Writing to Learn

I like Emig. When I was reading her this week and she was talking about how we use both sides of our brain in writing, I was reminded of our discussion last week about brain function. I guess we were one step ahead of ourselves. Emig says that the brain is "bispheral" when we write. Considering we don't usually use much of our brain, and therefore can not tap into our telekinesis power (bummer), it is amazing to me that writing can motivate the brain in ways so many other things can't. I can honestly say that writing does not come that easily to me. I like to write, my finished product is usually pretty good, but I never imagined i was using that much of my brain to put words on paper. Is it happening write now? I would think that the person writing would get some sort of euphoric feeling, but I am no scientist. Deanna asked in her blog, "How could we as teachers ignore such a powerful tool?". I am not a teacher, but I can see her point. We also talked about students who are taught to write by such "mechanical" standards. Teachers should utilize the brain more, get students to think on their own. Start them when they are young, and when they hit college they will not have to "learn" how to think on their own when it comes to writing, they will already be adept at it.

Free-writing is not a concept I am familiar with at all. I know Peter Elbow values it and I can see his point that it is good for students to learn to write better, and be able to muddle through unwanted things to get to the heart of what they are trying to say. I have never taken a course where I was required to free-write. I'm not sure I could "unstructuralize" (is that a word?) my thinking enough at this point to actually free write properly. I have become so accustomed to organizing my thoughts and words before writing them, I may not even get any joy or worth out of free writing. Then again, I have never tried it, so how would I know?

Along the same lines, I remember reading that Elbow says that reading out loud is the first and true test of good writing. I have to agree with that. I always read my papers aloud to my husband before turning them in, and I always find errors and things that don't sound right that I missed by just reading it to myself. It is a sure fire way to know if your writing makes sense and if an audience's attention will be kept.

I'm having a real problem with the different rhetoric theories and I am hoping some light can be shed tonight in class. I have read it and re-read it, but every time I read, and I'm being honest here, I lose the thoughts half way through the paragraph. Maybe someone could put it in layman's terms for me.......I have a thick skull.