In class today we reflected on the term "critical thinking." The discussion was lively and varied. Students then took the Aptitude Test (smile). Do you think it measured students' intelligence? Why or why not?
Oh, I corrected aptitude, so there was no incorrectly spelled word on the test-oops! What do I know, right (smile).
After this time was almost up so students got into groups and selected roles for their Literature Circles which will meet formally on Tuesday morning for 20 minutes to talk about the readings. Whatever isn't covered can be tabled until the next meeting. We have too much to cover, but we'll get through it if students stay up on the readings. Do the readings, even if you don't get all the exercises completed.
Except for the reading logs, I will not assign much writing connected to Wise. If students have substantive discussions, it won't be necessary, however, if students come to class unprepared, then the written assignments will take over, so I will know who is prepared (smile).
Writing logs consist of vocabulary, key arguments Wise raises, questions about the text, passages one finds notable, characters one wants to remember, etc. One can also put notes per one's role in the Lit. Circle, such as discussion questions, vocabulary, etc. Occasioanly, I might ask students to check-in in a cyber-assignment regarding the effectiveness of the discussion or dialectic process.
Homework is to read Chapter 1 in Writing Logically Thinking Critically. Pay attention to the Key Terms (21) and Summary (20-21). I will run key exercises as freewrites sometimes. Complete Exercise 1D (20). Post here.
Bring in your response Tuesday, February 8, to Exercise 1B: Scrutinizing the Media: 1, 2, 3. For 3, students can use broadcast journalism as well as print.
On Tuesday/Thursday we'll talk about Inferences, Facts, and Judgements and use Wise to illustrate these concepts.
Week 4 we will look at the Structure of Argument and how to put arguments in Standard Form (56). We will look at the difference between arguments and explanations, assumptions. Chapter 3 also reviews writing summaries.
Week 4-5, will also look at argumentative strategies, namely, the Rogerian Strategy (87), one of three strategies we will study this semester. The other two are Classical or Aristotelian and Toulmin methods. Neither are in our textbook.
Keep me posted on how well you are handling all the out of class reading. Study groups are highly recommended for this course. We do not have enough face time. I am available on Thursdays an hour before class and an hour after class in A-232. Students do not need an appointment. I am in A-232 from 8 AM to 1 PM. I have classes from 8-10 AM and then yours, 11-12:15 PM.
Bring your questions each week so we can review. Students are encouraged to do all the exercises, especially those which are most challenging. We can review these additional exercises during office hours. We will complete all or most of the exercises related to logical fallacies.
Make up
For students who missed the video and want to see it. I could show it to you after class next Thursday if you let me know in advance.
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Dennis Foley
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
February 3rd 2011
Exercise 1D (Understanding Figurative Language) :
In Richard Wilbur's poem “The Writer” he describes his daughter's writing process using metaphors. He describes the sound he hears from her room, “a commotion of typewriter-keys like a chain hauled over a gunwale.” He compares the writing process as if it were a passage along a dangerous expedition. He also describes a “creature” that is struggling with this process as if it were a battle of wits. The description he gives about the writing process shows a deep connection with the struggles and practice of writing. He is someone who has felt the frustration writing can cause but also its rewards.
A metaphor that describes my own writing process would capture a period of hard work accompanied by the feeling of delight and accomplishment.
I inch onward on a one track path only to find there are multiple elusive forks I feel optimistic though for I have no predestination and I've gone a long way.
Melvin Pandey
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
February 3rd 2011
Exercise 1D (Understanding Figurative Language)
Wilbur compares the writing process to something of a great struggle and hardship. The way he describes the process makes it seem like something dark and dangerous, and something of great struggle. Almost like an animal trying to free itself from captivity. I think the sentences that captures the “struggle” the most is when he says
“And iridescent creature Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove to the hard floor, or the desk-top, And wait then, humped and bloody…”
He seems to view his writing process as something laborious and something of a struggle, and something that he will not necessarily succeed in the first try.
My own metaphor would probably not be very different from Wilbur’s, since I also kind of in a way see writing as a struggle and something that you will keep on trying over and over again until you succeed.
Sandahl von Sydow
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
February 7, 2011
The writing process Richard Wilbur's subject, his daughter, goes through seems to be analogous to a crew manning the deck of a ship at sea and to a bird trying to escape a confined space. The first metaphor, the crew of the ship, seems to relate writing to a process that is necessary in order to make written word necessary. Like a ship needs a crew to tend to her in order to sail in any particular direction. The author and her fingers are the crew, and the typewriter is the ship.
The second metaphor, the starling. The author recalled a past incident where a starling had become trapped in the room. The bird, being disoriented by the space, had trouble finding its way out. After several tries, it is finally able to escape via the window. The author uses this metaphor to refer to the process of writing as also being a trial and error process. It may take several tries before the words fall on the page as the author intends.
My experience with writing is rather sporadic and free. I tend to see the words as moving images in my head before I write them down on to the paper. My mind is my own personal theater. My fingers are the recording device for the action that takes place between the characters.
Sarah Speck
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
7 February 2011
Response to Exercise 1D
1. Richard Wilbur used two relatively large metaphors in his poem “The Writer” to help explain the writing process from his perspective. The first was using diction such as cargo help relate one’s mind to a ship in the dark and stormy night making a perilous journey, and his wish of a safe passage shows that he feels helpless to penetrating the writing process, he knows he is useless to help another in this task, even his own daughter. The second metaphor used in this poem uses diction like sleek, wild, and creature. This shows the author’s more true personal perspective of what he sees the writing process to be. With his compassion for his daughter’s plight stated previously, he seems to dip into his individual view of what the process of writing can become in someone. He sees this undomesticated, untame beast dwelling in the same skin as his child, causing contortion and pain. He uses the words humped and bloody to describe the outcome of his daughter’s writing practice.
2. I once began a poem as follows:
On my own, I set the thing.
I bound the rapturous raving piece
To a point where also blind men sing
For lame ears and hollow gratitude.
And this is as much light as I feel comfortable shedding into my personal way of getting around the monster and vanquishing the beast creature within.
Jeff Norkunas
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
Feb 7, 2011
The author of the poem refers to the writing process in two ways. First, he compares it to a large cargo ship, from the striking of the keys to the sound of the anchor chain falling into the ocean over the bow, to the thought process as the cargo bay waiting to be opened to see all the great treasures held inside. As with any journey over the ocean we all hope that the cargo makes it to port so that it can be shared with all. Second, he compares it to a wild beast that is struggling to be released from its bonds. As this takes place we see all the pain and anguish associated with the process of writing.
For myself the writing process is like cracking open a mountain with a piece of straw, futile at best, and at other times it can be like the flow of the Amazon or Mississippi rivers, strong flowing and always a little muddied.
Andrea Giang
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
7 February 2011
Exercise 1D
The two things Wilbur compared the writing process to were the great cargo and the starling. Wilbur said that even though his daughter was young, “her life is a great cargo.” He wanted to wish her a “lucky passage.” Wilbur was saying that she had a difficult path ahead of her even though she is young and he wanted to wish her luck. This can be seen as a reference to the writing process because writing takes a lot of time and effort. The writing process can be seen as a long difficult journey that can be undertaken even at a young age.
The other comparison Wilbur made was to the starling that had been trapped in the room. He described how the starling did what it could escape from its prison, how it had not given up even though it had failed before and was hurt. The starling continued to try to take off and eventually was able to fly out of the window. This starling’s continuous attempts to fly despite its injuries can be compared to the writing process. Although the first attempt at writing might not be successful, the second attempt, maybe even the third, will be more successful than the original. The starling kept trying to take off, again and again, until it was finally successful. A writer can make several attempts at writing before they have their final draft.
Writing for me is similar to learning a new language. With a new language, you cannot learn without making several attempts. You have to keep practicing and working on it over and over again until you eventually understand the grammar and vocabulary. The writing process is the same for me. I would have to constantly practice and try many times before I can get it right. I have to figure out what I did wrong and learn how to fix it. I have to keep working on my writing just as I would keep working on a new language to improve.
Henry Wu
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
7 February 2011
The two metaphors to which Richard Wilbur compares the writing process is a great cargo and the dazed starling. Wilbur states that even though his daughter's thoughts and ideas about what to write may seem limited, it is a lot to process for her age. Furthermore, the metaphor of cargo is often related to a ship voyage. Writing in some ways is like a ship voyage, with many hardships to overcome before coming out with the final draft. Also, it is a voyage in the sense that one must undertake and experience personally. Like the families of the sailors, Wilbur can only stand on the shore and wish a lucky passage for his daughter.
The second metaphor is the dazed starling. In this metaphor, the starling can be thought of as the writing process and is initially trapped inside a room it cannot escape. This can be thought of as the "writer's block" where a writer is faced with dead end in his thoughts. However, a common way to get rid of writer's block is to put down the pen and focus on something else. Like in the poem, it's written as "we retreated, not affright it" which means they are careful to not rush or disturb the natural process of writing. In the end, the creative process is able to manifest itself and the daughter is able to translate her ideas to paper, written in the poem as "It lifted off from a chair-back, beating a smooth course for the right window and clearing the sill of the world."
For me, writing is running for 5 miles up a hill until I reach the top. I make this comparison because like running, writing can be a very painful experience. Sometimes, it's so painful that you just want to stop but you tell yourself to keep on going and good things will come. Finally, when you reach the top of the hill and you sit down and relax, it is the best feeling in the world. This is similar to writing because the writing process can be frustrating to the point that you want to just quit. However, when you finish writing the essay, it will seem like the best feeling in the world because it will be an accomplishment you can be proud of.
Christian Del Rosario
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
7 February 2011
Exercise 1D
In the poem, Richard Wilbur uses metaphor to describe his daughter writing process. He uses metaphors such as, " From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys Like a chain hauled over a gunwale". Wilbur describes his daughters story as if he was telling a story about a journey. Wilbur also says, "But now it is she who pauses... the whole house see,s to be thinking, And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor Of strokes, and again is silent". When his daughter stops typing and thinks, Wilbur makes it seem like its mute.
My writing process is stage fright, I know what to say but the words won't come out. My fingers choked on what to say. My heart starts to race because I get mad at myself for not expressing what I want to say. So Im going in a circle trying to figure out what to do?
Ricarda Sawatzki
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
7 February 2011
The given poem “The Writer”, written by Richard Wilbur, describes a father-daughter relationship. The daughter struggles with the process of writing a story, while the father can only support her but cannot do the writing for her. Wilbur uses figurative language and images to enrich his poem. The main metaphors Wilbur compares the writing process are the “great cargo” and the “dazed starling”.
The metaphor of the “great cargo” indicates a ship voyage. The author compares the great cargo to the daughter’s life and mentions that sometimes she has to face struggle. In relation to the daughter’s writing process writing a story is portrayed as a journey. To write a story indicates hard times when the author struggles with his or her thoughts or does not know how to bring his or her thoughts onto paper. Therefore, the father supports his daughter by wishing her a “lucky passage”, like people wish when they are about to set sail. The father cannot do the writing for his daughter but he can help her with this hard task by wishing her all the best. This metaphorical language shows how a ship journey can be used to describe the journey of writing a story.
The metaphor of the “dazed starling” that had been trapped in the room where the daughter is writing her story describes in a different way the struggle that the daughter goes through. The starling was trapped in the room and was trying to get out of it. The bird in this poem seems to be the daughter who is trying to find her own way to write her story. In the poem the only way for the bird to find his way out of the room was when the father and daughter left the room. Therefore they did not frighten the bird. Compared to the daughter’s struggle it appears that the daughter needs to figure out how to get through her writing without having her father standing next to her and writing for her. The father is outside her room “pause in the stairwell” and can just hope for her success. After the bird could not find his way out for a “helpless hour” he eventually managed to free himself and fly free. The struggle, the trying, and the success of the bird relates to the writing process of the daughter. By trying and practicing her writing she will find her way out of the struggle and the performance of her writing will come easier to her.
