Overcoming Writer's Block
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Transcript of Overcoming Writer's Block
GENERATING, COMPOSING & OVERCOMING
WRITER’S BLOCK:
How Critical Thinking can Help Students through the
Writing Process
“When I face the desolate impossi-bility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate, & I eliminate the possibility of every finishing.”
––John Steinbeck
“IT'S LIKE BORROWING YOUR FRIEND’S CAR THAT’S A STICK-SHIFT WHEN ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IS AN AUTOMATIC. YOU KNOW HOW EVERYTHING SHOULD WORK, BUT ALL YOU DO IS SIT THERE STALLING OUT.”
“IT’S KINDA LIKE A MATH EQUATION ... JUST WORKBACKWARDS FROM THE ANSWER, ONLY YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT NUMBERS TO PLUG INTO THE FORMULA.”
“YOU’RE HUNGRY, YOU’RE STARVING, BUT THERE’S NOTHING IN THE FRIDGE, JUST CONDIMENTS AND SOME BREAD CRUSTS ... YEAH, YOU CAN ‘FIX’ SOMETHING TO EAT, BUT IT AIN’T GOING TO FILL YOU UP.”
DIAGNOSIS & CURE
The root problem: Fixation
The cure: metacognition.
Divergent Thinking: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality
Covergent Thinking.
Adaptive & Innovative Thinking. (Cassis 36)
ADAPTION & INNOVATION: EDISON VS. EINSTEIN
Edison (Adaptive): focused on quality of ideas; typically conservative, but a good success rate.
Einstein (Innovative): focused on the quantity of ideas, typically accept failure better, though they often give up on good ideas before they should. (Cassis 38)
THE TYRANNY OF RULES
The struggle is getting students to think without the equation, without “trans-forming a highly fluid process like writing into a mechanical lockstep” (Rose 398).
Algorithms – think about mathematics: “Functions are consistent ... procedures are routine ... & outcomes are predictable” (Rose 391).
THE TYRANNY OF RULES continued:
Many students want rigid, definite rules, not realizing that such inflexibility often births their writer’s block (Rose 393).
Especially for students with more analytic, empirically focused majors there is a “predisposition to see process in terms of linear, interrelated steps in a system” (Rose 398).
THE TYRANNY OF RULES continued:
They correctly see the value of having a plan, a map. But “once formulated, [it] becomes an exact structural & substantive blueprint that cannot be violated” (Rose 395).
What’s worse, “such rules do not allow a flexible penetration into the nature of the problem” (398).
THE TYRANNY OF RULES concluded:
This inflexibility can be focused on either somthing that is:
Global: uncritical adherence to certain writing strategies or methods of development.
Rule-specific: “The beginning is everything”; “Always grab your audience” (Rose 394-95).
THE VALUE OF HEURISTICS
In most of daily lives we use “heuristics or ‘rules of thumb,’ guidelines that allow varying degrees of flexibility when approaching problems” (Rose 391).
Students often view writing assignments as existing within a vacuum.
THE VALUE OF HEURISTICS continued:
Give them advice on how to take advice, i.e., “writing rules.”
Emphasize that shouldn’t ignore frustration & procrastination.
Bring in Analysis & Evaluation.
SIDESTEPPING WRITER’S BLOCK
Provide students with several ways to approach a topic.
Begin with what you knowEstablish a personal connection to the topic.Discuss topics as a group.Research topic.
BEGIN WITH WHAT YOU KNOW
Ask students to free write and/or brainstorm about their topic.Have students ask themselves a set of questions about their topic such as:
Why did I choose this topic? What do I already know about it? How do I know this information?What point do I want to make about this topic?
ESTABLISH A PERSONAL CONNECTION
Students seem to have an easier time generating ideas when they can see connections between the topic and their own lives.
They tend to enjoy writing about themselves.
Students find it easier to avoid writer’s block when they are “behind” their topic/argument.
PERSONAL CONNECTION
Have students compose a semi-‐informal writing that helps them establish this connection.
What is my opinion on this topic?
Why does this topic interest me?
Why do I want to write about it?
PERSONAL CONNECTION
What do I want to accomplish in my paper?
In what ways have I experienced this topic in my own life?
Does this topic have any bearing on my career? On my personal life? How so?
GROUP DISCUSSION
Students sometimes find it helpful to hear the opinions of others.
Group work/class discussion can provide students with supporting arguments, counter-‐arguments, types of evidence, and possible sources of research.
GROUP DISCUSSION
Group discussion enables students to view their topics from the perspective of other students.
Putting their topic up for class debate can quickly aid students in identifying their main ideas, organizing their ideas, and then proving those ideas.
RESEARCH
Use the Internet and your library’s online databases to help students generate ideas.
These sources can provide students with ideas and inspiration.
Seeing what others have to say about a topic can help students imagine their topic in different ways, giving them a broader perspective and pushing them to consider their topic in a larger context.
WRITER’S BLOCK BEFORE WRITING HAS BEGUN
What are my main ideas?
How do I plan to organize them?
What is the point I want to make?
Besides answering the first three questions, what impression do I want my intro to make on my reader? How can I create this impression?
STRATEGIES TO USE DURING WRITING PROCESS
Take a closer look at organization and your outline:
Have I provided specific examples for my claims?
Have I addressed each of my main points?
Does each paragraph clearly support my thesis? (The “so what?” question.)
STRATEGIES TO USE DURING WRITING PROCESS
How can I create transitions between paragraphs?
Have I addressed at least one counter-‐argument for each of my main points?
Does my conclusion leave the reader with the impression I intend? Have I used my research to support my claims?
STRATEGIES TO USE DURING WRITING PROCESS
Make your argument out loud to an imaginary audience. What strategies would you use to persuade them?
Pretend that you are writing to a completely uninformed audience—what info do you need to provide?
Play devil’s advocate and make an argument that opposes yours.
AFTER THE ESSAY IS WRITTEN
Have students reflect on their writing process.
Ask them to compose an explanation of their process of writing.
Ask them to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their writing.
AFTER THE ESSAY IS WRITTEN...
What did they find difficult?
What did they find easiest?
What will they do differently next time?
REFLECTIVE WRITING
Reflective writing reminds students that good writing requires self-‐awareness.
It helps them to think objectively about the writing process.
Students are able to transfer what they learned from one paper to the next.
Class discussion of reflective writings allows students to share what works for them.
“I LIKE TO THINK OF HOW IT’S SIMPLY A CHANCE TO
EXPLORE NEW IDEAS. IT’S THE OPPOSITE OF OPENING MY
REFRIGERATOR, FULL OF FOOD, & THINKING, ‘THERE’S
NOTHING TO EAT.’ ”