To succeed as a writer, you have to figure out the value of process. This is why learning process orientated thinking and studying the processes employed by successful writers will allow you to make yourself a better writer. Making yourself a better writer will help you produce better writing. In fact, if I had a magic wand, I'd wave it over your heads and magically, you would understand real learning and most of being happy and successful is more about learning the destination (the product) is much less important than journey to get there (the process). In fact, in this class, refining the processes you use to think about writing and producing writing *IS* the product, not the papers and posts you write along the way.
If you remember the first day of class, I defined good writing as successful writing, that is, writing which accomplishes the goals the author (you) have sat for it. The ability to produce such writing isn't a matter or talent, and it's not something with which you are born. Writing which scores regularly--successful writing--is a product of a long process of error, trail, and persistence. This process involves you figuring out what you need to learn to accomplish your goals. It involves in figuring out what your goals are and learning to focus on them. It involves practice. It involves developing a system of steps and techniques you can *use*, and it involves hard work.
All of us have admired Olympic athletes, musicians, and even circus performers. They make the difficult, seemingly impossible look easy. Each movement is purposeful, polished, graceful, and their performance--their product--seems beyond the abilities of mere humans. BUT--and this is a big "but"; so, I'm breaking the usual rules and writing it in capitals and starting a sentence with it--each of these performances is produced by a human, who in most respects is just like me and you. (Well, in my case, they usually aren't as fat.) What sets them apart from us is years of practice and skill honed by practice and knowledge of themselves and their medium.
We "know" they are as human as we are, but in our guts we remain, somehow, unconvinced. We continue to believe that they are more talented than us, and most of us firmly believe we can never, ever match their performance. Maybe this is true. The performers we're taught to admire are at the top of their professions and abilities. Most of us won[t take the time to come to their level of expertise and put in the time and effort needed to produce their products. The products we see such experts produce produce usually don't include their first stumbling efforts, the countless mistakes they made while learning, and the time and energy they put into getting themselves to the point where their performance is worthy of our awe. The reason I love seeing a craftsman at work is that I can imagine and admire all the hard work which allowed them to produce the products I use. Of course, this is also why I admire your work.
Every semester, students enter my class believing that good writing is a matter of talent rather than systematic work and a willingness to fail and learn from their failures. They spend a lot of energy looking for shortcuts and easy solutions, when the sad truth is, "There are none." Some tell me, "I don't like English." Some say, "I'm not good at English." Some tell me, "I'm good in math and science, not English." The good news is I teach writing, not English., and almost anyone can learn to write well. Their performances may not, like Shakespeare or Hemingway, be worthy of our awe, but they can learn to write well enough to get most any job done (and done well).
Most of us who ride bikes won't end up being Lance Armstrong, then again most of us aren't interested in multiple wins of the Tourde France. Still, we manage to get from point A to B, and we have fun riding. We don't consider our ability to ride a matter of talent or being born "good" at biking. After all, most everyone can learn to ride a bike. For most, it's a matter of being willing to fall off and get back on the bike until we pick up the trick. After we pick up the very, very complicated blend of balance and multi-layered, precise motions which allow us to ride a bike, riding a bike doesn't seem like too big a deal. Why do students continue to think writing is any different? It isn't. Becoming a successful writer requires the same determination, persistence, and willingness to fail to achieve a greator end that most of us had when we were a kid learning to ride a bike.
Learning to ride a bike requires you to go through a process of failure, getting hurt, and picking yourself up, and trying a slightly difference set of skills. Writing isn't any different, and--truth be told--I've taught enough students how to write that I've learned the difference between those who go on to be good, successful writers and those who don't involves a willingness to go through through the process rather than quitting or just trying to muddle through. Make no mistake: practiced skills accumulate. One day the various skills "click," and you find yourself riding the bike--writing--with ease a confidence.
Over the years, I've become convinced writing is a craft at which almost everyone can become proficient. My class isn't about judging every detail of your writing; it's about my getting you through the process and getting you to believe in the process, and it is about the both of us getting you to get back up on the bike, believing the end is worth all the work and pain. Here's an essential life lesson: "Failure gets a bad rap. You MUST, HAVE TO, SHOULD fail, because failure is a necessary precursor to all meaningful success. In fact, failure can be a joy filled, fun beginning, but it takes a while to learn such joyful acceptance of our own painful failures."