Writing for me could be compared to a bike tour through the mountains. It is hard for me at times to get my writing started, maybe because I have not been writing enough. The same happens when I have not been exercising in a while; it is hard to get back in shape. Writing gets hard for me in the starting phase when I am overwhelmed with the long process of writing. I am also not very confident in my writing ability since I sometimes struggle with my vocabulary. Therefore I cannot necessarily express myself the way I want to and that is very frustrating to me. However, after being very précised about my writing preparations and my outline I normally find a way bringing my thought and words onto paper. Once I started to overcome the phase of being overwhelmed I find myself in the phase of writing. The same happens when you finally made it above the mountain and you start going downhill and the bike ride starts to get easy. I think I have to keep practicing on a weekly basis in order to stay in “shape” in terms of writing and exercising.
Darin Lago
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
8 February 2011
Exercise 1D (Understanding Figurative Language)
Richard Wilbur compares the writing process of his daughters struggle through life and the future that lays ahead. The poem speaks as if Wilbur was watching her struggles to type up something about her life. "But now it is she who pauses" is saying as if she has hit writers block or having trouble moving forward.
My writing process is like bungee jumping because I don't want to do it. However, it's something I have to accomplish and once I get started there's no stopping. Just as if jumping off the edge you can't go back to it. Just when I think I'm finished I bounce back up and have to go through the whole process again. I have to read everything again several times to check for errors and grammar mistakes until I finally settle down with what I think is a adequate writing piece. After it's all over, I feel a sense of joy for doing what I did.
Madeleine Hess
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2/8/2011
Exercise 1D: Understanding Figurative Language
1. Wilbur uses, to describe the writing process: "passage" and "cleaning the sill of the world." I percieve his belief in writing to be a process of hardship, growth, and reward. A writer will have an idea that needs to be manipulated and perfected in order to express it. Once this is achieved, there is a feeling of clarity from being able to explain an abstract thought or idea exactly how you'd like, and have others understand it.
2. My writing is my heart biting at my right sleeve that I constantly have to restrain, slipping its raw words and feelings into my work; the horse and reigns concept applies. My inside self is wrestling with my social self. My social self is structurally interviewing my inside self. Writing becomes a manifestation of my relationship with myself through an external idea. In the end, there are pieces of my heart disguised by the topic at hand.
Dylan Young
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
8 February 2011
Exercise 1D (Understanding Figurative Language)
1. Wilbur compares the writing process to both a lucky passage and an iridescent creature. These images show us that his writing process is sometimes unclear and is a heavy task for him to take on. He see's the writing process as something sacred as he reflected on his times in the same room his daughter now writes. He also see's the writing process as something so immense that you are at times helpless to the task it calls for.
2. My writing process is like the light at the end of the tunnel. I will feel stuck and unable to escape my daily though process , having troubles opening my mind to the concept at hand but then i will have an epiphany and my mind will open, with new light in the subject i need to write about.
Wayne Chen
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
8 February 2011
1. Wilbur uses symbolism and metaphors to express his ideas in the poem, in a way to color the poetry. "Like a chain hauled over a gunwale" expressed how his daughter was typing and "the sleek, wild, dark, and iridescent creature batter against the brilliance" as well. Wilbur seems to have a twisted interest and delight in the writing process because he related his daughter typing to an interesting creature who battered at brilliance.
2. My writing process can be described as "a deathly but godly presence transcribing never-ending thoughts onto paper with its magical words writ from its tool of destruction: the mind." The mind is a powerful tool for me to use to write and construct better compositions just in a sense that it is fairly easy for me, in my opinion, to exhaust my thinking into words in an openly feasible and vibrant manner.
Frena Zamudio
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
08 February 2011
In the poem, “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur , he uses different metaphors to describe his daughter’s writing process like “Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy: I wish her a lucky passage” is like him saying that life in general would not be easy, especially for a young girl like her, but he wishes him a smooth sailing life ahead of her. It can also relate into writing, because writing is never been an easy task, there are a lot of things we have to consider in writing either poems, novels, etc. It takes time to have a good project, a lot of time and effort to be exact. Another metaphor was “I remember the dazed starling which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;” The starling had to try few times before it eventually was able to fly out of the window. It relates to writing because there is no such thing as perfect writing, even great authors have to revise their projects, there is always going to be some kind of mistake, people will make suggestions to make the paper a better one, so revision is always a good idea.
Writing for me is like running in a marathon. Like running, writing is never easy, it takes practice to be good but if its really what you wanted to do, then the effort, time , everything will pay off in time. It takes a lot of tries in order to get the best time in running the whole marathon field, just like writing, a lot of revision, different kinds of papers you have to write in order to have an idea on how to write a good one.
