Re: heuristics

[DOSSINMM@SPLAVA.CC.PLATTSBURGH.EDU]

Date sent:  23-JAN-1997 09:31:01 
I do the focused freewriting and interviewing, too. Both are very useful in 
freshman writing courses.

I also have students in the developmental writing class use each others' 
writing--prewriting and early drafts--as they compose their pieces.  It 
gives them lots of material to work with and also is a great way to teach 
attribution to sources.  It's very clear to them in these circumstances 
when material belongs to another person and must be documented as such.  
Last fall's class in which I did this was one of the best sections I've 
ever taught--although I'm aware that the luck of the draw might have had a 
lot to do with it.
Mary Dossin
SUNY Plattsburgh



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>From: Margaret Clark <clark@uhdux2.dt.uh.edu>
>Subject: Re: heuristics
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>I like this very much, Christine. It works in developmental writing 
>classes, it's respectful of the student's ideas, it builds a very nice 
>"collaborative" atmosphere -- and yes, it's sort of natural. To say 
>nothing of having a sturdy body of theory to support it. Thanks for 
>reminding me. I'm going to use it tomorrow morning.
>
>Margaret
>clark@dt.uh.edu
>
>
>On Tue, 21 Jan 1997, Christine Cozzens wrote:
>
>> I am dedicated to what's rather clumsily called "focused free writing," 
>> and it's the only heuristic (if it is one?) that really works for me, 
>> or that I would bother with and not feel self-conscious about.  I simply 
>> force myself to spill my guts on a topic I am getting ready to write 
>> about.  I use the computer for the sake of speed and I give myself a 
>> time limit during which I must write furiously.  Usually it works like a 
>> charm to get me started and to force out some ideas, not always the key 
>> ones for the evolving piece, but always enough for a starting point for 
>> further thought. I think I did this before I found out it had a name, by 
>> the way, which is probably a good sign.
>> 
>> When I have a group of students, I have often used interviewing  as an 
>> invention tool, and maybe that "counts" in this discussion.  I'll ask 
>> students to interview a prtner aobut the upcoming assignment--usually 
>> ocne before they've done much thinking or writing and once later on in 
>> the process.  The interviewer writes down what the interviewee says to 
>> prove that there are some ideas in existence.  But I don' like to get 
>> any fancier than that.  I agree with other who've said that the trickier 
>> the tactics are, the more useless they are.
>> 
>> Christine Cozzens
>> Center for Writing and Speaking
>> Agnes Scott College
>> 
Mary M. Dossin
Claude J. Clark Learning Center
SUNY Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh, NY  12901
518 564-6138
dossinmm@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu