Unit 1
Summary
In Bonnie Mary Warne’s article “Writing Steps: A Recursive and Individual Experience,” published by National Council of Teachers of English, May 2008, Warne explains her writing strategy with her high school students in order to improve upon their own writing process steps. Warne uses her experience with her students to show the reader how she was able to facilitate the varying needs and unique ways of preparing each of their individualized writing processes. The article explains that there is a variety to the writing process steps but maintains the idea that certain concepts should remain constant. Warne points out that in a lot of states, education employs that each stage of writing must be understood and followed by the next step that corresponds as it is stated by many scholars "Understand and use steps of the writing process: Brainstorm; Draft; Revise; Edit; Publish", where the standardized process of writing and its steps benefit the writing product, but does not help inner process and ability of the writer. Warne emphasizes the importance of revision throughout the writing process and how it interconnects with the concept of free writing. By utilizing commonplace references, such as the term ‘slinky’ given, Warne is able to create a visual aid representing the fluidity of the writing steps easing the student’s comprehension of the process. The author’s tone reflects her sincerity and humility by acknowledging her flaws when teaching her students about the writing steps. Warne concludes with stating that by exploring the writing process steps, her students have gained necessary tools to survive the ISAT and perhaps enjoy their writing.
Reflection
The article my team and I were assigned, written by Bonnie Warne, focused on breaking down the components from the writing process. The author emphasized on how the writing process should be viewed from an individualized approach. Not all writers share the same thought process, so the structured and reluctant writing process should allow students to have more flexibility to work with. By putting Warne’s writing philosophy into play, I was able to widen my perspective in regard to analyzing different pieces of text. It made me realize that there is no perfect piece of writing, especially if it is lacking a creative approach from the writer. Writing is not just about constricting to a standardized series of steps, because by doing so, you are shackling yourself. It should be about creating your own writing process using the appropriate guidelines while still having freedom to show case all your ideas. I also learned about the importance of revision and all of its components such as adding, deleting, and reordering text. I used to always feel overwhelmed by the time I was done crafting my writing piece and would often forget to revise my final draft not just for grammatical errors but for fluidity along the text. A writing piece needs to make sense to the reader, paragraphs must interconnect through appropriate transitions, and this is all part of the revision process.
Through unit 1, the five members of our group were given different components to work on when were in the building stage of our presentation. I happened to be in charge of with and against the grain. I was able to compare the two different perspectives of Warne’s article. By reading with the grain, the reader agrees with Warne on how the writing process should be amended by making it more individualized and giving more freedom to the writer. On the other hand, the reader can agree with parents and schools on having a more structured writing process and eliminating personalization to the writing piece.
As a group, we analyzed the text paragraph by paragraph and we were able to capture different points of view from all of our teammates. Some focused on the rhetorical aspect while others on pathos, ethos, and logos. In conclusion, we were all able to grasp the necessary components of the text and applied them to our power point.