Straub’s Article: Responding-Really Responding-to Other Students’ Writing

In the past my experiences with workshops have been both positive and negative. I enjoyed one workshop where you got to read your paper to the class. As I was reading it aloud I found things I should change and where information did not flow the way I wanted. In addition, looking at someone’s face as you read tells a lot about your information, is too shocking or do they looked confused that feedback helped tremendously. My negative experience was when the class did not have enough students to have the proper participation. The other negative experience was the feedback from students that was not worth anything. They did not provide constructive criticism. To say you don’t like it, or offer any follow up to what you don’t like is not helpful.

Editing and revision are vastly different. Editing it grammar correction such as; commas, sentence structure and spelling. When I think of revision I put that more into flow and content. Perhaps you move a paragraph around to make sense, or adding more rich detail to information. Editing is something I do at the end when I know that I like the flow of information and I’m reading it back to myself I make my edits. I revise my document as I go along. I will type a few paragraphs read the information and make sure it makes sense as far as a timeline and that I’m not putting the horse before the carriage. I think it is not necessary to do both especially depending on what you are writing. If you are relaying a true story the flow follows because it is the reality of the story. If you are writing a paper you may need to revise it to make logical sense to the reader. Editing to me is a must you should always, always, always review grammar.

My major concern with the workshop is having someone be extremely critical of my writing. I happen to be self-conscience about my writing because my grammar is poor. I tend to have run on sentences and misuse commas. I have no problem with constructive criticism but someone who nitpicks drives me crazy. It is my writing so I will admit I’m a little sensitive about it. However, knowing that I’m sensitive I’ve already prepared myself mentally.

There were very good helpful tools in the reading assignment and I plan to focus on a few. One in particular I liked was Straub stated “Try to tie your comments to the concepts and strategies you’ve been studying in class.” (Wendy,ed.) Having that idea in mind, I will make sure that the writer has clearly defined the definitions for the figured world, artifacts, actors and literacy practices. I want to help my classmates provide good detail in those areas with appropriate suggestions. Another point Straub stressed was “Always be ready to praise. But look to point to places that are not working well.” (Wendy,ed.) I want to make a genuine effort to be helpful. Not going in there ripping their work to shreds but stating what I hear when I read their work. Since I know work is personal and takes effort I will “Challenge yourself to write as many praise comments as criticisms” as Straub stated (Wendy, ed.). I will have a balance view of what I read and note that when making comments. If I have a criticism I will also have a praise comment.