How do you know when a piece of writing is finished? When you type the last word? When your professor puts a grade on it? When it's time for dinner? I’ve read works of mine that have already been published and think, “I could make that image sharper, the prose cleaner. I could fix that and get rid of this.” Maybe then, writing is a process like thinking is a process. We can remain open to possibilities and new ways of looking at an old problem.
For my first-year writing students, the end of the semester is a time for revision and reflection. Although only a few weeks have passed, students have written multiple drafts on a variety of topics. They’ve shared their writing with each other and with me. As they get ready to move on to new challenges, I ask my students to look at their projects one last time. In the comment box below, please describe how you will approach this opportunity. What do you need to improve? How will you accomplish your writing goals? What is something new you’ve learned that you can use to polish your work? What do you still need, or want, to learn? Thank you all for sharing your ideas with me this semester!
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Shinrin-yoku is Japanese for "forest bathing," a type of therapy where one goes into the forest with healing intention. While not exactly a forest, Oakland Lake in Queens, New York, is a quiet greenspace where one can stop and watch a pair of swans drift through the water lilies, where the further one walks along the path, the sounds of 223rd Street disappear, replaced by those of birds calling to each other in the branches overhead. This is where my English Composition class and I went walking one stormy October afternoon.
We are all so very busy. Time has become a commodity and to take some it for the enjoyment of swans feels like "stealing" or something to apologize for. |
About this blogA blog is an online conversation. This one is for students of writing and is an extension of our face-to-face classroom. Here is where we can continue a discussion started in class, ask questions, and test new ideas. Archives
March 2020
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