WRS 101 University of Alberta A Writer’s Habit Anecdote Paper see attachments for details~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WRS 101 University of Alberta A Writer’s Habit Anecdote Paper see attachments for details~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paradigm Shifts and
The Hurdle of Existing Mastery
One of my earliest memories is of an attempt to teach someone to read. After school, I would go
next door to my friend’s house, where his mother looked after me until my mom came home. He
was having trouble learning to read, and it became my responsibility to help him with his reading
homework. His progress through every book was slow, and I felt impatient to find out what
happened next. I remember one book clearly—it was about a teacher who often pointed her
finger at students. I remember feeling bewildered because it didn’t matter how many times I
pointed out that the word was “finger” and not “fin,” he made the same mistake. Every time.
I learned later that we were taught to read using a system called “whole word learning.” Rather
than being taught phonics (the various sounds that different letters could make), we were taught
to recognize entire words. This is why my friend kept seeing “fin” instead of “finger.”
Whole word learning was a pedagogical failure. After two years, most of my classmates could
not read. Because I am very smart, I could. However, when my family moved and I switched
schools, I was told that I was an abominable speller. My teacher sent home a few notes of
concern and then finally a paper I had written about how to make a sandwich. My mother
thought it was hilarious and read it out loud to guests, deliberately emphasizing my misspellings
to great comic effect. To this day, she asks me to pass her the fork and “ca-nift.” My teacher also
kept me inside at recess to teach me the basics of phonics. I hated it, and I hated being singled
out. Other than spelling, I was an exceptional student, and I glared at her as if she had betrayed
my trust in who I was. Predictably, I learned nothing, and finally she just sent me home with a
set of tapes about phonics and a note to my mother to make me listen to them. I remember the
woman’s voice as clearly as I remember listening to my friend read: “We are going to learn the
different sounds of the different letters. First, there is A. Now, that is the last time I am going to
call it an A, because it only sometimes makes an ‘aaaayyyyy’ sound. Often, it makes an
‘ahhhhh.’” Stunned, I stopped the tape. Vowels could make different sounds: ay and ah. I never
listened to the rest of the tapes, but my spelling a lot. And quickly. It is still not great. I definitely
had to spell check abominable and phonics the first time, but I got them both right just now.
In her article “The Winds of Change,” Hairston describes the process by which one conceptual
model is replaced by another (126). When someone “begins to encounter anomalies or
phenomena that cannot be explained by the established model … those who subscribe to the
paradigm try to ignore the contradictions and inconsistencies…. Eventually, however, when
enough anomalies accumulate … a few innovative thinkers devise a new model” (126).
The first part of this process is a close description of what happened to me and my spelling. I had
a model, a paradigm, that one letter made one sound. This paradigm did not account for the
varieties of sounds and spellings in English, but I was a child and could not have conceptualized
a different paradigm. I needed help. What’s interesting about my paradigm shift is that I resisted
it. I resented being talked to as if I were a beginner, because I mistook the opportunity to relearn
and rethink basic ideas as a mark of failure.
Hairston’s article is not only a description of paradigms. It was also a prediction that we are in
the process of a paradigm shift in the teaching of writing. She argued that we were in the process
of shifting from teaching writing products (“here are the rules to a 5-paragraph essay, now write
one”) to teaching the writing process (generation, drafting, revision, editing) (126). Reading her
article, one might have thought that within a few years, all writing instruction would have
become process-based. This article was written in 1982. It is now 2020, and the vast majority of
my students (Canadians and international students) have been taught writing products only.
(“Here are the rules to a five-paragraph essay/personal response/journal/editorial/whatever, now
write one.”) In the meantime, writing studies scholars have expanded their understanding of
writing to include not just the writing process but to socio-constructivism, post-process, postcolonial, post-structural, rhetorical, genre, second-language writing, anti-racist, and culture
studies theories of writing. And in elementaries and high schools, teachers are still teaching
writing products only.
Why has this paradigm shift failed to move to teachers?
Hairston writes about the resistance to changing paradigms: adherents first “try to ignore the
contradictions and inconsistencies” (126). Even when I knew my approach to spelling was
wrong, I resisted a new paradigm because it threatened my sense of mastery and competency.
When we talk about changing the paradigm of writing in high schools, we run into the wall of
teachers’ mastery. Over decades, they have developed many methods for teaching products; they
have exchanged ideas and tactics and strategies with each other. They have invested much more
into their paradigm of teaching product than I, as a grade 3 student, had invested into my
paradigm of one-letter-one-sound spelling. And teaching writing products to students does work
well enough for enough students. (It worked just fine for me, probably because I am very smart.)
Teachers are not overwhelmed with data that challenges their faith in their perspective. Not all
students succeed, but enough do that teachers keep revising their strategies rather than question
their paradigm. Under product-instruction, enough students will become good enough writers to
keep the system going. The argument that we, as writing studies experts, have to make when we
advocate for including things like process, rhetoric, genre, and socio-constructivism in public
school writing instruction is not that it works better—it’s that it will work better for some
students, and that some of them are the ones who are currently struggling.
Paper 3 Assignment Sheet (35%)
Paper 3 is the closest we’ll come to an academic research paper this term. Its exigence is academic: you must
contribute to an ongoing conversation about writing to an audience of experts about writing. Its genre is not formal,
but you will engage with and cite at least one source in your paper 3. The author of that source will be your
audience for paper 3.
See below for more details about purpose & audience and genre & structure.
Audience:
Your audience must be an author of one of the sources that we have read this term. See below for a list of options.
