changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
i feel exceptionally writing challenged today. i can't seem to think of a single, original idea. I can type notes, but that's about it. course, that's just copying. anyone could copy.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Monday, June 28, 2004
ok. so that was a waste. all i can write is crap:
Writing assignments that work is the key to success in any class. Students can survive a lot of missteps, but if the assignments that we send students off to complete do not provide them with the details that they need, their success is more likely to be the result of chance than accomplishment.
what hogwash. i feel like i don't know how to write anything anymore. how do i start? can i just dive into the middle? should i be writing a list of ten? figuring out how i want to reformat them? geesh. i feel so lost, and i've only been trying to write for a few minutes now.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
so here i spent all this time trying to figure out how to do index cards online. looking for special software, avery labels, something. anything.
in desperation last week, as i was packing for my yearly trip to houghton, i needed to decide whether or not to pack the index cards. had to give it one more try, and as my last try i thought i'd see if i could configure something in Word that would work. go to Word, and find that there's a 8x5 card layout already there, built in. even on my old copy of word on my poor old ibook.
silly me. i think i got derailed by the idea of trying to find a technology solution, some new way to do what i used to do. really, what i should have been doing was spending my time doing what i knew worked. i would have gotten to the same place much more quickly.
i think that i'll still use endnote for the bib citations, because i have to do something. they need to be written, and why not let software do it for me since i know how to use it and don't need anything too complex. and after all, mla has changed, so i'd have to look up the rules if i wrote it all out by hand.
so now i'm sitting here in houghton, needing to get started on my writing. much reading and notetaking and writing and rewriting to do. unfortunately, i don't think i have anything that i need with me right now. on the other hand, i don't really feel like wandering off to find something. by the time i chose something and came back, it would be time to leave again.
i guess that it's that point in the writing process when i have to look at my collected notes that are online and figure out what i have that i can keep. maybe it's time for some freewriting. or something of that sort.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
I think that I used notecards for my papers and whatnot as a student as a
physical arrangement tool more than anything else. Especially for larger
documents like my master’s thesis, I was able to write out quotations and
such on cards and then physically move them about—one pile for the
historical background, another for the description of the manuscript,
another for literary influences, etc. I even used different sizes and
colors. I think the bib citations were all on 3 by 5 cards, maybe 4 by 6.
My notes were all on bigger cards (8 by something?).
The cards gave me the opportunity to move ideas around and sort them
easily, and as I’m typing this, I'm wondering if things would have been
different if I had grown up knowing that it was easy to move ideas around
and sort them digitally. Then it might not have been such a big deal to be
able to arrange and stack notecards.
I’m sure it’s a sign of something horrible to say that also there’s just
something intriguing about a pile of notecards for me. It feels like an
accomplishment to have a large pile of cards. Hmm. It also occurs to me
that when I took programming classes originally, it was back in the era of
punchcards. Even then I was arranging and sorting cards.
Maybe this is why I feel so confused and lost now. In my practice, long
papers are written by sorting things out on cards. The writing that I do
with sources now is, I’m guessing, 99% very focused. No need to sort
anything around or about. Hmm. Maybe I am getting somewhere. At least I
know
why I feel so confused about notecards and working without them.
Part of the problem for me now is that because of carpal tunnel issues, I’d
never survive handwriting notecards. Maybe it’s time to figure out how to
send notecards through the printer :)
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Saturday, June 19, 2004
so here i am going through various piles of papers and file folders that have piled up over the last several weeks, and I find a folder from cccc 1999. i knew that it had my presentation in it, and I’d been shifting it around because I intend to type it up but never get around to it. not overly exciting, but it was a pain to research (i calculated statistics on the appearance of computer words in cccc programs) so i felt like i should put it out there.
i pull out the papers in the folder, and i find a draft document, “Guidelines for the Use of Computer Technologies in Technological Literacy Initiatives.” at first, i thought that i’d dropped the ball on something. i glance over it, and it’s nicely done. looks very smart. where did it come from? i look further, and i find the handwritten notes. it’s my text. i wrote this thing and shared the draft in Atlanta and then never finished it.
i'm always amazed when i find texts like this. it doesn't happen often. i have this strong, smart voice. so strong and so smart in this draft that i was certain it wasn't mine. and yet, the handwritten copy proves that it is. i look at it and wonder where that person came from and what on earth suggested to her that she could write that kind of text five years ago.
maybe i oughta finish it and put it online now, if only i can that that smart girl with the strong voice again.
changelog @ tengrrl.com:
Sunday, June 06, 2004
i found the title that i thought i'd lost:
writing assignments that work. i like the idea of the double meaning. of course, all i have is a title and depression and guilt about not writing anything.
Posted Friday, 24-Aug-2007 17:08:16 PDT
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