OMG I Never Would've Come Up With This But.....

So I'm about to give a little background information because if I don't I'll just confuse everyone, and that will just be no fun. Anyhow, in my anthropology class, we just did our final group projects, and my group focused on interactions. Each person had an individual topic under this large umbrella of interactions, and my topic was face to face interactions vs. interactions via text or Facebook chat. As I researched for my topic and conducted interviews, I found that most people I interviewed realized that Facebook wasn't "real life" as I coined it, while the studies I saw all wanted to point the big finger at the evil Facebook for wrongfully teaching today's youth about what it means to be a "friend" among other values.
So there's the background, excuse the minor tangent, now time for my point. I started to think, do Facebook and texting impede our literacy, or does it help it? Strangely enough, as I write this post, I see that both "Facebook" and "texting" have the little red squiggly lines underneath them, implying that they aren't even words! But how can these methods of communication that are so commonly used not be considered as forms of literacy? As I researched, I was actually surprised by the amount of articles that supported texting and Facebook as legitimate forms of literacy. The articles I found about socialization in the real world vs. the Facebook world surely denounced Facebook as useful to develop certain skills of young people, but these articles seem to think that Facebook is a valuable tool. Here's what I found.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Txts-blogs-and-Facebook-.3799671.jp
This article states that these are the literacies of the future, they will be taught "alongside books, plays and poetry in schools in future." Although I don't know if this is 100% accurate, I do agree with the belief that as our businesses revolutionize, these literacies will be more important in the workplace.
If this trend really is true, does that mean that it's time to start accepting new literacies as comparable to essay writing, or should we stay true to our roots?

Last Visit to the BGC

Last week we had our last visit at the BGC. Unfortunately, our student was not there, so we were not able to see if she had come up with a script for her DST. I really wanted to be able to encourage her because coming up with the script is the most difficult part of the process. The rest of the work can be really tedious, but if there is a lot of attention to detail and hard work put into it, it can really turn out well. I'm sure that she will require a lot of motivation and encouragement to do the project. She's a smart girl, and with some help, she can do a great job on the project. Her interview was very interesting and she already had some amazing photographs for her project. I wish her a lot of luck, and I hope she has fun with it!

Consulting with HS Students for their Admissions Essay

On Saturday, we consulted with the high school students for the second time. The first time, we were simply brainstorming ideas for each prompt of the essay. Mine chose to write about an experience which made them go outside their comfort zone (Richmond's supplemental essay). When we were first brainstorming, I talked to her about writing this essay, telling her that I wrote about when I went to Australia and New Zealand. She had a similar experience when she went to Barcelona, Spain for the first time, and a story was born.
When we met on Saturday, she already had completed her essay, although it was far too long. Because she had a similar essay for class that did not have a length requirement it was 2 pages longer than it needed to be (Richmond has a two page max for this essay). So I tried to determine what she would be focusing on in the final draft. She told me that she wanted to show how she overcame the language barrier, and then I started to specifically look at the paragraphs that talked about her experience with using Spanish. I noticed that she had some wordy sentences as well as a few very fixable problems with organization. After talking to her about those things, I asked her how she was planning on concluding the essay. Although her conclusion was good for the original assignment, the admissions essay requires you to show how this experience has changed you. I wanted her to give a couple sentences about how she felt after the experience. She told me she felt confident about using her Spanish after going to Spain, and I told her to conclude with something about how she would feel comfortable expanding her mind and being challenged.

Writing Center Shadowing (what number is this?!?)

As the title of this blog suggests, I can't remember how many times I've been to the writing center to do my shadowing! I can't believe it's almost the end of the semester, and I have tons of final papers and projects due and finals to study for :(
Anyhow, today in the writing center we worked on a paper that was already very well developed, but the student wanted to come to the writing center so he could improve the flow of his paper as well as word choice. The consultant quickly went over the essay, which was about relationships in terms of sociology.
Because the consultant thought the essay was well developed and only needed some small adjustments, he started talking about adding content so the essay would be more cohesive. He discussed summarizing the ideas that are brought up in the paper more, so his analysis of these ideas would be more cohesive. Additionally, the consultant brought up ideas that related to his topic that he learned from his background in philosophy. I'm excited to start working as a writing consultant, not only to help students with their writing, but it will also be fun to learn about new topics.

