Entering and Exiting the Chaos (Ann E. Berthoff)
- Berthoff writes that "learning to write is learning to do deliberately and methodically with words on the page what we do all the time with language" (264). What does this mean and how can it be turned to our advantage as composition instructors?
- Berthoff is onto something (I think) in describing the importance of the chaos, and of our responsibility (as writing instructors) "to present very carefully the ways of emerging from it" (268). Look back on your assignments and activities. Find a specific moment where you did (or could have) help students explore the chaos. How are you helping them emerge from it? Write about the connection between these two moments and include the written assignment or activity as evidence for your work. If you do not think you're doing this in the class, develop a plan of action to incorporate this process the next time you teach the course. Write about that.
- What is your writing process? Can you frame your description of the process using categories Berthoff has offered us?
- Berthoff counsels that composition instructors should, in their comments, "move from the inert, passive questions that we inscribe in the margins of papers" (265). But isn't this advice in tension with some of what we've learned by reading Sommers' work on instructors' comments, particularly the concern that as writing teachers we might take over students' writing or ideas with our comments? Revisit your comments on a student's recent paper. Find a comment that really looks like an "inert, passive" question. Rewrite it more along the lines suggested by Berthoff. What is the value of this reformulation of your comment?
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