I want my students to be willing to fail, that is, produce writing which isn't successful or is only partially successful. I want them to stretch the envelope of their skills and knowledge. I want them to learn how to learn from their falls, dust themselves off, and try out new techniques until their writing begins to do the work they want it to. At this point, just like bike riding, writing can both get you where you want to go AND be fun. Think about this last. When was the last time you had fun writing? When is the last time you gave yourself a pat on the back for producing a writing which just got from point A to point B? In most of life, you don't beat yourself up or let a teacher beat you up just because you aren't Lance Armstrong. Why is writing usually less fun than bike riding?
Learning to be a good writer--which is what this class is all about--isn't about the products you produce in the class; it's about learning how to learn from the processes you use to produce your writing and integrating this process of learning into how you think about writing and yourself. In short, the most important product you'll produce in the class isn't the papers you'll write or your portfolio, etc. Your most important product, the one on which I'll base your grade, is a proven knowledge of the process of how to make yourself a better writer. I'm looking to see if you're investing the time to try out proofreading techniques, practicing the KISS style, etc. When I give a student an "A," I want to be fairly convienced they have what it takes to go on to be the kind of writers *they* want to be.
Think of me as a little league coach. Yes, I'm judging you, but I'm not basing my opinion of you on your hit-run adverage. I'm much more interested in your learning the game, figuring out how best to teach you, and in getting to witness the joy you take from the practice and play. I base my opinion of you on your willingness to show up for practice, work hard at the tasks I give you, how you work with your team mates, and the progress you're showing learning the skills you're practicing. Like a coach, you'll have to trust me that all the seemingly senseless practice will pay off in the big game. Like a coach, I'm working on the various aspects of your game. Unlike a coach, however, I'll make sure I tell you why I'm having you do all the work. After all, you're adults.
Here's the last major point for today, in every assignment for this class, I want you paying attention to the processes you're using to create the various products I assign. I want you to end every assignment by reflecting and assessing these processes. I want you learning from the creating and doing. I want you learning from practice how to be more accurate and effective. If all goes well--I want you thinking about what you're learning as you learn. If all goes perfectly--life usually doesn't--you might even learn to enjoy writing. When you started, it was a much fun as learning to ride a bike. For most students, there will be a day when all the skills and knowledge you've learned and are learning clicks, and you'll be ready to play your own game, knowing you're playing it as well as you can AND getting as much better at it as you want.
For all this to happen, you have to learn to give your attention to process and accept the products which result. I do.
19 June 2008
FYI: Resource List...Too good a post not to pass along...
There are so many free resources available on the web to help you be a better, more successful, more stress free student. Rather than list them all myself,, here's a link to a post which does much of the work for me. Here's the link:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-ultimate-student-resource-list.html
Notice the place given to the various google services you're learning to use. I know it's been a pain getting through the learning curve, but these services are truly *useful*.
In any event, check out the list of services you might use while a student. I especially like the outlining, mindmapping, and bibliography services/programs, which will make writing academic papers much, much easier. Heck, I've used them all, and I still use many of them when I write.
Steve
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-ultimate-student-resource-list.html
Notice the place given to the various google services you're learning to use. I know it's been a pain getting through the learning curve, but these services are truly *useful*.
In any event, check out the list of services you might use while a student. I especially like the outlining, mindmapping, and bibliography services/programs, which will make writing academic papers much, much easier. Heck, I've used them all, and I still use many of them when I write.
Steve
One Style to Rule Them All. Reading for the Week of Monday, 23 June- Sunday, 29 June
If you've read the signature line in my emails, you've seen this quotation:
There is, however, a style of writing that works for almost all American audiences. I call it the KISS Style. Use the KISS Style whenever you are not sure of the style your audiences expects. Heck, use it when you are sure, and your writing will still succeed more often than it fails. When I need my own writing to be clear, I revise toward a KISS style.
Find my notes on the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) style below. These notes are lifted from a style sheet given by a newspaper editor to new writers. The advice is practical and to the point.
The KISS style works in almost all writing situations. It even works on an academic audience, an audience who likes convoluted, precise, qualified prose. Why does the KISS Style work so often? Bet on most of your audience being lazy, and--most of the time--you'll win. Write in a style which requires them to do the least work possible, that is, in short, subject-verb-object sentences, and most audiences will describe your writing as clear and precise.