Boys and Girls Club Take 2

Yesterday we went to the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) for the second time to help them with their digital stories. Our student already had her interview done last week and we tried to help her organize all the facts she had last week. Yesterday, we tried to help her start writing her narrative for the DST, which turned out to be a little challenging. You never realize how difficult it can be to teach someone how to write a narrative with a good flow to it if they've never done it before. Many students at the BGC have not encountered an assignment similar to this one, so we can't use language like "transitions" and ask them to vary their sentence structure.
We had to be more basic with her. We explained that while the facts she decided to use were interesting and effective in her story, the story itself would be better if it was not simply fact, followed by fact, followed by fact. We tried to use the example of an actual story, telling her how it had a beginning, middle and end, where each part related to the other because you needed the beginning part to get to the middle, and the middle to arrive at the end. We told her that because his life is a story that she can tell it as a story, beginning with his childhood, then to his college years, and now in his adult life. It is very important for her to highlight his pearl of wisdom in her story, so we must work with her to find a way to incorporate it by introducing it and allowing his advice to shine. I'm interested to see if she will have a solid script written for next time. I know we will have to do some tweaking, but I really hope she can do most of the writing on her own, as it will help when we are recording next week.

ESL Class

Yesterday in class, we had the ESL specialist at UR visit our class to talk about how to consult with ESL students. AS we sat down in class like we normally do, she began to speak to us not only in a language that I didn't even know, but one that I couldn't identify at all! I looked around the room and asked those sitting next to me, "what language is she speaking?" Of course, no one was familiar with the language she was speaking and we were forced to try to understand her hand gestures instead of being able to really communicate with her. Of course, we all knew she spoke English, but just knowing that you couldn't speak back to her or understand what she was saying was a bit intimidating.
She began to speak in English and revealed that she was speaking Turkish and began to ask us how we felt. Most of us said intimidated or something along those lines, but she revealed to us that usually she does this "experiment" for longer--usually 15 minutes! After 15 minutes she says that people often feel disjointed and uncomfortable, which she shared with us, are the overwhelming feelings ESL students feel when they first come to the US and encounter the task of having to write their first papers. She told us that writing consultants must take the overwhelming feeling away as we identify with them and explain the cultural differences of writing in the US. We must maintain a level of respect while making sure that they understand the nuances of writing. To do this, we must get to know them and make them feel comfortable; this could be a difficult task, but with extra effort we can consult with any kind of student. ESL students are just like us--they are here to learn, and they come to the writing center to improve their writing. We need to treat them like any other student that comes to the writing center.

Interesting Consultation

Today during my shadowing session we had a student who had written an essay but seemed very confused as to what she wanted to say. She was concerned about the "wordiness" of her essay overall and was struggling with organization. When the consultant tried to work on her introduction in order to clarify her thesis statement, she was bogged down by trying to make every word perfect. This was the first time that I've really seen the importance of just writing your thoughts down and then editing later.
Usually when I write a paper I will stumble over what I want to write in the essay and sentences can be quite wordy, but I try to make my sentences pretty clear from the beginning. She was really struggling with almost every word--she was worried about using the same word or the wrong word in context and kept second guessing herself about what she wanted to say. While the consultant had to pull all these ideas out of her, she finally began to realize at the end of the consultation that they were her own ideas. Sometimes it can be difficult for writers to express what they want to say and need some guidance. These were one of these consultations where it was useful for the writer because she had been struggling with what to say. After working on organization and the wordiness of her sentences, she has a good foundation to improve her essay.

