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LaToya Darden-Dixon

  • The Flaws of Writing Alone

    Throughout the Page & Screen course taught by Dr. Lucas at High Point University, I have learned many things. This newly acquired knowledge ranges from not procrastinating my Habits of Mind work to sitting in a group with my peers to go over work together. I also learned that I prefer to work alone, with constructive criticism from my classmates, over working in a group, as well as realizing a draft is only good if I write it longhand so I can visually see my mistakes rather than having Microsoft Word tell me what I did wrong and create a paper for me. I hope to utilize these new skills and preferences learned for the rest of my life, whether it is myself or teaching a younger generation. 

    My final essay and annotated bibliography for this class for this course was one of my least favorite pieces. Mainly because I chose to draft it alone, making every aspect of the work a bit more difficult. All the sources had to be found and incorporated within a certain amount of time and any errors found could not be brisked over because there was only one writer making this 1,800+ worded piece. However, I wrote about a topic I am passionate about, technology in classrooms, so the work would not be as dreadful and boring as it seemed. Being able to back up a statement I commonly make, “with the advancements of technology becoming something anyone can access at their fingertips it is wise to begin asking oneself how they can merge technology and ink in a positive way that makes both sides of this forever argument happy.” I completely understand that not everyone shares the same preference on the subject, but with a bit of research and quick experiments, finding a “happy medium” could not be as strenuous as it is made out to be. 

    Keeping a journal meant I would be writing in ink and writing longhand often. Although I did not mind it at times, I tended to forget that after some time my hand will cramp up. It normally takes about five minutes for the pain to begin, and then another three minutes to acknowledge it. Regardless, writing longhand in my journal allowed me to catch my mistakes and gather all my thoughts and ideas before typing my final revision for any work in or out of my class. Having a journal also helped when I wanted to restate something from a summary or a Scrabble debriefing. According to David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen when writing, “a notebook can come to feel like a verbal sketch pad…” The works created in my journal, while rough, created the works I submitted confidently, and with minor mistakes for this course. 

    In short, creating and drafting my final essay and annotated bibliography was laborious and trying at times, but in the end, it was worth all the work I put into it. Writing longhand to make my draft, working alone to use my ideas while getting advice from others around me and taking my time typing it all out to create a cohesive and understandable piece was extremely rewarding once it was submitted and while making anything online or on paper has different effects on people, for me it is a simple matter of just getting it done. 

    Works Cited 

    Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. “Writing on Computers vs. Writing on Paper.” Writing Analytically, eighth ed., Cengage, 2019, pp. 125–125. 

    Darden-Dixon, LaToya E. Survival of the Well-Written. 2022, https://latoyadardendixon.wordpress.com/. 

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  • Survival of the Well-Written

     

    Within the article, “Blogs vs. Term Papers” created by Matt Richel a learner can compare their opinion on technology in writing to professionals in the field. Although many instructors would prefer for students to continue writing long hand, the same number of instructors as well as students would rather advance with technology and incorporate technology into their writing style. Many people have touched on and given their opinions. This has led to fiery debates and many people agreeing with others who they may not have ever met. Many people say that writing long hand can still be used, but technology should be more common in classrooms and used in writing of all sorts. 

    A common question among many is, “how can using technology in writing positively affect the way we learn?” This can be answered in many ways, Jill Stephen and David Rosenwasser, co-authors of Writing Analytically, approached this by comparing writing on computers to writing on paper. While writing on a computer is more efficient to some it can be more work to others. Stephen and Rosenwasser invite the reader to try writing in a notebook then on a screen to know their own preference or ways to make whichever they do not enjoy as much, more bearable. 

    Many tecahers have decided to switch their assignments to being completely digital, while this is great for most students, personally I enjoy writing things down. Having the ability to write my notes then transfer them to a Word document or vice versa makes learning a lot easier for me. However, I do not enjoy drafting a full essay long-hand, I can draft and plan in ink, but I would much rather type out my concluding thoughts. More research on this topic can be done by looking into the psychology behind it, asking why students would rather write with technology than write in ink. This could be because of the way one was raised, in the case of this generation and the next, we were surrounded by technology growing up which could have placed us in a situation where we see technology as part of learning and not something a class is gifted when it is in the curriculum. Another answer could be related to the 2020 shutdown when many schools moved to all digital learning and students adapting to this modern style of learning. Many students from my school out drafting essays on paper in the past during the pandemic and decided to make their schoolwork purely digital.  

