There was some great stuff, for me at least, in these chapters. I love the concept of brouillon as the stew of ideas that a paper grows out of. This matches my own process to an extent, in which by the end of my rough draft I've finally figured out what I'm writing about. I think getting students past the notion that they must produce a fully formed, complete-thesis paper on the first go, is paramount to getting them to arrive at their own process of revision. It should also get them past the idea of "writing as information, not argument or analysis." Analyzing sources without a firm thesis in mind (Keats' negative capability?) will probably lead to a more thoughtful, complex thesis in the end. I love his quote from Elbow: "meaning is not what you start out with but what you end up with." This is the idea I've emphasized as a tutor. Hence my liking for the ungraded exploratory writing- a pressure-free environment in which to practice revision, before they get to the high-pressure environment of 1st to 2nd submission.
I also enjoy Bean's exhortation to "create cognitive dissonance for students." College in many ways is one big four-year-long episode of cognitive dissonance, more so for some than others. Why not start them off right in English 1000? This goes back to my personal goal to get them to question their assumptions, think about controversial topics, and acquire a healthy skepticism for all received knowledge (except what they receive from me, of course).
2 comments:
Joe,
The concept of brouillon kind of terrified me, to be honest. I understand the need for real ideas, and I definitely don't think a student should hand in a perfectly organized and grammatically correct assignment with nothing original or intellectually stimulating.
Still, I don't think "rough draft" has as many negative connotations as Bean suggests. And I'm not sure how I would react if a student handed in a paper that was just 3-5 pages of brilliant brouillon with no structure at all.
I liked Bean's comment on how thesis is shaped for a paper. It is not what you start with but what appears in the process after some time spent in kind of brainstorm writing. We already read three students' papers in class, and in each of them the thesis was not clearly stated. It could presumably be found somwhere in the middle of the argument. It means students did not really revise their essays.
I think it makes sense to explain in advance that a thesis has be present in a work, but it is possible to formulate it only after writing a considerable part of a paper, so that they would not merely forget about thesis.
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