Remember that your audience wrote the source you read. Paper 3s that get top marks will have a main idea that
adds to one or more of the idea(s) in the audience’s source. Paper 3s that get average marks will say something
about the topic that is unrelated to the author’s main idea or will repeat one of the author’s ideas about writing.
**Even though your audience is the author of the source you use, you will not use “you” in your paper 3.
Genre:
Paper 3 will have two parts: an anecdote and a reflection. They must come in that order: anecdote first then
reflection.
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Anecdotes are a specific subgenre of creative nonfiction. Remember that all creative nonfiction has two
goals: to entertain the audience and to say something true and important about the topic. Anecdotes are very
short stories from the writer’s life. They usually have only one tone: funny, sad, sweet, etc.
Your anecdote must be about an incident from your writing history. You can write about writing you’ve
done in any language. You don’t have to write about academic writing—you can also choose to discuss
creative writing, personal writing, or professional writing.
Your anecdote must also introduce and inform your reflection.
You have already written a reflection. A reflection is a nonformal piece of academic writing. You can use “I”
and you must tell your audience something about the topic that they do not already know.
Purpose:
1. to entertain your audience with your anecdote
2. to contribute to your audience’s understanding of their topic with your reflection
Restriction:
Your anecdote cannot be about paper 1, paper 2, or any other piece of writing you have done for WRS 101.
Length:
800-1200 words. Each half of your paper should be 400-600 words. This is a very tight word count. To add to your
audience’s understanding of their topic in this tight word count, you are going to have to choose each detail and
word very carefully. This will require several rounds of internal and external revision.
Language:
I will require careful polished English in the final draft of this paper. Use the feedback I give you on the grammar of
your paper 1 to improve your grammar in this paper. Grammar will impact your grade.
Citation and formatting:
You must format your paper 3 according to either MLA or APA citation standards. This includes:
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proper headers and/or title pages
in-text citations
a works cited page
Check the “Useful Links” tab on eclass for links to help you with your formatting and citation. We will not be
spending time on this in class, but failing to cite properly will cost you marks.
Possible audiences & topics:
If you want to write about a topic not listed here, please get in touch with me. It is likely that I can give you a source
and an author to respond to.
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Murray: writing process or revision
Root: structure
Straub: feedback
o If you want a more challenging source on the topic of feedback, please get in touch with me.
Losh et. al: rhetoric
o If you want to write about intercultural rhetoric, get in touch with me.
Dean: genre
Sommers & Saltz: student writing and/or academic writing
Ferris: ESL writers or grammar & ESL writing
o We didn’t read any articles by Ferris, but I can give you one if you are interested in one of these
topics.
Elbow: a variety of topics, including assessment of writing, the writing process, low-stakes writing, and style
PDF are the sample draft and requirement, here
is the course reading:
https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/course/view.php?id=60568§ion=2
Login: renjie4
Pw: Qdxdf201909
below is my previous related assignment
Writing Assignment 8 (Generative Writing for
Paper 3)
For this piece of generative writing, you are going to carelessly list as many moments from
your history of writing as possible. These moments will be possible content for the
anecdote half of your paper 3.
Remember that you are not required to write about academic writing for paper 3. Creative,
personal, or professional writing is all acceptable. Writing done in any language is
acceptable.
LIST: List as many memories as you can. Do not worry if they are inappropriate,
1.
boring, unconnected with anything we’ve learned about writing so far, or anything else that
makes them “bad.” Your goal is a long list. The more you give yourself permission to have
bad ideas, the more ideas you will have. The longer your list, the more likely it is that you
will have one good idea. Try to include ideas from both your first- and second-language
writing. Try to include a variety of types of writing: academic, creative, personal, and
professional.
NARRATE: If you run out of ideas, choose one (any one!) and narrate it. Be as
2.
specific as possible. Try to remember the day or week or hour that best shows this
incident. Try to remember locations, people, thoughts, and dialogue. If you remember
more ideas for #1 while you are describing this moment, add them to your list.
Please continue to move back and forth between narrating and listing for the entire time.
List：
-Last month，I became a shareholder of the vancouver whitecaps.
-When I was in high school，I volunteer to clean up the beaches in my hometown. I feel
honored.
-When I graduated from high school，I worked as an intern in a shipping company. I
learned something about import and export.
-When I was in high school，I was in my high school soccer team. I took part in a football
match in my province. Even though I was knocked out in the group stage, I feel very
excited to play. I’m not very good at football, but I’ve always had good luck. I’m a reserve
player but I’m key. I always score in second half.
-Last year，I gave my mother a hat for her birthday. The color of the hat is purple, which is
her favorite color.
Narrate：
I like football very much. One of my dreams is to have my own football team. Last month it
occurred to me that I could buy shares in my favorite club to realize my dream. So I
contacted the vancouver whitecaps. I told the staff I liked the team and wanted to buy a
stake in the team. They agreed to let me buy in. I successfully bought a stake in the team
and became a shareholder in the team. I’m excited that I have a stake in the team. I now
own 0.1% of the team. My goal is to buy 1% of the team before I graduate from college. I
believe this team can develop very well in the future. More and more people in North
America pay attention to the football match. I am confident that football can become as
popular a sport as football, basketball and ice hockey.
We should think more about it. If you have a good business idea. We should give it a try.
We must learn to be good at making decisions. When I thought about buying a stake in
the football team, I assessed the future of the football industry. I thought it was feasible, so
I decided to buy a stake in the team.
I believe that my business thinking can give you a good inspiration. I hope you are also
good at thinking and making decisions.

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