Mercedes Rawlyk
ReplyDeleteSabir
English 5
08 Febuary 2011
Exercise 1D:
In the writing process Wilbur compares his daughters heavy cargo and the dazed starling. Wilbur uses these metaphors to desribe in detail what is going on. His daughter obviously struggles somewhat with writing stories because he explains how her writing is great cargo, but can be heavy sometimes. The dazed starling is explaning the thought of being trapped in the room with the daughter trying to get out. Meaning the story is trying to be written but his daughter is having trouble writing it.
What i got from this poem about his views on the writing process is that writing is not so simple and if you continue to work at it eventually all the hard work will pay off. Obviously, he is a deep writer who has a good sense of word choice as well as his use of metoaphors. When he states, "...Humped and bloody, For the wits to try again; and how our spirits Rose when,suddenly sure,..." he is talking about how to keep trying until it is right. Writing is essentially a process. A difficult one at that.
My writing process is a thunder storm with a sad ending. My thoughts tend to be all over the place and a bit confusing. When i find myself thinking i have tamed this crazy weather i call writing, really i just tangled it up more. My writing process definatley needs taming. My improvement with this is a tetor-toter that continues to move up and down.
Paris Middleton-Berry
ReplyDeleteSabir
English 5
08 Febuary 2011
Exercise 1D:
The thing Wilbur compares the writing process too I would say is writing your thoughts down and not writing them down. He feels that if you jot down your thoughts you get more out of you thinking then you would if you just kept your thoughts in your mind. The writer describes his daughter deep at though writing down a passage of her life. He says that she has a life filled with a lot of stuff describing it as “great cargo”. “The whole house seems to be thinking and then she is at it again with a bunched clamor of strokes and again is silent“ saying that she writes thinks and then writes and continues the process. Saying that once she was trapped and now she just keeps it going.
A metaphor for my writing I would say is a puzzle. It feels like at the being when I’m about to start the writing process I have all the pieces before but when I’m starting the process of putting it together it becomes a slow process and sometimes the pieces get lost.
David Kovalevskij
ReplyDeleteProfessor Wanda Sabir
English 5
February 8, 2010
Exercise 1D
Wilbur compares two different ways of his daughters writing styles in his poem “The Writer.” One of the ways of writing is to as you come up with ideas in your head, you should write them down on a piece of paper. Then try to put the pieces together in order for it to really make sense. Another way of writing is to come up with good points in your head and then write it down. Wilbur definitely prefers the first writing style and in his poem he says that when a person is putting down his or her thoughts the entire house is thinking with that person. While when the person tries to come up with clever thoughts it’s like a creature that is trapped and is waiting.
A metaphor that I have chosen for my style of writing is a building getting build. Once it is being started it feels like it will never be finished. Yet as parts start coming in the building is finally getting finished. Once you think you are all done, then it’s time to do the interior portion of the building to do some final touches.
Sophia De Claro
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
10 February 2011
Richard Wilbur compares the writing process of his daughters struggle through life and their future.
One of the ways of writing is come up with some ideas in your head, or to write it down. Then try to put everything together in order for it to make sense. A second way of writing is to come up with good points in your head and then write it down.
A metaphor that I use is when I run. Running can be very difficult. I have to practice over and over until I am happy with my time and the way I feel. I start and try to finish but while running you can run into some problems, just like writing.
Javier Chavez
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
1D
I think the two things that Wilbur compares to the writing process is having moments of thought and silence. To me the silence signifies critical thinking. When someone is silent it doesn’t necessarily mean that they do not know what else to say or write, most of the times people think, they think a lot when they’re silent. For example, in the poem he said “and then she is at it again with a burched clamor of strokes, and again is silent.” This signifies her silence and ideas flowing through her.
Whenever I begin to write an essay or anything that involves critical thinking, I usually have a slow time starting up. Then after the first paragraph get going, typing nonstop, I have some moments of silence to reflect and think and then I’m at it again. My writing process is like a cargo train leaving the station. The train is slow to pick up speed but once it gets going its fast, only slowing to drop off its load.