene. I tried to time the text with the necessary amount of time needed for the viewer to read. I organized my movie parallel with my written paper, showing my literacies as they develop with my age in a story format. I chose two songs, one that concentrated on the younger development of my literacies (dance and music, American Pie) and one song that concentrated on my current development of writing as a literacy (shadow stabbing-cake).
Being able to concentrate on organization, content, and audience are all necessary skills as a writer. As a consultant, I am able to understand an overall view of these aspects and how they can be applied to different genres. This helps me improve as a writing consultant. I am comfortable working with creative writers and digital media.
There was a certain precision necessary for my imovie to become a good imovie. I tried to keep all aspects appropriate for my overall message while contributing unique details with each scene. I tried to time the text with the necessary amount of time needed for the viewer to read. I organized my movie parallel with my written paper, showing my literacies as they develop with my age in a story format. I chose two songs, one that concentrated on the younger development of my literacies (dance and music, American Pie) and one song that concentrated on my current development of writing as a literacy (shadow stabbing-cake).
Being able to concentrate on organization, content, and audience are all necessary skills as a writer. As a consultant, I am able to understand an overall view of these aspects and how they can be applied to different genres. This helps me improve as a writing consultant. I am comfortable working with creative writers and digital media.
Literacy Narrative Project - Final Reflection
The literacy narrative project was a very long and extinsive project which added good and bad aspects to the project as a whole.
While writing the first draft of the traditional narrative I was frusterated and overwhelmed. I did not know what it was that I was supposed to write about or what it was that I felt about my literacies. After recieving feedback on the narrative and re-working my though process for the digital remix I was able to create a more focused and worthwhile general idea. For me the initial creation of the digital remix was just as frusterating as the traditional narrative. I was very opposed to the idea of using less standard and more creative modes of communication. I also felt like I did not have a clear sense of what was expected of me. Much to my suprise I had the easiest time working on the creative aspect. I did not think I would like it at all, but I actually enjoyed working on it. I wrote a children's short story and thoroughly enjoyed the process. However, I still felt like I was unclear about what was expected of me.
While working on the final copies of the traditional narrative, digital remix, and creative piece I had a much more enjoyable time. I felt like I had a much better sense of what I wanted to convey to my audience, and also what was expected of me.
Overall, I enjoyed that I was able to re-write and re-work each aspect of the project. However, I found the first time through of each aspect to be frusterating because I did not have a clear sense of what was expected of me or what the boundries of the assingment were.
Also, it seemed to me that the project focused on literacy for several weeks which did not seem to be that central of a course theme/theme of the WC.
While writing the first draft of the traditional narrative I was frusterated and overwhelmed. I did not know what it was that I was supposed to write about or what it was that I felt about my literacies. After recieving feedback on the narrative and re-working my though process for the digital remix I was able to create a more focused and worthwhile general idea. For me the initial creation of the digital remix was just as frusterating as the traditional narrative. I was very opposed to the idea of using less standard and more creative modes of communication. I also felt like I did not have a clear sense of what was expected of me. Much to my suprise I had the easiest time working on the creative aspect. I did not think I would like it at all, but I actually enjoyed working on it. I wrote a children's short story and thoroughly enjoyed the process. However, I still felt like I was unclear about what was expected of me.
While working on the final copies of the traditional narrative, digital remix, and creative piece I had a much more enjoyable time. I felt like I had a much better sense of what I wanted to convey to my audience, and also what was expected of me.
Overall, I enjoyed that I was able to re-write and re-work each aspect of the project. However, I found the first time through of each aspect to be frusterating because I did not have a clear sense of what was expected of me or what the boundries of the assingment were.
Also, it seemed to me that the project focused on literacy for several weeks which did not seem to be that central of a course theme/theme of the WC.
Literacies Narrative Reflection
I'm glad we had this project, because I honestly never would have remembered the thing my whole story revolved around without it. Only after sitting in class and making our literacy timeline did I remember the couch forts and the stories that my dad told my brother and I, and thinking about that time made me realize where my passion for creative writing might have come from. I knew all along that wanting to write creatively had led to my development of literacies in web posting and Word processing, but I still felt uneasy when I thought about writing simply about how I loved to write. Tracing my interests back to their roots made this piece more personal, and more effective for me.
By doing this project and seeing my classmates', I've also come to realize how invaluable an early start in literacy is. My interest in writing was instilled in me sometime before I was seven years old. Many of us had an early interest in music or reading that had similar effects. When children are exposed to new literacies in early life and come to love their different literacies, they will grow and benefit from them immeasurably when they get older.
