Growing up, I have written a good amount of papers for school or other functions. Many of those papers had specific guidelines on exactly what needed to be included. Now writing is not my favorite activity in the world, but when I do write I think it should be in a personal manner that allows the author to express his/her opinions in his/her own way. I remember practically all throughout grade school and even through part of junior high, my teachers would make us create an outline before we could even write a word of our paper. Some teachers would make us draw bubbles and boxes to make try and make us believe it could be fun, but I didn’t buy that. I hated that. I wasn’t sure of everything that I was going to put in my paper yet, so I would always just make something up and then loosely tie it in with my paper or just leave it out altogether. I understand that teachers probably wanted to make sure students were organized and thinking about their papers before writing them, but that doesn’t work for everyone. I have found that I write the best when I can improvise halfway through a paper and don’t have to stick with an idea that is set in stone. This doesn’t mean that I don’t plan ahead before writing a paper. I’ll still think about what I’m going to talk about, but I am open to change to make the paper better.
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I agree with pretty much everything you have said here. This is kind of what my blog this week was about too. Organization is just such a pain in the butt. I'd rather just write what I'm thinking about and how I'm feeling.
ReplyDeleteUgh! I hate it when teachers go way over the top with organization! Darn office supply nazis! lol I mean, there has to be some setup to the writing, but all the bubbles and post-it notes? It's too much. All it ends up leading to is double the work that was needed in the first place. Honestly, there has to be some wiggle room left. I totally understand where you're coming from.
ReplyDeleteI second what you say here lol im not much of an organizer when it comes to papers. I would rather just get all the ideas in my head onto the paper and then go back and fix parts or take bits and pieces out. I also can expand on what i am trying to say and get into more detail. I actually had a teacher in 6th grade that insisted on organization. We had to do the bubble thing before each paper and if those ideas were not in our paper we would get marked down for it. Yeah this really hurt me haha
ReplyDeleteI would like to say that I am not like that when it comes to a paper. I have to have an outline and right down my ideas. That is because if i dont I find my self having my ideas all over my paper or even sometimes repeating myself. That is just my opinion and how my mind works but im not saying that is how everybodies is souposed to be.
ReplyDeleteI think teachers try to give you all of these experiences so that you can pick and choose what works for you. Invention strategies are usually completely based on the type of learner you are. Have you ever done a multiple-intelligence test? Go here www.vark-learn.com and do the questionnaire. It'll take 10 minutes. Then tell me the results. That will help me think of writing strategies for you, Jack.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to this. I always hated doing outlines for papers in school. But now that I'm in college, I'm really diggin being able to just go at it. That's when I produce my best work. When I can just sit down and go to town. I'm an organized person but I hate organizing papers for some reason.
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