ESL Tutoring Articles

Although I have been taking Spanish for quite some time now, I have just recently begun writing lengthy essays in the language (yikes!). I am used to writing short compositions, but writing an academic essay in another language is proving to be very difficult. I wonder how are we supposed to help the students who are like me, who are non-native speakers. I thought the approaches suggested in the articles were very helpful and could even be applied to my own writing in Spanish.
In the article "Influence of cultural and linguistic backgrounds on the writing on Arabic and Japanese students of English," the author discussed how different common expressions could be in other language. Although the author uses examples of Arabic and Japanese, because of my knowledge of Spanish I will use common expressions from Spanish instead. In Spanish, you're welcome is said "de nada" which literally means of/from nothing. Of course if we try to literally translate anything from one language to another, we can end up making a mess. Just like not being able to literally translate, we cannot expect as writing tutors to just be able to translate the paper correctly for ESL students.
As "Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options" discusses, it is likely that the students will not only have issues with vocabulary and verb tense, but also with the meaning itself. Our job as writing tutors is to help them with what they want to say, which is similar to the consultation of any writer, English speaking or not. These articles stress the importance that ESL tutoring is different, but that the students are looking for the same thing as non-ESL students, and that is to improve their writing.

Boys and Girls Club

Last Monday, we went to the Boys and Girls Club to help the students with their DSTs. As I have already blogged, I think the DST process can be very frustrating when trying to figure out what to include in the narrative. Luckily, our student had already done her interview and had a list of information written out about what she could include in her narrative. The students had to interview someone who was over the age of 50 who lived in the Richmond area, and as they interviewed their person, they were supposed to find out about their lives and take from the interview their "Pearl of Wisdom." This "Pearl of Wisdom" is the advice/experience that they have learned throughout their lives that has shaped who they have become. Our student had someone whose "Pearl of Wisdom" could be applied to any person who has ever struggled to overcome what seemed to be like impossible obstacles.
The person our student interviewed had come from extreme poverty--he lived in the projects most of his life and he had several brothers and sisters. Although he was not allotted all the opportunities of a child who was rich, he always had the one opportunity that he knew could rely on. Education was this man's way to rise above the obstacles that he faced everyday. He valued his education greatly and his "Pearl of Wisdom" was to stay and school and continue to strive to be better. I think our student really respected what he had to say and I'm interested in seeing how her narrative turns out.

Shadowing Experience-What to do when no one is there

Last week I went to the writing center to shadow as I usually do, but no one showed up for a consultation. The person I shadowed talked to me about how when this happens he usually takes some time to do homework or sees if someone will show up. Because no one was there I left a bit early, but I had time to start thinking about my classmate consultation and doing that during the shadowing time instead. I began to think about how he typically does his consultations and what parts of his sessions are more effective than others. As I wrote my plan for the classmate consultation, I realized that my idea of how to run a consultation was quite comparable to his.
He usually reads over the essay first, asks questions about the assignment and then questions the student about what they want to get out of the session. Because the paper I'm consulting is actually a creative work in the form of a letter, I have different concerns about what the letter is supposed to convey. Unlike an essay, there is no argument or thesis, so I think I have to approach it differently; however, his consultations are a good foundation as to how I can begin to consult this work.

Struggling with the DST

As we already saw everyone's DSTs in class, I was wondering if anyone else felt like they just couldn't get their story just right. I think my professor had a very different take on the writing process because she never really struggled with writing, whereas many other professors didn't have the same experience. I wanted to show that good writing isn't necessarily trying to make every word perfect or mulling over every single quote in the paper. Good writing can be achieved by having a valid argument and supporting that argument, which is an important part of the political science discipline.

Perhaps it sounded as if in my DST that she thought writing was a simple process, but this is definitely not what she meant. When I ended the DST in saying that "if the ideas are there and if they are developed, then good writing will follow." I simply meant that having a core group of ideas and evidence is essential for a good paper. She stressed the importance that maybe a student may not have the best vocabulary or the most eloquent sentence structure, but they can still be good writers. She looks for writing that you would see in academic journals which is clear and concise. I think good writing is different to her than many other writers, so I'm glad I was able to add a new perspective to the class.

