Comments on: In this essay, I will (bore the reader)

By: Amethyst

Amethyst — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 03:51:07 +0000

P.S. discussing the metadiscourse and why it doesn’t belong there, I think, helps situate academic writing as its own very specific writing situation. We all know you’re writing an essay, yes. And we all know it’s a paragraph and you’re going to show something, yes. So get on with it.

By: Amethyst

Amethyst — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 03:48:04 +0000

In the AP textbook, they call this “metadiscourse.” It might be fun to teach your students that word.

Just thinking right now… maybe it would be fun to look at times when metadiscourse can be effective. Writers do it a lot, especially in modern times, for effect: humor, or maybe to create a self-conscious voice. For example, in my blog I often apologize for cliched or mixed metaphors. But sometimes I don’t change them, because the pace of the writing can be so fast these days. I always figure my blog is a mind in progress, in a way.

Anyway– students like learning that word. Makes them feel smart. Which they are if they know that word!!

By: dogtrax

dogtrax — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:21:56 +0000

Thanks, Joy.
I’ll remember that alarm clock ringing …
Kevin

By: Joy Kirr

Joy Kirr — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:12:22 +0000

Kevin,
YES! I do believe that it’s our job to move beyond the mundane when teaching structure, and agree that they need that structure first. Mine are currently writing narratives, and 6th grade teachers must’ve thought onomatopoeia was the way to start! I didn’t know that narratives were supposed to begin with alarm clocks going off!

Enjoy the small successes you get when you DO help them improve!