Thursday, June 21, 2012

Writers Block continued

22 June 2011
 The question that worries me is that if I am so hesitant about publishing my writing how can I demand that  my students publish theirs?  Suppose they are just as sensitive about their work or suppose they are afraid for other to see it?  What gives me the right to make them give something of themselves to the public?  I feel guilty every time I force students to post publicly, but I don't have any choice  This fall I will have students maintain online portfolios, into which they will store all their work--read and unread, marked and unmarked, draft after draft.  The idea is that they can share with whomever they wish, as long as I am included.  I think about going green and saving trees by not printing out every paper, but there are the privacy issues that rear their ugly heads.  How many students will hesitate to write because they are afraid of criticism from their peers?

Embedded in those criticisms are: the subjects that they choose to write about, their opinions, how they view the issues--what side they take and why--how each fits with the discourse community of which she is a member and whether it will allow him to remain a member of that community or cause him issues.  These are the things that I want to explore.

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