"Writing, Technology, and Teens: Summary of Findings"

There are many elements that help teenagers, or college students write today and it varies between each of them. Technology is a big help when it comes to writing a paper, especially if a teacher is not there to help us correct our mistakes and to show us why. Teenagers and college students also would like more interesting and appealing topics. Most teenagers , especially, would want to choose their own topic. It makes it more appealing to the student and it motivates them to actually put forth effort and make it a good paper which in turn, gets tgem a good grade. This changes the outcome of the student. It gives them confidence in their writing and to do better in school. it may reveal a skill for them that they never thought they had. A lot of teens have trouble with in-school writing because they are not interested in the topic, or that they do not have the resources to research the topic. That is why technology expands our knowledge and can help us with our writing. If we did not have computers, we would not know half of the things that we know today, but we would be fine without it even though it is very helpful. With technology, I don't think that it has affected how we speak, but how we spell. The one thing that I did not see with instant text messaging is that some people type out every word and do use correct grammer and spelling skills. This includes myself, so I believe that technology has not affected how we talk or spell. Talking in general is not correct. We communicate with people that do not use correct grammer as they are talking and that is what they have grown up around and when someone speaks incorrectly, this will change a person's writing. This has happened before the inventions of technology, and therefore technology is not making it worse. Technology is giving us a choice to better ourselves or to not better ourselves. It gives us that opportunity to learn and to obtain knowledge and if a person does not do that, then that is their choice. They cause themselves to miss out on knowledge that they need in life and opportunities that it could give to them.

"N. Baron & Cullington" pg. 719

"Instant Messaging and the Future of Language"

Mrs. Naomi Baron is describing how computer-mediated communication (CMC) and instant messages (IM) can influence younger audiences by giving them an opportunity to interact with other people and to be social. She focuses on a particular question, "Are email, instant messaging (IM), and text messaging on cell phones degrading the language?" Mrs. Baron tells us that many things that are here in the United States, but are not an issue in Europe or any other country. "Computer-based IM is relatively recent phenomenon to Europe." During the time of Beowulf, there were many different shifts in writing patterns. Shakespeare even spelt his name many different ways, probably around six times, in his time. While the Vietnam War was going on, people did not know how to use a semicolon or how to spell. So, with that being said, many of these problems dissolved with the help and guidance of teachers, parents and professionals. She explains how these worries and problems end up being the conversations and debates between professionals and also a parent and their teenage child. This could cause problems when teenagers replace words with abbreviations of that word like brb, be right back, and U for the actual word you. Mrs. Baron says that they are not any different from "like" or "totally" which are very common in the United States. She compares the abbreviations that adolescents use to contractions like "don't" rather than do not. Mrs. Baron tells us that contractions are only used two-thirds of the time and spelling out the words go to the other third, and she also says, "females are significantly more likely to type full forms than males."

She also proved that instant messages weren't always instant and not all messages are abbreviated, incorrectly spelled, or have grammer errors. Mrs. Baron believes that it can be tolerated and that their is no harm in using technology, but that "traditional writing conventions" be taught as well. She knows that a CMC style is empowering. "However, if today's teenagers are also to master more formal written language style, their parents and teachers must provide good models and, if necessary, even gentle sticks." She wants us to use technology and take advantage of the advancements in our society, but she does not want adolescents to forget and not learn older traditional writing styles, grammer skills, and spelling skills.