I'm also glad for the multimedia remix because it taught me a technology I never would have explored otherwise. I don't own a Mac, so really the only way I would have explored iMovie more would have to be because of some kind of assignment. I'm glad to have another technology under my belt, and possibly one I can add to my resume.
By doing this project and seeing my classmates', I've also come to realize how invaluable an early start in literacy is. My interest in writing was instilled in me sometime before I was seven years old. Many of us had an early interest in music or reading that had similar effects. When children are exposed to new literacies in early life and come to love their different literacies, they will grow and benefit from them immeasurably when they get older.
I'm also glad for the multimedia remix because it taught me a technology I never would have explored otherwise. I don't own a Mac, so really the only way I would have explored iMovie more would have to be because of some kind of assignment. I'm glad to have another technology under my belt, and possibly one I can add to my resume.
Literacy Project Thoughts
I found the literacy narrative difficult to write. I almost always find narrative pieces hard to write, but this one more so than usual because not only was I writing about myself (which usually comes out as dry, boring writing for whatever reason), but I was connecting pieces of my life that, in my head, had never been connected before. It was an interesting course of thought, but my first draft still came out, as Trixie told me, "like a list."
The creative remix interested me more than the narrative. After the imovie presentation, I'd decided to do an imovie. However, after hours of work I turned out to have nothing at all. A slew of technical problems completely wiped out everything I'd created, which frustrated me to no end and caused me to decide to work with a different medium. After some thought, I settled on a website. I've only made one complete website before (it wasn't very good), but I really like web design and thought that would be a more unique way to remix my project. At first, I didn't think too much about exactly how the writing from my narrative would translate to my site. Obviously, not directly. Even the text I wrote for the first draft of my site, though always in fairly small paragraph form, was still too long and involved. I'm studying writing for the web right now, but even before I began doing that I knew that what I'd written was unappealing as internet text. The difficulty was to trim what I'd written, to make it concise without losing my meaning. If I didn't make the connections between my literacies clear, or didn't explain something important well enough while trying to be brief, then the point of the site was ruined. I added pictures (by far the most popular comment from my classmates was that they thought the site needed a personal touch from pictures) and music to represent some of the strongest musical memories of my childhood.
The creative remix was fun. It was also difficult because I chose to write it as a kind of narrative as well, so I decided to write it in third person to see if that would improve my personal voice. I think it helped. I wrote that paper in a way I'd never written a narrative before: it's in three parts, and all three parts are very different narrative styles. One is descriptive, one is more introspective, and the last one is sort of a mix I guess. I wanted to try writing each section a little differently as a sort of reflection on different sections of a piece of music, which is also why there are three sections. I was concerned that the different styles would seem jarring, but I liked the finished product and decided that it was ok.
The creative remix interested me more than the narrative. After the imovie presentation, I'd decided to do an imovie. However, after hours of work I turned out to have nothing at all. A slew of technical problems completely wiped out everything I'd created, which frustrated me to no end and caused me to decide to work with a different medium. After some thought, I settled on a website. I've only made one complete website before (it wasn't very good), but I really like web design and thought that would be a more unique way to remix my project. At first, I didn't think too much about exactly how the writing from my narrative would translate to my site. Obviously, not directly. Even the text I wrote for the first draft of my site, though always in fairly small paragraph form, was still too long and involved. I'm studying writing for the web right now, but even before I began doing that I knew that what I'd written was unappealing as internet text. The difficulty was to trim what I'd written, to make it concise without losing my meaning. If I didn't make the connections between my literacies clear, or didn't explain something important well enough while trying to be brief, then the point of the site was ruined. I added pictures (by far the most popular comment from my classmates was that they thought the site needed a personal touch from pictures) and music to represent some of the strongest musical memories of my childhood.
The creative remix was fun. It was also difficult because I chose to write it as a kind of narrative as well, so I decided to write it in third person to see if that would improve my personal voice. I think it helped. I wrote that paper in a way I'd never written a narrative before: it's in three parts, and all three parts are very different narrative styles. One is descriptive, one is more introspective, and the last one is sort of a mix I guess. I wanted to try writing each section a little differently as a sort of reflection on different sections of a piece of music, which is also why there are three sections. I was concerned that the different styles would seem jarring, but I liked the finished product and decided that it was ok.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)