Comments on: Student Writers and Personal Writing http://nnwp.edublogs.org/2008/09/07/student-writers-and-personal-writing/ The official (we)blog for the Northern Nevada Writing Project Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:04:14 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Robert http://nnwp.edublogs.org/2008/09/07/student-writers-and-personal-writing/comment-page-1/#comment-134 Robert Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:20:54 +0000 http://nnwp.edublogs.org/?p=17#comment-134 Again, I'm trying this another way and hope it sticks!!! 1. I too was taught to never use “I” in formal writing and one of my professors told our class that if we must insist on giving our opinion or thoughts on our research to put it in an addendum so he could be sure NOT to have to read it. Because of this experience, I have taught my students to always state their opinions as facts and then give specific evidence to support it. However, I am also questioning this approach. Education is about discovery, especially self-discovery. Students often discover through their writing, while sharing that discovery with others. So why not use “I” and tell me what you think and believe? I still want the evidence and support or you probably won’t convince me of much, but go ahead and be human and let your hair down a bit. I’m more apt to read writing that I can connect with than writing that is devoid of life. I’m finding that more Professional Journal articles (at least Education Journals) have allowed the forbidden I to creep back in, but I’m not sure how other academic fields feel about this. Robert rob1777 — September 10, 2008 @ 5:12 pm Again, I’m trying this another way and hope it sticks!!!
1.
I too was taught to never use “I” in formal writing and one of my professors told our class that if we must insist on giving our opinion or thoughts on our research to put it in an addendum so he could be sure NOT to have to read it. Because of this experience, I have taught my students to always state their opinions as facts and then give specific evidence to support it.
However, I am also questioning this approach. Education is about discovery, especially self-discovery. Students often discover through their writing, while sharing that discovery with others. So why not use “I” and tell me what you think and believe? I still want the evidence and support or you probably won’t convince me of much, but go ahead and be human and let your hair down a bit. I’m more apt to read writing that I can connect with than writing that is devoid of life. I’m finding that more Professional Journal articles (at least Education Journals) have allowed the forbidden I to creep back in, but I’m not sure how other academic fields feel about this.
Robert

rob1777 — September 10, 2008 @ 5:12 pm

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