"From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies"

Baron Dennis describes writing as a technology today and that it has always been a technology. In the article, he says, "The development of writing itself illustrates the stages of technological spread." He is telling us that writing is deeply rooted into technology because it all started with writing. In the 1560's, John Thoreau and Company developed and distributed wooden pencils to a variety of people such as cabinet-makers, artists, note-takers, and many more. Baron Dennis says, "A tool so universally employed for writing that we seldom give it any thought." Even though Thoreau did not like the invention of the telegraph, he still thought that it was an improvement to techology but it was also an improvement to writing. He is correct in every way. Most people do not see writing as a technology, but it has developed with technology a lot. Everything that we have in technology today was in some form of writing at one point in time before computers, tablets and phones. We had all kinds of writing.We had different utensils that we used to write with, but the pencil, which had a piece of graphite, not lead, encased in wood, was not a writing utensil. It did not become that until the 1560's. The pencil was mostly used by joiners, woodworkers that specialized in making furniture which used the pencil to scribe measurements into the wood. At that time, pencils did not leave permanent dents in the wood. By the time Gesner became familiar with the pencil, it became widely used as a means to sketch, write, or take measurements by note-takers, natural scientists, and others. Then, the telephone came along, which did not go so well when Alexander Graham Bell was trying to sell his product. Samuel F. B. Morse was convinced that no one would want the telephone, Baron Dennis says, "It was unable to provide an permanent record of a conversation." It took a long while for people to find out what the telephone could truly do and accomplish. Once the telephone became established, it was a huge hit. News, and sports broadcasts were mostly passed over through the phone. The phone was a very useful invention. As technology became bigger, the computer came to reality. This opened up a whole new life for writing even though it wasn's meant for that purpose. Baron Dennis is trying to help us realize that even though writing wasn't the first thought when people invented these things, but writing became a huge part of that and that writing grew with the inventions of this world. 

"Comparing Writing Processes"

How does your partner's writing process differ from your own?

My writing process and Gabrielle's are quite the same. The only difference that I have seen is that I spend a lot more time revising and editing than I do actually writing the paper. Usually, all of the words fall into place for me as I am writing and while I edit and revise as I go. Gabrielle also writes a pretty basic outline. My outline is detailed. It covers every topic and almost every idea and thought that I put into my paper, so, it is more like a rough draft and an outline. Other than those two things, Gabrielle's writing process is similar to mine in that we both do not spend a lot of time on our actual paper. It sounds like we throw our paper together, but we do not. We plan our outline so well that when we go to write our papers, we do not have to do much editing, proofreading, or revising. This is more of a non-blocker writing process. I may have more of a blocker's writing process than Gabrielle does, because I take more time on the outline. More than most people would. Some people do not write an outline, but it is very helpful when they have one. An outline helps me stay focused and organized on what I am writing. Gabrielle thinks that if she has a good outline, she can skip around if she gets stuck. We have a few differences but there are a lot of similarities as well. 

"Murray-2"

"Murray-2"

Read "Response of a Laboratory Rat- or, Being Protocoled" (WaW 592-609)

Questions for Discussing and Journaling 1, 3, 4 (WaW 608)

QDJ 1, 3, 4 (WaW 608)

1. What was your impression of Murray's writing processes as they're described here? How do they compare to yours? What do you do the same or differently?

- Murray was very particular in the way he wrote. He would revise and check his paper over and over again. I, on the other hand, do not revise my paper which comes after I've written it. I edit and revise my paper as I go. I only read over my paper at the end. I never change anything at the end unless I have missed a significant mistake which normally doesn't happen because I check while I'm writing. It is a lot easier for me to change certain things about my paper as I'm writing it.

3. How did the study change Berkenkotter's understanding of writing processes, particularly planning and revision?

- Her study revealed that more time was needed to be put into what is normally put in for revising, at the end of a paper, and planning, which is before the paper like an outline. Every person has a different revising process and it can take thirty minutes or it can take two hours.

4. What problems with existing methods for studying writing process does Berkenkotter identify? If you read Perl, did you notice any of these problems in her methods? What do you think they might mean for Perl's findings? In what ways is Berkenkotter's newer approach to studying writing processes able to solve the weaknesses in other method's? Do any weaknesses remain?

- The time management of writing a paper. It specifically targets the revising and editing of the paper. Perl did point out significant problems with editing, and he says that a person may need to put more effort or time in on editing the paper, but many people won't follow this because they don't agree with that approach. Some people, like myself, don't take a lot of time out for editing because they do it as they are writing.