Pay particular attention to the advice on writing short, right branching sentences; and, if you don't understand the notion of what subjects, verbs, and objects are, now is the time to do some research online, stop by the campus tutorial center, or make an appointment with me.
If you learn no other thing in this class, learn to follow the SVO<24>
SVO<24
Yes: Biology professor Karl Johnson died of cancer Tuesday. He was 55.
--
Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, "It depends." And whatBy this point in the semester, you know that there are few pat rules when it comes to writing. Most of what I teach boils down to, "It depends on the rhetorical situation." The truth, "It depends...," is why the most important skills you'll learn this semester are those of figuring out your own reasons for writing, your audience, and the noise keeping your audience from understanding your message. Learn these skills and how they guide what you can and should say, that is, how they help you craft successful messages, and your writing will almost always allow you to accomplish your goals.
it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners
or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.
[Kenneth G. Wilson, usage writer (b. 1923)]
There is, however, a style of writing that works for almost all American audiences. I call it the KISS Style. Use the KISS Style whenever you are not sure of the style your audiences expects. Heck, use it when you are sure, and your writing will still succeed more often than it fails. When I need my own writing to be clear, I revise toward a KISS style.
Find my notes on the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) style below. These notes are lifted from a style sheet given by a newspaper editor to new writers. The advice is practical and to the point.
The KISS style works in almost all writing situations. It even works on an academic audience, an audience who likes convoluted, precise, qualified prose. Why does the KISS Style work so often? Bet on most of your audience being lazy, and--most of the time--you'll win. Write in a style which requires them to do the least work possible, that is, in short, subject-verb-object sentences, and most audiences will describe your writing as clear and precise.
Pay particular attention to the advice on writing short, right branching sentences; and, if you don't understand the notion of what subjects, verbs, and objects are, now is the time to do some research online, stop by the campus tutorial center, or make an appointment with me.
If you learn no other thing in this class, learn to follow the SVO<24>
SVO<24
What's that mean? Subject-verb-object sentences of generally less than 24 words.
Good writing starts with good sentence structure, and that means simple construction: subject-verb-object. Not blah, blah, blah, S-V-O. All that does is delay meaning.
This also is called the right-branching sentence: Think of S-V-O as the engine of a train. A short train. Start with the subject of your sentence. A good, strong verb comes next. If these two elements are in place, your sentence is more likely to succeed.
Problem writers use a lot of commas and other punctuation. A good remedial exercise is to try writing a story with no commas. That, of course, means sentences should be short. Research shows that 20-word sentences are fairly clear to most readers. Thirty-word sentences are not.
Here's an even easier test: If you can't read a sentence aloud without taking a breath, it's too long.
Ten guidelines to clearer writing
1. One idea per sentence.
No: Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., experienced the largest of recent high school murder rampages last week, and DeKalb schools, along with police, are reacting to a rumor of violence at DeKalb High School.
Yes: School officials and police are reacting quickly to a rumored threat of violence at DeKalb High School.
The response follows last week's high school massacre in Littleton, Colo.
2. Limit sentence length to 23-25 words. If you can't read a sentence aloud without a breath, it's too long.
No: After the announcement was made by President John La Tourette that he will be retiring early next year, Boey, under his board authority, created an ad hoc committee that will find representatives to sit on the actual search committee. (38 words)
Yes: President John La Tourette announced last month he will retire early next year. (12 words) Boey has since created a temporary committee to choose a search committee. (12 words)
3. S-V-O: Subject-Verb-Object. Right-branching sentences (think of a train engine). Don't delay meaning. Don't use a lot of commas.
No: Mauger, who worked as a bursar at DePaul University in Chicago prior to working at Beloit, said she missed the university environment.
Yes: Mauger was a bursar at Chicago's DePaul University before her Beloit job. She missed the university environment.
4. Use strong verbs and an active voice.
No: The poem will be read by La Tourette.
Yes: La Tourette will read the poem.
5. Reduce difficult words to their simplest terms. Don't let bureaucrats dictate your word choices.
No: The search committee will be constructed in accordance with Article 8 of the NIU constitution.
Yes: NIU's constitution dictates the search committee's makeup.
6. Don't back into a sentence.
No: The end of the academic year and the end of the legislative session were two reasons La Tourette cited.
Yes: La Tourette cited two reasons: the end of the academic year and the end of the legislative session.
