1.29 Data Collection

I felt like the focus for the class really came together tonight. It's like last week there was just plain too much information, but this week=> the focus on finding ways to teach writing that addressed "what needs to be taught and isn't" provided us with a way to get a more practical understanding of the many different tasks and materials I set up for us to "explore".

Data sharing
Class started with a (technolgically impaired) presentation on the data collection instruments, practices, and systems for sharing we are going to use. 

Data collection instruments are posted as links to the right and  include the following.
Language Assumptions: a set of statements about how you think language works.  To complete this instrument, mark how you feel about each statement on a scale of 5 (strongly agree) to 1(strongly disagree).  This is a pre/post measure of your thoughts/feelings/ understandings associated with writing.  We might use it to see whether any of the exercises/analyses we do in class influence/change your attitudes about language/writing => and think about which changes put you in a more powerful position as a writer.

Oral Histories: a protocol for the interview we will take part in within the next several weeks.  The hope is that this data (collected before we begin thinking in too much depth about writing relationships/how our languge reveals those relationships/etc) will be our primary evidence of Discursive patterns that reflect our relationships to writing.  We can use this talk to discover/explore belief systems that we may not be aware of.  After becoming aware of those belief systems (embedded in particular patterns for talk) => we can think about how to use some of the methods from the middle of the course to be able to relate consciously & differently about values/identities/writing practices that we see as "not what is helping us" be the writers we want to be.

Pennebaker Prompt + Pennebaker health record: The Pennebaker experiments have findings attached to them that identify certain patterns for writing/reflecting that produce "health" and other that do not.  While these findings are not 100% endorses as "correct" = they suggest correlations between Discourse & health (and by association, "postitive" ways for writing).  The Pennebaker writing will be a second source of evidence where you can look at language use that connects to your ways for "thinking" and "being".  It offers a freewriting sample - and will illustrate what lands on the page when you "let yourself go".

Relationships to writing: will offer a pre/post course writing sample, with a focus on your relationships to writing.  We will be able to analyze this data both in terms of form and content..  It will provide yet another kind of evidence for: 1) your relationships to writing; and 2) whether and how your experiences with the course open/re-direct/change your relationships to writing. 


Where we are keeping data:
Shared google.drive and google.sites:  user name ENG5030data.

Schedule for collection:
Oral history interview sign up list (at google drive).  We will post the oral histories as they are completed.  Deadline for posting: March
Do the Pennebaker writing NOW. It should be done before you read the essays. You do not need to post any of this.
Start posting completed Assumptions + Relationships data as you complete them.  Deadline = 2/13

Why we are collecting data. As stated in class, we are collecting data on ourselves => relationships to writing that influence how we write, whether we feel good about writing, what we value about writing, and how we will talk about writing (represent what writing is & does, and how it works) to others. These relationships are part of our identities (Discourses) and as pointed out in the Gee discoussion => most of them are unconscious. They are embeded (and can be decoded from ) the ways that we talk about writing through using various tools for discourse analysis. 

We will use our data to explore our particular relationships to writing, and to use those explorations to think about new ways to teach writing. Specifically, we will use what our data suggests about connections between our Discourses and our writing practices as a basis for thinking about which assumptions, values, beliefs & practicesallow us to do what we want with writing - and which ones get in the way.

After we have identified some "problems," we will use the analytic and teaching methods we look at in the middle of the course to try out or explore ways to: 1) set up writers to become conscious of the assumptions, values, beliefs & practices that can be counter-productive for their writing goals (so they can change them if they choose); of 2) find ways to "apprentice" or engage writers in "learning through doing" (like the Perl exercise) so that they can develop alternative practices that can re-shape their writing practices that are obstacles to their writing goals (without necessarily becoming conscious of how they are doing so).

If this still feels hazy - don't worry. We are going to go through it step by step, and as the language becomes more familiar, it will fall into place and you are going to develop truly exciting projects.

The following blog presents a discussion of the theory + pedagogical approaches we covered in class, and sets up what to do for next class.