revision – Engaging Texts: Has Your Text Been Engaged?

Beginning, Middle, End?

I was flabbergasted. I’m sure I looked like an exaggerated cartoonish caricature of astonishment, with my eyeballs popping out of their sockets and my jaw on the floor. Have I mentioned that I was flabbergasted? The students in my first-year college writing class were equally flabbergasted. All twenty-four of us stared at each other inContinue reading “Beginning, Middle, End?”

Setting Realistic Expectations about Your First Draft

In my work as a writing instructor and tutor, I’ve often been asked simply to sit with a student as he or she drafts a writing assignment. My role in such situations is to provide moral support while simultaneously serving as a sounding board, a dictionary, a thesaurus, a grammar rule book, and a cheerleader.Continue reading “Setting Realistic Expectations about Your First Draft”