7. Don't use more than three numbers in any one sentence.
No: Wednesday, the NIU baseball team's winless streak hit 22 as NIU (4-37-1) dropped a twin bill to Miami (21-18-1), 8-2 and 10-5, at Oxford, Ohio.
Yes: Oxford, Ohio Ñ NIU's baseball losing streak reached 22 as the Huskies dropped a doubleheader Wednesday to Miami, 8-2 and 10-5.
8. Use no more than three prepositional phrases per sentence.
No: Students who will be graduating from NIU will be honored at a senior luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Yes: Friday's senior luncheon will honor students about to graduate. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center's Regency Room.
9. Choose the precise word.
No: This will increase the number of participants from 55 students a week to 200 students a week, and in that extra 145 students the age for attendance also will change. The present center is only equipped to handle children ages 2-6, but the new center will have the capacity to serve infants, too. (2 sentences, 53 words total)
Yes: This will increase the center's weekly capacity, from 55 children to 200. And, while the current center takes children ages 2-6, the new center will take infants, too. (2 sentences, 28 words total)
10. KISS (keep it simple, stupid).
No: Biological sciences professor Karl Johnson passed away Tuesday at the age of 55, following a long, courageous battle with cancer.Yes: Biology professor Karl Johnson died of cancer Tuesday. He was 55.
--
17 June 2008
"What you should I analyze in the two new rhetorical analysis?"
Patrice wrote asking what messages/rhetorical situations I wanted you to focus on in the rhetorical analysis you are doing this week. It's an excellent question, and until she pointed it out, I hadn't realized how vague my description was. It just goes to show that any author profits from feedback from his audience. Thanks Patrice.
In any event, here's my reply to her question:
In any event, here's my reply to her question:
Look at instances of communication which have taken place in this class. With over 600 emails already exchanged, there's a lot of possible messages and rhetorical situations you could analyze. The message/rhetorical situation you pick to analyze could be an email which was sent, a post to the blog by me, a piece written by another student, etc. The only limitation I'm setting is that it should be an instance of rhetoric used in this class.
What I am trying to get y'all to notice is how rhetoric can work in the dynamics of the classroom. If I was too make a recommendation, I would suggest picking two messages to analyze which you thought accomplished the author's purpose very well, and--since you probably don't want to be a professor and will learn more from looking at the effective rhetoric used by a peer--focus on the work of a successful author in the class.
16 June 2008
FYI: Resource Link: Additional Reading on How to Work with Groups
Here are three links to additional reading on how to work well with groups, especially online:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/group/list7.cfm
http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html?http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html
http://www.kolabora.com/news/2005/01/29/virtual_teamwork_best_practices_focus.htm
My favorite line from these articles is this:
"Communication is the responsibility of both the speaker and the listener. The speaker must actively seek to express the ideas in a clear and concise manner - the listener must actively seek to understand what has been said and to ask for clarification if unsure. Finally, both parties must be sure that the ideas have been correctly communicated perhaps by the listener summarizing what was said in a different way."
It comes from the second article.
Steve
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/group/list7.cfm
http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html?http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html
http://www.kolabora.com/news/2005/01/29/virtual_teamwork_best_practices_focus.htm
My favorite line from these articles is this:
"Communication is the responsibility of both the speaker and the listener. The speaker must actively seek to express the ideas in a clear and concise manner - the listener must actively seek to understand what has been said and to ask for clarification if unsure. Finally, both parties must be sure that the ideas have been correctly communicated perhaps by the listener summarizing what was said in a different way."
It comes from the second article.
Steve
Kaizen and Process Driven Improvement: Reading for Week of Monday, 16 June-Sunday, 22 June
At the end of World War II, the economy of Japan was in shambles. The Allies had won the war, but winning the peace looked like a more difficult proposition. Folks remembered what had happened in Germany following the peace of World War I. Germany was penalized. We'd provided no help in rebuilding the economy and let the post war German stew in its own juices. After all, they were the enemy? Right? Run away inflation, Hitler, and scapegoating of the Jews were the result. No one wanted a repeat, but no one understood how to rebuild a country either. What did we do? We looked for industrial experts. Japan's (and modern Germany's) position as world powers and economic power houses was the result.
