"I Hate Writing"-No, really, I don't, but it's the name of this week's clip

Our very own Sylwester made this wonderful video. Didn't he do an excellent job? I will first summarize a little bit about what the film and its participants said, and then I will talk about how we could use this film as a resource for our students who are writing WA 3. Note: I will almost be directly quoting some of the participants from the film.

The film starts out asking different people why they think students hate writing. Here are some of the responses:
-Students see writing as a set of rules
-Students have in their mind that they can't write
-They are not interested in the assignments
-Time-consuming without a definite outcome
-Not used to it
-Can't be mastered- even the best writers can get better
-Sometimes it requires talent
-Assignments bleed with ink, and no one shows them how to "fix it"

What I gather from this is that students have in their minds that they can't write because of bad academic experiences with writing. They get their papers back, and they are bleeding red, and often times teachers don't explain to them how to improve their papers. This gives students the impression that writing is a set of rules that can't be mastered, and just requires talent. I mean, if they aren't being taught how to "fix" their "errors," then other students must not be taught it either, so it must just be talent. I also loved when Melinda said that you can spend all this time writing a paper, put in all this effort, and you still don't know what the outcome will be. This is true, and I think that frustrates students. In math, you get the right answer, you get the right the answer. Not so in writing. You never know how good or bad your stuff is until you give it to your audience, and often times, it is subjective. I also think students really hate writing because it is so time consuming. Every paper is a draft. There is no such thing as a finished product. For perfectionists, especially, this is frustrating.


The participants are then asked, "When do you hate writing?"
Here are some of the responses:
-They hate writing when they are forced
-When they have to write about something they have no interest in
-When subjects don't matter to them
-When they don't understand the assignment
-When they have other things to do

Students/people in general often hate the "haftas" in life. "You hafta write this paper." "You hafta do the laundry, etc." Writing is often a "hafta," and students hate that. They also hate when they are forced to write about something they have no interest in. I personally love to write, but even I hate writing when I am forced to write about subjects I don't care about. Also, a lot of times writing assignments are ambiguous. I found that with WA2. I really thought I could justify that I wrote WA2, and I still think I did. We can all read an assignment and interepret it differently, and sometimes that gets students in trouble. Sadly, students often don't care about learning, especially when it isn't their core subject; they care about grades. So, naturally, writing causes a lot of stress.

Participants are then asked, "What stage do you hate the most and why?"
Here are some the responses:
-Editing, because once you spent a whole day writing, and you go back and read through it, it is painful
-Revising, you think you are finished, then you see all these glarring problems
-The middle, the place where you get stuck

Most of the participants answered revising or editing. It is frustrating when you spend a few days/weeks/whatever writing a paper, and you finally write that last sentence, and you read through it again and think, "Oh my gosh, this is crap!" I've done that a million times. For me, I have a love/hate relationship with revising. I hate doing it becuase it is so time consuming, but I love it because my finished drafts barely resemble my final product. For me, once I get down my first draft, I am only probably 10% done with the assignment, and it still takes me forever to get out that first draft.

Participants next answered the question, "How can we prevent students from hating writing?"
Their responses are as follows:
-Help them conquer their fears of writing
-Find what they are interested in writing about

I think it is important to also let students dabble in several different kinds of writing. I think all students should have the opportunity to write creatively. Okay, Tabetha, you convinced me, all writing is creative, so let me rephrase: all students should have the opportunity to write fiction. I think writing fiction can teach us a lot about writing non-fiction and vice-versa. It will also kind of break down that barrier between "academic" writing and "personal" writing.

There is also a small section on blogging that talks about the difference between public and private writing, and how some students prefer one or the other.

Sylwester also including some statistics from Guy Allen's survey of students who chose to take a writing course. Here they are:

85% dread school writing
95% negative view of their own writing ability
70% enroll in a writing course to reduce the number of mistakes they make GUY ALLEN students who choose to take a writing course

Wow, shocking numbers!

At the end of the film, Sylwester suggests that reading and going to a writing center are ways that students can improve their writing. Often it seems that improving one's writing is a hopeless endevour, but this video offers some hope.

So how do we use this video in the classroom, particularly for WA3?

Well, I think this video could be a resource for several different reasons:

1) Students who hate writing will know that they are not alone, and they will know that their class is a place where they can talk openly and honestly about not liking writing and why without being penalized for it.

2) This video is a great tool for brainstorming. I'm sure many students will watch it and go, "Yeah, that is why I hate writing." "Yeah, I do hate to revise." "Oh, I remember when I got back a bleeding paper, and no one showed me how to "fix" it." By the end of the film, they will probably have all the material they need to start drafting WA3.

3) Students will also see that their teachers are trying to understand why their students hate writing. It shows that we are concerned, and that we are trying to make a difference. That might be a real change for them from how they viewed academic writing in high school.

What other ways do you see this video being helpful?