    As stated earlier, no preference will be the exact same. Not everyone enjoys the way people learn, however I with the advancements of technology becoming something anyone can access at their fingertips it is wise to begin asking oneself how they can merge technology and ink in a positive way that makes both sides of this forever argument happy. 

    Annotated Bibliography  

    Green, McKinley. “Smartphones, Distraction Narratives, and Flexible Pedagogies: Students’ Mobile Technology Practices in Networked Writing Classrooms.” Computers and Composition, JAI, 21 Feb. 2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461517300981.  

    McKinley Green created “Smartphones, Distraction Narratives, and Flexible Pedagogies: Students’ Mobile Technology Practices in Networked Writing Classrooms” In January of 2019 claiming that as the way people write changes, instructors should embrace that change and apply it to their classroom environment. It is also said that the findings through research on technology in writing should “encourage instructors to adapt their teaching to the mobile and networked technologies that students bring with them to class, rather than forcing students to conform to smartphone-free pedagogical environments.” 

    McKinley Green is an assistant professor at George Mason University, where he studies queer rhetorics, technical communication, and sexual health risk communication around HIV/AIDS. He received his PhD in Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota at Twin Circle. He created “Smartphones, Distraction Narratives, and Flexible Pedagogies: Students’ Mobile Technology Practices in Networked Writing Classrooms” to show writing with technology and ways to avoid students using this to distract themselves from their main goal when writing. 

    Richtel, Matt. “Blogs vs. Term Papers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/muscling-in-on-the-term-paper-tradition.html.  

                            In an article created by Matt Richter, New York Times author, a reader is given the similarities, differences, and arguments on how professionals as well as students feel about creating a blog or writing a term paper. It is common knowledge that an instructor anywhere will not have the exact same preference for how they wish a student to form a work in comparison to colleagues and/or others who work in that field. Cathy N. Davidson, An English professor from Duke University, now at City University of New York, has a strong opinion and urges for students to switch to writing term papers to evolve with technology. 

    Matt Richtel obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkley and an MS from the Columbia School of Journalism and is now a New York Times best selling author, journalist, and comic strip writer, he created “Blogs vs. Term Papers” for the New York Times in 2012. 

    Regan, Kelley, et al. “Teacher Perceptions of Integrating Technology in Writing.” Taylor & Francis, 15 Jan. 2019, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1475939X.2018.1561507.  

    The article Teacher Perceptions of Integrating Technology in Writing goes into detail about the history of technology in classrooms and how it developed writing. The authors claim, “Although these changes tend to be welcomed, technology adoption in the classroom has been slow.”  

    Dr. Kelley Regan, Anya S. Evmenova, Jessica Schwartzer, and Melissa D. Hughes are all part of the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research, at George Mason University, Donna Sacco is part of the Department of Special Education and Child Development, University of North Carolina in Charlotte, and David S. Chirinos is part of the Department of Psychological Science, University of North Georgia. Each of these people collaborated to create the article Teacher Perceptions of Integrating Technology in Writing. 

    Stephen, J. (2019). Writing on Computers vs. Writing on Paper. In Writing analytically (pp. 124–125). essay, Cengage.  

    In “Writing on Computers vs. Writing on Paper,” David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen explains the positives and negatives of the different writing styles, claiming that typing, while it is efficient, can “lock you into a draft or a particular idea too soon” (124-25). 

    Before retiring, David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen both taught English at Muhlenburg College, where they developed the Writing Across the Curriculum Program. They are now co-authors of the composition textbook Writing Analytically. 