At the conclusion of WWII, the current vogue in industrial management was time and motion study. During the war, specialists in the field had had a lot of practice, and the success of US industry in shifting toward producing the stuff of war was proof that time and motion study combined with the factory model of industrial production was a very, very powerful combination. Specialists in the field took the complex and seemingly simple and identified the steps involved. They then identified what steps had to be done and what was "wasted" motion. Through each of these understandings, they improved processes.
The QWERTY keyboard is a good example of how the time and motion study combine to make the human/machine interface more effective. The QWERTY keyboard was set up using early ides about time and motion studies. Wikipedia describes the history as:
The keyboard most of you use to interact with the computer was the result. The layout of the keys is designed to solve a problem in a human/mechanical interface--a problem which disappeared long ago. We continue to use the QWERTY layout, because learning to type using it requires a fairly heavy investment in time and energy, and it's the way things have been done for 150 years. Note there are better, more effectual ways to design a keyboard to ease the job of a typist getting English text into a computer, but we still use the QWERTY. Why? Answering this question goes a long way toward your developing a more complex idea of how processes work in human communities, so I'm going to take a moment to provide an answer before returning to the story of time and motion study, industrial management, Kaizen, and your becoming a better writer.
The short answer to why we continue to use the QWERTY keyboard is that it's the way most folks have learned to type. It took a long time for those of us who touch type to gain the skill. It works pretty well, that is, I can type faster than I can think and compose prose. To convince me to change over to a new method of text entry, you have to make the case (persuade me) the new method is worth the trouble of learning it. You have to make the case the new method will make my life sufficiently easier to warrant the investment in time and energy to make the change, you have to justify the capital investment needed to put new keyboards on most desks and retrain the workforce, and you have to overcome the "it's tradition" factor. The "it's tradition" factor is one reason that substantial changes in social practice happen along generational lines, that is, the young tend to have less invested in having learned a particular method of doing something, so they are less likely to resist a new, "better" method on the grounds the work doesn't have sufficient payoff. The young also have the task of establishing an identity different from their parents' and forming social communities outside of the family. The rebellion involved in adopting a new method of doing something, hence, has more appeal to the young. Catastrophe also sets up the conditions through which change will be accepted.
Loosing the war was one such catastrophe for Japan, so while they didn't exactly welcome Western experts into each factory, they saw the necessity of adopting new methods of industrial production. However, the problem involved in getting the Japanese to adopt the new methods of more effective factory labor design involved more than simply making the case that it worked, there was also a less obvious cultural conflict inherent in time and motion, process based industrial management. Those of us in the West had had centuries to adapt our society to the demands of the industrial revolution and, more importantly, to adapt industry and technology to the demands of society. One such compromise had to do with the place of the worker in a western factory.
In western factories, an individual does the same task repeatedly. They move one piece of a widget to another line. They attach one piece of the widget, and the next person down the line attaches the next. Such isolated sub-steps in a process work perfectly with time and motion study. Think about it. If you can identify a way for the individual to use less motion and effort to attach their piece of a widget, you can speed up the whole line. In a similar way, you can identify choke points, that is, points in the process where a single step or group of steps slows down overall production. Once identified, you can apply the know how of mechanical design to automate the task, break it down into more steps, or otherwise make it more effective, and you can make the whole line or the whole process more efficient.
In western culture, we've gotten used to "doing our job," that is, doing our bit of an overall project or doing our job on the line. The idea of single craftspersons doing all the steps involved in producing a product is the exception, not the rule. In the 1940s, the Japanese, however, were just coming out of feudal, crafts based society. Their workers were used to being involved in understanding products as wholes and not parts. They were also used to thinking of work as an end rather than a means. For example, think of Zen meditation practices built around specific kinds of work, like sweeping. Finally, they were used to thinking of communities and not individuals as the center of social and individual action. The upshot was that they adapted process based, time and motion study to the norms of their society. Kaizen was the result.
At the conclusion of WWII, the current vogue in industrial management was time and motion study. During the war, specialists in the field had had a lot of practice, and the success of US industry in shifting toward producing the stuff of war was proof that time and motion study combined with the factory model of industrial production was a very, very powerful combination. Specialists in the field took the complex and seemingly simple and identified the steps involved. They then identified what steps had to be done and what was "wasted" motion. Through each of these understandings, they improved processes.
