Eba's Post

Being prepared is important for success

       Prompts are important too, you know!

In writing I think the focus should mainly be on the little things. Just like Stanley Fish touched on it all starts from sentences. Often times when teachers or professors focus much more from a bigger scale, students don’t understand quite as much as to what they’re supposed to do compared to the focus being on a smaller scale. Example being on a smaller scale the instructor focuses on how well the students write each paragraph while from a bigger scale the teacher or professor just want the whole assignment turned in at once. Just like the analytical research paper instead of just turning it at once, I turned in a rough draft, and fixed it and turned my final paper a while after. An effective way of being successful in writing as Fish would say is “you must clear your mind of the orthodoxies that have taken hold in the composition world”.

Stress for students usually comes from a lack of understanding

As well as having different areas of gathering data that Professor Boczkowski set up for us to incorporate. Having those building tools and different outlets of gathering data really helps keeping the focus on different parts of a paper which builds to a well written paper. Which I believe I don’t think I would of done as well if the due date was given and I just had to work on it on my own and turn it in on that date. Which can be incorporated, as my topic in my analytical research easy was organization. And one aspect of organization that I wrote about was how the prompt is important in how you organize your writing. The organization of a well written college paper stems around the prompt and basically how well you followed the directions. So one way to conduct an effective way to help students to excel in that aspect is to break down each part of a prompt so students can answer each part as best as they can. Because reading the prompt and just writing straight from there, it is likely that you might miss a few points from not answering some parts of the prompt. As Fish claims in hisarticle you can’t change the world without being equipped with the tools to do so. So how to break down prompts and how to answer each part of a prompt should be an important learning lesson teachers and professors should teach.

Teachers and professors should focus on the idea of gradual growth and teaching from a clear and gradual process. Students usually feel bombarded and don’t learn too much or do their best when they see on the board that a 3 page essay is due in a few weeks and that’s it. As well as the professor or teacher hands out the prompt. The teaching becomes unclear like that that really makes students unsure of their work and not very confident. Confidence in for students when they turn in work comes from a place of understanding. Knowing all that they have to do and having it placed in front of them in a way they can comprehend. Although most of the time students are often taught things that won't matter in the long run compared to things like taxes, which do matter. That is the most effective way for teachers and professors to pull the best out of most students. A reason why students sometimes don’t do their best on certain assignments and essays is because they just don’t fully grab and understand just what it is the teacher or professor wants from them. Fish often talked about how teachers don’t always teach students what they need to learn rather, they teach about what their handbook tells them to. He mentions different methods schools should be teaching.
Stress for students usually comes from lack of understanding. I guess one way to get students to understand prompts in an easier way is to teach them how to. Designating a certain amount of time to teach students ways to understand prompts and how to grasp what prompts ask in a clear and effective way is such an essential thing. I’ve learned from doing the tutorial observation, when i witnessed Sierra, a tutor, help a student with her paper, as well as a survey, teacher interview, and extended definition that the idea of gathering data is very helpful.