What do we learn from the students we can't help?

In Steve Sherwood's article, "Apprenticed to Failure: Learning from the Students We Can't Help," he discusses his experience with trying to help a student who had learning troubles. Byron had been in a car accident and suffered from short term memory so he asked if he could bring a recorder to help him remember what the consultant said. Byron would rewind and listen to different parts of the tape, which proved to be difficult for the consultant, as he would lose his train of thought frequently, and he began to struggle with helping him in the writing process.

I was confused as to why he felt like he couldn't help this student. In class, we talked about teaching at a beginner level. I gave the example of my algebra 2 teacher in high school who had a brilliant mind for math and literature, but because she understood it so well she often had difficulty explaining to us "beginners." She certainly had numeracy, but her numeracy was so complex we couldn't understand her. So if we couldn't understand her numeracy, she would have to teach us with literacy. Her literacy, however, was also too complex for us and we were lost in translation.

The students in my algebra 2 class were like Byron. We needed a different way of understanding. I think the consultant should have asked him to write notes, rather than to record what he was saying. Byron needed a clear process that started with a simple idea. I believe he could've been helped if a step by step process were established for him to use. I don't think there is a student you actually "can't" help, there are just students that take more time and effort to help. That is what we should take out of these experiences.

The Concept of Failure: Applicable to the Mindset of a College Student?

We commonly hear the phrase, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again." We are reminded of people who achieved greatness like Abraham Lincoln, who failed several times before becoming President, and Milton Hershey, the U.S. pioneer of chocolate who went bankrupt three times before he became a millionaire (I had to know the history of Milton Hershey when I worked at the Hotel Hershey, so that's why I know that). The point is, we are taught all throughout grade school and into high school that failure is not a bad thing, and it can teach us how to gain character while learning from mistakes. An interesting point was brought up today in class about failure; someone asked "With the stress on getting good grades, how are we supposed to allow ourselves to fail?"

Although we say that it's important to fail in order to learn from our mistakes to achieve later in life, I think it's important to know why we failed. If we understand the mistakes we made, we can learn and then achieve. However, I understand why the student would make the point about not being able to fail because of worrying about grades. Having that 4.0 GPA is what everyone desires but can be nearly impossible to achieve. Literally one "mistake" or "failure" can prevent a student's near perfect work from showing. Although grades are important when an employer is looking to hire, the knowledge we gain, whether we fail or not, should be what is stressed in school. Perhaps getting that "A" grade shouldn't be defined as having the perfect paper or test. While it is difficult to get into a different mindset about grades, we should focus on our knowledge and less on our GPAs.

Teacher Response: Constructive Criticism or Preference

I remember talking in class one day about what makes good writing, and what grade a particular essay would receive. One of the several criterion we discussed about a good paper was the ability for the reader to challenge his/her views and taking something away from the conclusion. Even if you didn't agree with what the author was saying, there was supposed to be some aspect that challenged your own beliefs. As we continued our conversation, someone in the class said that one of her professors wrote "so what?" on the student's paper after the professor read it. There was a general consensus in the room that we thought the professor was overly harsh and rude. When reading the article about a teacher's response, I began to think of that story. What did writing the words "so what" achieve; was she really supposed to be able to improve her writing if she didn't know what was flawed?
An important part of a teacher's response is his/her ability to tell the student exactly how their writing could be improved. Simply writing "so what" would only infuriate me and make me less likely to talk to that professor about how I could improve. Critiquing an essay is different than tearing it apart, which was what this professor did. Professors should also not critique style--every professor has his/her own style--but should make sure that the argument holds up. Being able to be an editor of your own work will, in the end, prove to be what makes you write more effectively.