The QWERTY keyboard is a good example of how the time and motion study combine to make the human/machine interface more effective. The QWERTY keyboard was set up using early ides about time and motion studies. Wikipedia describes the history as:
The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by the creator of the first modern typewriter, Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor who lived in Milwaukee. Originally, the characters on the typewriters he invented were arranged alphabetically, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. However, once an operator had learned to type at speed, the bars attached to letters that lay close together on the keyboard became entangled with one another, forcing the typist to manually unstick the typebars, and also frequently blotting the document.[1] A business associate of Sholes, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs ofThe notion of "low hanging fruit" is a classic metaphor from the industrial management philosophy of Kaizen. Kiazen also provides some useful language when teaching process, teaching process theory, running a writing program, or teaching folks to become better writers. The basic tenets are: typebars from striking the platen at the same time and sticking together.
The keyboard most of you use to interact with the computer was the result. The layout of the keys is designed to solve a problem in a human/mechanical interface--a problem which disappeared long ago. We continue to use the QWERTY layout, because learning to type using it requires a fairly heavy investment in time and energy, and it's the way things have been done for 150 years. Note there are better, more effectual ways to design a keyboard to ease the job of a typist getting English text into a computer, but we still use the QWERTY. Why? Answering this question goes a long way toward your developing a more complex idea of how processes work in human communities, so I'm going to take a moment to provide an answer before returning to the story of time and motion study, industrial management, Kaizen, and your becoming a better writer.
The short answer to why we continue to use the QWERTY keyboard is that it's the way most folks have learned to type. It took a long time for those of us who touch type to gain the skill. It works pretty well, that is, I can type faster than I can think and compose prose. To convince me to change over to a new method of text entry, you have to make the case (persuade me) the new method is worth the trouble of learning it. You have to make the case the new method will make my life sufficiently easier to warrant the investment in time and energy to make the change, you have to justify the capital investment needed to put new keyboards on most desks and retrain the workforce, and you have to overcome the "it's tradition" factor. The "it's tradition" factor is one reason that substantial changes in social practice happen along generational lines, that is, the young tend to have less invested in having learned a particular method of doing something, so they are less likely to resist a new, "better" method on the grounds the work doesn't have sufficient payoff. The young also have the task of establishing an identity different from their parents' and forming social communities outside of the family. The rebellion involved in adopting a new method of doing something, hence, has more appeal to the young. Catastrophe also sets up the conditions through which change will be accepted.
Loosing the war was one such catastrophe for Japan, so while they didn't exactly welcome Western experts into each factory, they saw the necessity of adopting new methods of industrial production. However, the problem involved in getting the Japanese to adopt the new methods of more effective factory labor design involved more than simply making the case that it worked, there was also a less obvious cultural conflict inherent in time and motion, process based industrial management. Those of us in the West had had centuries to adapt our society to the demands of the industrial revolution and, more importantly, to adapt industry and technology to the demands of society. One such compromise had to do with the place of the worker in a western factory.
In western factories, an individual does the same task repeatedly. They move one piece of a widget to another line. They attach one piece of the widget, and the next person down the line attaches the next. Such isolated sub-steps in a process work perfectly with time and motion study. Think about it. If you can identify a way for the individual to use less motion and effort to attach their piece of a widget, you can speed up the whole line. In a similar way, you can identify choke points, that is, points in the process where a single step or group of steps slows down overall production. Once identified, you can apply the know how of mechanical design to automate the task, break it down into more steps, or otherwise make it more effective, and you can make the whole line or the whole process more efficient.
In western culture, we've gotten used to "doing our job," that is, doing our bit of an overall project or doing our job on the line. The idea of single craftspersons doing all the steps involved in producing a product is the exception, not the rule. In the 1940s, the Japanese, however, were just coming out of feudal, crafts based society. Their workers were used to being involved in understanding products as wholes and not parts. They were also used to thinking of work as an end rather than a means. For example, think of Zen meditation practices built around specific kinds of work, like sweeping. Finally, they were used to thinking of communities and not individuals as the center of social and individual action. The upshot was that they adapted process based, time and motion study to the norms of their society. Kaizen was the result.
- Use existing processes, tools, and infrastructure to "pick the lowest hanging fruit." [NB: Little if any additional investments in capital intensive remachining and work force training are needed.]
- Use groups made up of management and workers to examine goals, products and existing processes. [NB Tap into the knowledge and skills set of those who do the work and those who have a larger picture, all the while helping to build a better community.]
