Nursing Scholarly Paper

What does the instructor value?
-the instructor is really interested in the student answering the questions in the synthesis of the assignment explanation
-the questions suggest that the instructor in trying to over-control the students’ writing. It seems that the questions lead the students too much
-the assignment gives the student mixed messages. The topic seems different from the synthesis section of the assignment
-there is no rubric included but reference is made to Guidelines at the end of the assignment

Constraints:
-students might not trust one another to get feedback during a writers workshop
-where are students learning to write at university? English departments assign writing but do not teach it
-if students have not read an article, it is difficult to get them involved in the process work necessary for learning
-the size of the class can inhibit getting process feedback during writing
-contextual restraints include that disciplines stick to one way of writing (papers, reports, labs)
-in ELA classrooms, students are learning about many reading and writing genres but in university, they may use only one kind of reading and writing
-teaching reading and writing need to be done for different purposes: to enjoy the text and then to learn about reading and writing from the text
-different faculties will encourage process writing and others only product writing
-we have to try and change the way students think about writing, especially if they want the professor to have all the control what and how they write
-we want the focus to be on learning-which means allowing re-writes, and students being more engaged in the assignments and rubrics as co-producers of knowledge
-students present very different needs as writers and so we have to adjust our practices each semester
-inadequacies of the course can make it difficult
-time constraints make is hard to do some of the writing we want them to do

What do I value in my students’ writing?

-risk-taking in writing; we dont’ want students to be hampered by fear of doing something the wrong way
-how to use resistance in teaching writing
-helping students try different ways of approaching a writing assignment
-it can’t be too open-ended, or they could get overly worried
-developing one’s own topic will help students think for themselves
-many scientific journals require you to personalize writing
-how to comply and resist can be confusing for students
-when students help the teacher make their marking rubrics, they better understand how to comply and resist
-compliance can inhibit writing-memorizing what to do will not work to develop writers
-critical thinking is about teaching writing
-writing assignments need to be varied; but how much flexibility should I allow with students? Some students will be confused
-using a structure for a paper can be very helpful to students; some students do not use the structure. Should this be penalized if they do not use the structure?
-maybe students can learn to use certain structures first and then modify these for their own purposes
-it is important to help students know when to use “I” and when not to
-using the word “perhaps” can help students get around using “I” statements in their own writing
-high school teachers feel the need to meet the needs of students to pass the grade twelve PAT in writing, which influences how they teach writing; it can be said that teachers feel they cannot teach the writing process with the final exam looming at the end of grade 12
-important for students to write for a variety of purposes when they graduate from high school
-students in university have to be able to communicate with their peers through writing
-the importance of voice was mentioned as valued by instructors
-others say that you have to “change” your voice to be successful in academic situations
-some value clarity, purpose, and audience awareness over voice
-what does voice mean? Do our students know what voice means? It can be related to clarity, vocabulary choice, being entertained, and audience
-discussion boards are useful for students to practice writing and develop their sense of voice (and does not take a lot of the instructor’s time)
-students need lots of variety to write in different genres to be successful writers throughout their life

Maligne Canyon piece

-format is a memo (which seems odd)
-very detailed-zoomed in on detail but also presented the big picture (like a travelogue)
-was interesting
-liked the second part and thought the writer should have started there
-the first part may have needed to come as a second part
-more personal than scientific in the beginning
-this is a student observation which does happen in academic writing, and we need more descriptive information first and then add the research
-ie. erosion could come after the writer describes what he/she saw
-there needs to be some description of why the photo appears
-shows the difficulty students often have inserting photos, diagrams, tables into the discussion
-the photo needed a caption
-footnotes are references (we weren’t sure if this is appropriate)
-this is a science paper, so we want the references and these do appear
-good, detailed, vivid langauge

DCM (mapping)

-hard to read as a “reader” and not a “marker”
-pretty good content
-depth to the arguments presented; understands the nuances of the argument
-research is apparent
-there is a moral argument but that comes later
-enjoyed the article as a reader; felt is was ryhthmic
-looked for the sentence fragments because they were fun to read
-some of it was humourous
-needed a few more actual stats
-used a conversational style-if this was a final draft, would want the student to sound more academic
-need to know the audience and purpose for this piece
-looking for more support for the arguments
-had to turn off the “marker” in each of us
-we wondered if this was a girl or boy writing this piece
-voice is very strong in this piece; lots of familiar arguments are made but needs some technical support if this piece is going to be “published.”

Parking map

Here’s a link to a map for parking: http://www.ualberta.ca/~graves1/documents/parkinglistercentre.pdf

When you get to Lister Centre (located at 87th Avenue & 116th Street) park your car and please proceed to the Permit Dispenser in Zone M (west side of the parking lot adjacent to the building). A conference volunteer will be available by the Dispenser to hand out parking coupons starting at 9:00 am so you will not have to pay for parking.

In case there are no parking spots available in Zone M, additional parking is available in Zone R (next to Lister Centre) and in Zone T (behind the residence Towers).