Presentation/Proposal Title
“Conceptions of ‘Progress’: What Does it Mean to Become a Better Writer?”
Type of Presentation/Proposal
Individual Presentation or Paper
Start Date
5-4-2019 2:00 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:00 PM
Description
As our mission statement says, the Write Place seeks to serve the UD community by recognizing “the uniqueness of individual learners” as it works “with all students in their efforts to become better writers.” Making progress as a writer is as unique a process as each individual student—no two paths will look the same, and they will each lead to different destinations.
As a doctoral student, I spend most of my days reading and writing, and I plan to spend the rest of my career writing professionally. Understandably, I have a certain vision of the type of progress I would like to make as a writer. This vision, however, is not necessarily shared by the student writers with whom I work at the Write Place. This realization has been an important one for me as a writing consultant—coming to understand that I must help students cultivate and refine their own writing, rather than teach them to write as I do, has helped me to better serve student writers here at UD. Nonetheless, I still have my own ideas about what it means to make “progress” as a writer, and these ideas help shape the way in which I interact with students and their writing. It is not necessary to remove all influence that stems from our own conceptions of “progress,” but it is vital to recognize such influences so that we may learn from and use them to continually become better writing consultants.
The aim of this project is explore the various conceptions that writing consultants, university faculty, and undergraduate writers have of “progress” in regard to their abilities as a writer. I hope to find common themes among these groups’ understandings of “progress” that can help the Write Place better develop tools with which we may guide students along their journeys to becoming better writers.
“Conceptions of ‘Progress’: What Does it Mean to Become a Better Writer?”
Deeds Boardroom
As our mission statement says, the Write Place seeks to serve the UD community by recognizing “the uniqueness of individual learners” as it works “with all students in their efforts to become better writers.” Making progress as a writer is as unique a process as each individual student—no two paths will look the same, and they will each lead to different destinations.
As a doctoral student, I spend most of my days reading and writing, and I plan to spend the rest of my career writing professionally. Understandably, I have a certain vision of the type of progress I would like to make as a writer. This vision, however, is not necessarily shared by the student writers with whom I work at the Write Place. This realization has been an important one for me as a writing consultant—coming to understand that I must help students cultivate and refine their own writing, rather than teach them to write as I do, has helped me to better serve student writers here at UD. Nonetheless, I still have my own ideas about what it means to make “progress” as a writer, and these ideas help shape the way in which I interact with students and their writing. It is not necessary to remove all influence that stems from our own conceptions of “progress,” but it is vital to recognize such influences so that we may learn from and use them to continually become better writing consultants.
The aim of this project is explore the various conceptions that writing consultants, university faculty, and undergraduate writers have of “progress” in regard to their abilities as a writer. I hope to find common themes among these groups’ understandings of “progress” that can help the Write Place better develop tools with which we may guide students along their journeys to becoming better writers.