- Identify *small* changes in process which might provide a more efficient process or better product.
- Use the group to identify which changes in process will be made.
- Implement change(s).
- Use the group to evaluate changes.
- If the changes are deemed effective, maintain changes as part of a new process.
- Rinse and repeat.
- Pick higher fruits as the changes in process accumulate.
Here's how all this fits into a writing class and your becoming a better writer. Think of yourself as a writer or your group as in the process of becoming. You want to use your existing skills and knowledge about writing, how to write, and how to do things with words to produce texts which accomplish your ends. You pick the lowest hanging fruits, but you also know that your current process and knowledge set isn't as effective as they could be. To borrow a metaphor from the QWERTY keyboard, your writing process does well enough, but it could be more effective at doing its job.
The Kaizen of the writing process begins here. You make a commitment to improving the processes, tricks, and techniques you use to produce effective texts. You articulate the processes you currently use as a writer, and you then articulate a possible improvement to one process. You make the changes necessary to implement this one improvement, and you then evaluate the change. If the change you've made makes your writing more effective, both in terms of it accomplishing your purposes for writing and/or in making the job of writing easier, then you keep the change as part of your process.
Over the course of this coming week, you will be involved in self- and group-assessment exercises which should help you see how to apply Kaizen toward improving your work as a student, as a team member, as a team, and as a writer. This last, because Kaizen only works if you learn to better communicate with yourself and with others. Quite literally, you are discovering and beginning the Kaizen (the process of small continuous improvement) of your own writing and learning how to apply Kaizen to other aspects of your professional and personal life.
This class is about process and not product, that is, discovery of the process involved in creating a text and making your process for such creation more effective. Get your head around the fact that am much, much, much more interested in the process of your learning, the processes you follow (or don't) doing your assignments, and your coming to understand and value process than I am in your producing any one product, and you're a long way toward getting the content of the course and earning your "A."
Final writing assignment for week of Monday, 16 June-Sunday, 22 June.
Using everything you have learned from reading the blog, researching on your own online, and from writing previous ones, write two new rhetorical analysis. This time, focus on messages you have crafted and sent as part of this class. As part of these rhetorical analysis answer these two additional questions:
1) What could I have done to improve the success of this message?
2) What did I do well?
Steve
1) What could I have done to improve the success of this message?
2) What did I do well?
Steve
Notes for week of Monday, 16 June-Sunday, 22 June
This week will be one of assessment and of learning how to use self- and group-assessment as a writing and learning tool.
If you go back and review my previous post on Writing Process, the last step listed is one labeled as "Review." This is the single most important step in the writing process, because it is where your work crafting one message impacts your ability to craft a better message next time. Review and assessment have you looking at the work you have done, figuring out if it was successful, and what you did to craft a successful message (or not). Think of review as a postmortem, and your goal is to try to figure out one or two things you should continue to do in future rhetorical situations, one or two things to modify next time, and one or two things you might avoid.
Those who taught rhetoric and composition in the past referred to such review improving "Rhetorical Memory," because in order to be a successful, good writer or speaker, you need a repository or rhetorical memory of tactics and tricks which work in specific rhetorical situations. This is one reason I've had you doing rhetorical analysis, that is, to see what works and what doesn't in everyday communication. According to the likes of Aristotle and Plato, the only textbook would be rhetors, that is, users of rhetoric, need is the ability to break down rhetorical situations, recognize what worked and what didn't in each situation, and a developing memory for these tactics. Getting in the habit of reviewing your own work and getting others to help you do it is part of your own journey toward becoming better writers and speakers.
Oddly, however, you haven't been trained to do review and gauge the value of your own work. You've been trained to let others do this work for you in the form of a grade. It's time to unlearn--at least in part--the habit of thinking of your learning as ended as soon as you get back a grade. A grade just gives you someone else's judgment about the success of a message. Students aren't trained to look at their own work, assess what they have done well, and where they still need to improve. Instead, they are given a grade and are trained the see the grade not as part of a process of continued learning but as the end toward which you are working. There's the old spiel about "Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day..." Teaching students to gauge their own rhetorical performance and to see every act of communication as an opportunity to review and learn works a lot like teaching someone to fish versus giving them a fish.
This week you'll be learning to fish...