Style vs. Error

Today we went over an essay in class. I thought it was very well-written and presented her ideas well for the most part, but it got me thinking; why did I find this essay to be so well written? I thought that because she wrote in a tone which was academic but not overly complicated and because her thoughts were clear, she did a good job. Many of her sentences were simple and easy to read and represented her voice. Interestingly enough, her essay was on the importance of voice in writing. She argued that while it is important to include citations from other sources to strengthen your argument, the strength of the essay relied on the analysis and thought of the writer, or his or her voice. I think this is a very important and relevant point to the class as a whole. When we begin working in the writing center, we are trying to help students convey their voice. We want them to have opinions rather than to simply re-hash information that they have already learned in class. Not only will the clarification of their argument help improve their essays, but in the long-run will help them become better thinkers. Many students have the ability to summarize effectively, but it takes a higher caliber of thinking to convey one's voice in his or her essay.

Shadowing Sesh-Numero Dos

Today was my second shadowing experience at the writing center and was very different from my last week. Unlike last week, where the student was basically done with her essays, this student came before she began her writing process. She was mainly concerned about being able to get her ideas across and met with the consultant so that she could clarify what she wanted to say in her paper as well as forming a solid foundation for her essay. He began the consultation by reading over the assignment which asked the student to write an essay talking about one topic thus far in the course. Because it was such an open-ended assignment, I think she felt a bit intimidated and unsure of what she wanted to say. He asked her what she was most interested in, and she began to talk about the idea of agency in leadership studies. She explained that agency was the idea of having a goal and accomplishing that goal, and to demonstrate an idea of agency, she began to talk about President Obama's health care plan. Then, she thought of how the agency of the individual related to the agency of an entire society. As she continued to discuss what she wanted to write about, she developed a question which would become her thesis. By the end of the consultation, she had a full outline done and was ready to write her essay. I thought it was amazing that just talking about your ideas to someone else can make it so clear as to why and what you're writing. I'm really beginning to see why the writing center is so effective for writers who are unsure of themselves and their writing.

Grammar Hammer

I will proudly confess that I am a bit of a grammar nerd. I constantly find myself cringing when I read an essay marred by grammatical errors. As I pray that their errors are simply typos, I realize that not everyone was drilled time and time again about correct grammar. I remember several times throughout my childhood where my eldest brother, Matt, would correct the smallest grammatical error in my speech. It was as if a buzzer went off in his head whenever something was said incorrectly, and being the antagonist that he was, would always bring attention to my mistakes as well as the errors made by my other brother, Greg. I blamed his annoying grammar obsession on the fact that he was the oldest and had to be better than his younger siblings. I can't how many times I forgot to end an adverb with the -ly, as I would say things like "I want to play soccer real bad." Matt would chime in, saying, "Real-LY and Bad-LY; they're adverbs." So, you're all probably wondering why I just went on a long tangent complaining about my brother's annoying ways. Well, I'm afraid, after about the 1000th time he corrected me, a little voice (only sounding slightly similar to my brother's tone) began to correct me.
When seeing the errors presented in Under the Grammar Hammer, I was a bit surprised. Most of these were mistakes that I knew were common, but were mistakes that I usually didn't make. I tend to struggle with commas, but other than that, I generally understand grammar. However, there is one BIG exception. Lay vs. laid vs. lying vs. Je ne sais pas! I lay in my bed or I laid in my bed? Or, I was lying in bed? If anyone knows, please explain, thanks!

Class Progress

I am not an avid blogger. I write when I'm really interested in something or when I'm in my writing mood, but other than that, I don't get inspired (yeah, I'm one of those artsy type people who need to be inspired before I do something). But I do like to talk...a lot. I think I'm making good progress in the class with participation, but I would like to talk even more in class. I find it so interesting that there are so many varying views and opinions about writing and what it means to be a good writer. When we got into discussions about academic bullshit and how we can teach writers to not be bullshitters, I identified with that particular subject. I need to make sure that I find something in the readings that I feel relates to me or is in direct contrast to my views, so I can blog more. Additionally, I would like to comment on more people's blogs. I'm TERRIBLE at remembering to blog and to comment; maybe I'll set aside time where I just write? I love being able to read and write when it is not assigned, but I find myself putting things off when I have to do something. For example, I'm blogging in class now because this is specific time for blogging. Hopefully, you'll start seeing more blogs from me in the following weeks!