  • He Speaks Pretty Today

    In an excerpt from David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” he writes about an experience from his French class with a seemingly heartless teacher. On the first day of his class, Sedaris’ teacher managed to find a flaw in all of the students introductions. Sedaris was able to convey moments in this class through many literary elements such as, imagery, hyperboles, similes, and metaphors. He was also able to enhance his story by using a topic that many people can relate to, whether it is about learning a language or driving a car. The detailed observations of what was happening in his classroom and outside setting made readers feel as if they are looking through his eyes in the moments he described. For Sedaris, speaking the French language was a separate goal, for he found it more important to understand what was being said to him. Learning a foreign language does not come easily to anyone, there are many different ways to learn and retain information, with a positive learning environment and a good teacher most of the time, students from any learning background are able to understand the subject. 

    In an excerpt from David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” he writes about an experience from his French class with a seemingly heartless teacher. On the first day of his class, Sedaris’ teacher managed to find a flaw in all of the students introductions. Sedaris was able to convey moments in this class through many literary elements such as, imagery, hyperboles, similes, and metaphors. He was also able to enhance his story by using a topic that many people can relate to, whether it is about learning a language or driving a car. The detailed observations of what was happening in his classroom and outside setting made readers feel as if they are looking through his eyes in the moments he described. For Sedaris, speaking the French language was a separate goal, for he found it more important to understand what was being said to him. Learning a foreign language does not come easily to anyone, there are many different ways to learn and retain information, with a positive learning environment and a good teacher most of the time, students from any learning background are able to understand the subject. 

    The result of the teacher’s behavior was them being afraid of the class. The classroom felt like a fight between the teacher and the students. The teacher had a temper, “We soon learned to dodge chalk and protect our heads and stomachs whenever she approached us with a question. She hadn’t yet punched anyone, but it seemed wise to protect ourselves against the inevitable.” (Paragraph 18) Sedaris attempted to prove her thoughts wrong by studying more than he already was, but this did not work in his favor. She called him a “lazy kfdtinvfm.” She made Sedaris and other students feel like they were in a corner and alone. This brought many insecurities to Sedaris when in public, “Stopping for a coffee, asking directions, depositing money in my bank account: these things were out of the question, as they involved having to speak.” According to Sedaris “Before beginning school, there’d been no shutting me up, but now I was convinced that everything I said was wrong.” The professor made Sedaris and other students feel like they were in a corner and alone. This brought many insecurities to Sedaris when he would do everyday things such as asking for directions or ordering coffee.  

    Sedaris had a quarter of this. The teacher that he was stuck with made going into the classroom difficult for all the students. He described the student’s hallway conversations as something, “commonly overheard in refugee camps.” The translated conversations are simple and could be understood within the group of students who all did their best to practice their “pathetic French.” The teacher constantly humiliates the students which makes them practically fear the language. Sedaris explains how he had previous knowledge of the French language, but the class he was in made him uncomfortable with the language. One day Sedaris is able to understand her insult “And it struck me that, for the first time since arriving in France, I could understand every word that someone was saying.” (Paragraph 27) He did not realize that sometimes to overcome a learning barrier, you have to take it head-on. It is especially important for students to not fear failure in learning, or they will never progress, and this class did not see much of it because of the professor pointing out their failures. 

    In summary, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” was greatly enhanced with the literary elements, the struggle that can be related to in practically any way one would want it to, and the many details provided by Sedaris. The excerpt itself shows growth of confidence over a matter of months. The work overall shows the challenges faced by Sedaris attempting to continue his education of the French language. He faced challenges such as his age and his teacher. He uses humor to gain readers’ interest while teaching life lessons at the same time. 

  • The Crazy Behind the Curtains

    There are certain experiences in life that people remember forever. There is the first crush, first concert, first kiss, graduating high school, a wedding, or simply watching someone achieve something they have worked extremely hard on. The thing that makes these moments so memorable is what came before them. The overwhelming amounts of stress and anxiety, the tears, the late nights, the phone calls to a friend or loved one, and the confidence needed. For me, dance always needed those background moments. My second solo, for example, had all of those happen, but it was worth it when I won first overall and a title crown after the first time it competed on stage. 

