Approaching Bainbridge Island from ferry

Journal writing week 4

Writing you must do this week. (4 hours)
1. Journal Writing. In your journal, consider the Rogers’ reading: what kinds of educational values does Rogers have? Where do you educational values fall? Rogers does not give much attention to race, class, and gender. Where do you think these things fit into his scheme of educational values? In yours? (Note the non-sexist writing information in the Faculty/Student Handbook)
2. Journal Writing. Write about your thoughts on self-directed learning and what connections you make to the Rogers reading.
3. Journal Writing. What helpful hints did you glean from Elbow on the subject of revising and/or feedback?
4. Learning Autobiography. Continue writing your learning autobiography. You really ought to have at least a first draft or rough draft of most of the autobiography done by the end of the fourth class session. The learning autobiography is due in the sixth session.
In response to the above writing assignments for week 4:


1.

Rogers have an interdisciplinary approach to education and also he stresses originality. These are also my educational values. The unalterable facts of one’s race, class and gender should not interfere with what one is able to perceive and accomplish in life, although in reality, it is often a political and social struggle, with the “upstart” fighting an uphill battle all the way. My personal example is the type of poetry I write, which is not formal but it isn’t Beat poetry either, and so I had to wait for its acceptance. Also, the topics I wrote were not popular because they criticized social ills long before it became vogue.

2.

My thoughts on self-directed learning is connected to Rogers in two ways: the first and the obvious way is to learn about new ways to look at the old problems. And the other way is to empirically tests my theories.

3.

The helpful thing is to “keep the main idea” prominent all the time. Make sure I can stress that point as a writer and the reader has no problem in following it. Next thing to do is to shape the language. Sometimes it is better to set the writing aside for a couple of days.

My personal example is that I write and revise poems, and sometimes a poem may undergo dozens of metamorphoses before it gets published, and those are the rare occasions, considering the chances of getting published is like about 2% of all that’s submitted to literary magazines.

Revising is just as important as writing itself. It is the way to make it more powerful, impactful, and more memorable. Having a couple of students read my work will catch not only awkward grammar but also diction, style, and content.