DS Grading

I believe that grading a DS is no different than grading a paper. A bold statement, I am aware, but there are definitive elements in each that would aid an instructor in assigning a grade. However, there are also elements that are more abstractly graded: style, quality of analysis, etc. So how should we expect to see our DS graded? The use of the seven elements is the most obvious; partial credit should be awarded for the use of each. Full credit should be given for its effectiveness concerning the overall story. Of course, the script is also an important factor in the DS and should be an important part of the grading process. If a professor is able to grade an essay and assign a grade for the work produced, there should be no problems when trying to grade a DS. However, the grade on this project does not seem to be the important part of the assignment. We are being tested for our understanding so that we can teach others how to use this kind of literacy to express themselves better. In order to help people with their own essays or projects, we must understand how to do them as well. Although this is a different kind of assignment, I don't think that the grading needs to be entirely different. Like an essay, it is giving us the ability to show our knowledge and understanding of the particular subject. Because I have used DST in the past, I believe I understand it is graded in comparison to papers. I am interested to see how the final grading will turn out, but I am confident that we have come up with a good rubric.

First Consultation Shadowing

Yesterday was my first time shadowing a writing consultation. The student had a writing assignment in which she had to write 3 short essays about various subjects. I thought it would be difficult to address all 3 essays in such a short time, but the consultant did it with ease. He read over each essay and then discussed them individually. Through my observations, his main focus was to explore her ideas and make sure that her essay was clear. Because of the restriction of length of each essay (500-750 words), he also wanted to make sure that her sentences were to the point and not "wordy." He quickly worked on the structure of the essay as well because there were sentences in the essays that would have better belonged in other parts of the essay. I was also able to give my input because I was able to read the essays and generally noticed the same changes that I would have made to the essays. In addition, we talked to her about what she meant in her essay. For example, the assignment asked that one of her essays define a word that was difficult to describe. She chose the word "freedom," and she began by writing a riddle to try to best define the word. Her essay was strong, but we were curious to see if she was actually writing what she believed the word to be. She articulated what she thought about her definition and was able to clarify her ideas. it was interesting to see the writing process in a non-biased way, and I am excited to learn about how to better edit my own essays in the future.

College Essay Applications

On Saturday, we met with a group of high school seniors who were beginning to come up with their topics for their college essays. My student had several ideas about possible essay topics for the common application; she had a series of possible topics she thought she would be able to write about. I asked her which ones she thought were the most interesting to her and she revealed that she liked 2 or 3 topics the best. I wanted her to focus on a topic that would show growth in order to demonstrate the person she has become. She then revealed her possible idea for the Richmond supplement essay which asks the student to discuss an experience in which they went out of their comfort zone. She started talking about how she was a mentor and the experience with mentoring brought her out of her comfort zone because she no longer hesitated to help people and had no problems talking to people. As we continued to talk, however, she mentioned that she had gone out of the country for the first time last summer. She talked about how she had to adapt to a new culture, as well as having to use her limited knowledge of Spanish for the first time in her life. I wanted her to write about her feelings of the trip whether it was what made her nervous or what she overcame. She began to brainstorm about her experience by showing positive outcomes about her time in Barcelona and also about what made her go out of her comfort zone. By the end of the session, she had told me her doubts before going to Barcelona and what she had gotten out of the experience. Through our session together, she realized that she had a lot to say about going out of her comfort zone and had ideas for a promising essay. I'll be excited to see what she comes up with when I see her again in November!

Writing: The True Test of Preparedness for College

http://www.collegiatechoice.com/mycarts.htm

I recently read an article in the Collegian about falling SAT scores amongst the classes at Richmond.  While the class of 2006 to 2007 had a range of SAT scores between 1240 and 1390, the class of 2013 had a range of 1170-1360. The author argues that Richmond’s choice to accept students with lower SAT scores harms the academic reputation of the school as well as making it less competitive with other schools that have raised their standards of SAT scores. Although I agree with his zeal to admit the brightest students into the University, he fails to look at the big difference in the SAT scoring: the writing section.