    There was lots of preparation that went into the solo. The first private rehearsal was the most eventful. My teacher, Melissa McDermott, was able to teach me the whole dance in 45 minutes, which shocked both of us. Shortly after learning the whole thing, things took a turn, right before we played the music for a second run through, I passed out. I was unconscious for about a minute and a half, but we managed to scare ourselves and the soloist next door who was also learning his new solo. By the time I woke up, I remembered I had forgotten to eat a full breakfast that morning. The “breakfast” I decided to have that morning was an apple, which is not enough for a 3-hour rehearsal at a dance studio in October. The other difficulty before going on stage was my allergies. I was cursed from birth with Spring, Summer, and Fall allergies, I get congested, one side of my nose gets clogged, and I must take heavy medication just to be able to breathe normally. By some miracle, this was not as much of an issue as the passing out situation, but still quite annoying to deal with. 

    Leading up to the competition I had a normal amount of stress. I had to make sure I got my schoolwork done by Wednesday and I got my Friday and weekend work handed to me early since I was leaving early Friday morning and my younger brother was competing that same Friday afternoon. I also had lots of rehearsals so my solo performance would go smoothly on Saturday afternoon. We made it through Friday and Saturday morning, I was finished with my hair and makeup, I had my costume on and I thought I was ready to dance. What we did not know was that this was the first time the venue was opening since 2020 and it was filled with dust, yet another thing I am allergic to. As soon as I felt a burning feeling in my lungs I had sprung into a panic. My best friends, Kelleigh and J.J., who usually helped in these situations, had not arrived yet and the two closest people to me were my friends Mason and Kaylee. Kaylee ran to find my mom and Mason had to do his best to calm me down and help me try breathing again, once that happened, I was brought backstage. 

    Then came the performance. I had a small scare backstage when Miss Melissa wasn’t with me, but she showed up with water, a stress ball, and my little brother. The soloist before me walked on stage and I had a moment of déjà vu, it felt like August 2020 all over again, I was backstage for my first solo and as soon as they walked on-stage, I had a nervous breakdown. I tried watching the solo, but I had too many questions in my mind. Am I ready? Do I know my solo? How long is my solo? When should I look at the judges? How long is the solo before me? One minute. How much longer is this solo? When do I start walking on? Did they announce my name yet? Two minutes, now my solo is being announced and I am walking on. During the routine nothing was in my head, at least from what I remember. What I do have a vivid memory of was walking off stage, seeing my mom and my team, then saying “alright, thanks for the love, but I need to change for my duet.” The memory, no matter how many times I remember all the stress, leads to that one funny moment. After that, anytime I did a solo there was just a friend saying “excellent job! Let’s get you changed,” followed by laughter. The awards ceremony was not for another week, due to COVID-19 regulations. I remember sitting in a crowded room with my mask on, to my right, my friend Kelleigh and to my left my friend J.J. We sat through awards surrounded by my teammates and then came my solo category. Top 10. I heard five names called all followed by a clip of the solos. Top 5. I listened to 4 names and felt sick to my stomach when the room went silent for who came in first place. I could not hear anything, I was looking at my feet, it was taking forever in my mind but really it was 45 seconds. I was not paying attention to when the man said, “first overall and being crowned Senior Miss Ticket to Broadway 2021.” What I heard was my team cheering for me and telling me how proud they were. I could not have looked more confused in my life. How in the world did I win? The competition displayed my score, a 296.4. That is 3.6 points away from perfect score. One of the highest scores of the weekend. The awards ceremony ended 15 minutes later, yet I did not stop smiling until I fell asleep that night. 

    The moment that I won was the moment that I proved to myself that I did all the work needed. All the late nights I stayed up crying, the conversations with my friends Mason and Kaylee about the solo, passing out in the studio bathroom during a private were all worth it. Winning the title meant that I was on the top, and I needed to keep working to stay on top. There was no “I did it this will happen again,” there was “back to work let’s make it harder and keep it clean.” The pride was worth it. I will forever remember the feelings I felt prior to performing as well as the people who helped me and cheered for me when I won.