Reading Essays after Reading

["Deany M. Cheramie" <ENGL-DMC@nich-nsunet.nich.edu>]

On   Wed, 14 Feb 1996 Linda Coblentz writes:
>
>Right before I settled down to read a set papers, I re-read 
>Jonathon
>Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."  How do you 
>think this
>reading affected the way I responded to the papers.  I'm thinking 
>of re-
>reading then after I re-read Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil 
>Government."
>Do you think this will affect my responses? 
(snip)
>I give up on being coherent.  The bings, bangs, and disruptions 
>have left me
>dingy.  If you didn't get my question, it is whether or not the 
>rest of you
>think that your tutooring and responding to student writing is 
>affectected
>by the reading you do outside of writing center theory and 
>practice
>and compositon theory?

Linda presents an interesting question. First, I must acknowledge 
that I know the reading I do in  writing center theory and practice
and compositon theory affects my response to student work. 
That's why i am reading it. But I must also acknowledge that the 
reading I do outside of those fields does affect my reading of 
student work. In the reading I do in linguistics I often find myself 
thinking about student idiolect and vernacular and how these 
affect a student's writing. Of course, that may be obvious and 
closely related to reading in comp and wc theory especially as I 
am combining comp and linguistics theory in my dissertation.  

(Excuse me for rambling; I'm thinking as I write--Here's an 
example of brainstorming for you)

However, I can think of some instances when I've compared 
student writing to a literary work I've just been reading. I 
consider that a pitfall. The comparison is one-sided and 
dishonest to the student. Different audience, different purpose, 
different _kairos_ all together (yes, I'm a student of Jim 
McDonald). Different abilities. 

deany


DEANY M. CHERAMIE
engl-dmc@nich-nsunet.nich.edu
504-448-4207
Dept. of English
Nicholls State University
PO Box 2023
Thibodaux, LA 70310   

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