In 2005, the SAT added a writing section in which the student is asked a series of grammar and punctuation questions and must write a persuasive essay on a certain subject. Therefore, the class of 2006 and of 2007, who would have graduated from high school in 2002 and 2003, were not required to take that section. While the author does not focus on the writing section in the article, it is my belief that this is the most important factor as to why the range of SAT scores has dropped amongst Richmond students. He does not suggest that we aren’t as smart as those who graduated in 2006 and 2007, but he does imply that our performance on the SAT should indicate our preparedness for college. So, I ask, if he is looking at preparedness for college, why doesn’t he factor in the writing section on the SAT?

In The Transition to College Writing, the first chapter discusses the orientation of two new college students, one whose transition goes smoothly, while the other struggles. The latter student, Marie, attended an exclusive private high school where she was said to be prepared for college. However, her view on receiving good grades was “Learning is remembering what teachers and textbooks say.” Isn’t it possible that some of those students who graduated before 2007 had a view of learning that was comparable to Marie’s? After all, the SAT without the writing section can be seen as mostly a test of memorization and the ability to “beat the system,” something that I failed miserably at doing.

I was one of those students who was at the lower range of the SATs. I just wasn’t good at the SATs. I took classes about strategies and did multiple practice tests, but on the sections that this author discusses, I did not exert a strong performance. On the writing section, however, I demonstrated my ability to write and analyze effectively. I argue that my performance on the writing section as well as my admissions essay helped admissions officers overlook my mediocre scores on the two other sections of the SATs. My writing better displayed my preparedness for college than my performance on a test. In response to the author of this article, I would agree that Richmond has made a change, but where he sees it as a bad change, I see it as an improvement. While the University may not appear to be as “competitive” or as difficult to be admitted into as it was before, it is admitting students who will thrive here. These students who have been taught to analyze and write effectively are more prepared for college than those who simply have memorized their way through school and have performed well on the SATs. If the University is admitting students who are more prepared for an education here, they will gain more from what they have been taught, allowing them to flourish in college and beyond. So, if I am surrounded by students who will challenge their thoughts and my own, I appreciate the University’s decision to admit the students who they feel are prepared for college. If Richmond wants to admit students that show their preparedness through writing rather than to gain a statistic, then call me crazy, but I see absolutely no problem with that.

Bunch O' Bull

I remember sitting in my IB (International Baccalaureate) class blankly looking at the essay prompt, having absolutely no recollection of the topic on which I was to be writing. While I didn't know the topic as well as I should've, I knew I could always produce a decent essay due to my ability to bullshit.

I received a score of 8 out of 10 on that particular essay. Why was it so easy for me to do this when that really wasn't the grade I deserved? Luckily, I happen to be a pretty good writer and as suggested in the "Bullshit" article, "good writing" can sometimes serve to be a mask for mediocre analysis and content. In order to prove your point, you must be persuasive, and whether bullshit is intended or not, it almost always is a component to academic writing. More often than not, students write their essays in order to please the professor to get a good grade aka writing what the teacher wants to read. If we are not writing what we want to write, not only are we bullshitting the assignment, but also ourselves academically. I can easily recall several times (particularly in CORE, of course) when I was graded on what the professor wanted me to write instead of what I did write. After receiving grades that I was not happy with, I decided to give in to what he wanted and write exactly what he wanted to see. Bullshit was what I produced, and I began to receive better grades. It may be impossible for me to convince myself of what I'm writing about when I don't believe in what I'm writing, but I sure as hell can convince the professor. To quote the article, "if academic writing is bullshit, then bullshit is what we teach." I guess I can't bullshit that bullshitter, but will I actually ever stop bullshitting in my academic writing? Well, not at least until I find a professor that can't be won over by bullshit.

Forever Bullshitting,
Lauren