Steve
If you go back and review my previous post on Writing Process, the last step listed is one labeled as "Review." This is the single most important step in the writing process, because it is where your work crafting one message impacts your ability to craft a better message next time. Review and assessment have you looking at the work you have done, figuring out if it was successful, and what you did to craft a successful message (or not). Think of review as a postmortem, and your goal is to try to figure out one or two things you should continue to do in future rhetorical situations, one or two things to modify next time, and one or two things you might avoid.
Those who taught rhetoric and composition in the past referred to such review improving "Rhetorical Memory," because in order to be a successful, good writer or speaker, you need a repository or rhetorical memory of tactics and tricks which work in specific rhetorical situations. This is one reason I've had you doing rhetorical analysis, that is, to see what works and what doesn't in everyday communication. According to the likes of Aristotle and Plato, the only textbook would be rhetors, that is, users of rhetoric, need is the ability to break down rhetorical situations, recognize what worked and what didn't in each situation, and a developing memory for these tactics. Getting in the habit of reviewing your own work and getting others to help you do it is part of your own journey toward becoming better writers and speakers.
Oddly, however, you haven't been trained to do review and gauge the value of your own work. You've been trained to let others do this work for you in the form of a grade. It's time to unlearn--at least in part--the habit of thinking of your learning as ended as soon as you get back a grade. A grade just gives you someone else's judgment about the success of a message. Students aren't trained to look at their own work, assess what they have done well, and where they still need to improve. Instead, they are given a grade and are trained the see the grade not as part of a process of continued learning but as the end toward which you are working. There's the old spiel about "Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day..." Teaching students to gauge their own rhetorical performance and to see every act of communication as an opportunity to review and learn works a lot like teaching someone to fish versus giving them a fish.
This week you'll be learning to fish...
Steve
Third Writing Assignment: Assess Your Learning
Due: Sunday, 22 June
Write a two page, single spaced assessment of what you have learned and how you are doing in the class. Share this assessment with me as a google document.
Discussion: Part of your portfolio will be a cover letter in which you assess what you have learned this semester about writing. You will also use this letter to self-assess your performance in the class. In industry, you'll find yourself writing this kind of reflective, self-assessment during your annual review each year; so, you might as well learn the genre now. To get ready for this assignment, go back and review the syllabus and the class blog. Think about each assignment and post, and figure out what you have learned, what you have done well, what you still have to do, and what you could have done better.
Write a two page, single spaced assessment of what you have learned and how you are doing in the class. Share this assessment with me as a google document.
Discussion: Part of your portfolio will be a cover letter in which you assess what you have learned this semester about writing. You will also use this letter to self-assess your performance in the class. In industry, you'll find yourself writing this kind of reflective, self-assessment during your annual review each year; so, you might as well learn the genre now. To get ready for this assignment, go back and review the syllabus and the class blog. Think about each assignment and post, and figure out what you have learned, what you have done well, what you still have to do, and what you could have done better.
Second Writing Assigment: Group Discussion
Due: Sunday, 22 June. Make sure to share this group assessment with me as well.
1. Set up a google document where you do a group assessment of your group's work over the past couple of weeks. You can handle this discussion by meeting together as a group, by everyone meeting online "in" your google doc at the same time, or by leaving comments for on another on specific questions "in" your document. For this exercise, I suggest trying--if at all possible--to meet physically. Such meetings help develop group identity, trust, and cohesion.
2. Preface this discussion by reading each other's individual group assessment (see writing assignment in the following post), and then discussing individual aspects of these assessments. Notice you will have to have your individual assessment done this week in time to have a meaningful group discussion.
3. Try to come up with a list of things you can do better next time to help your group succeed. There will be a next time.
4. If you already haven't completed it, come up with a plan to have the proofreading assignment done and done well by Sunday, 22 June.
1. Set up a google document where you do a group assessment of your group's work over the past couple of weeks. You can handle this discussion by meeting together as a group, by everyone meeting online "in" your google doc at the same time, or by leaving comments for on another on specific questions "in" your document. For this exercise, I suggest trying--if at all possible--to meet physically. Such meetings help develop group identity, trust, and cohesion.
2. Preface this discussion by reading each other's individual group assessment (see writing assignment in the following post), and then discussing individual aspects of these assessments. Notice you will have to have your individual assessment done this week in time to have a meaningful group discussion.
3. Try to come up with a list of things you can do better next time to help your group succeed. There will be a next time.
4. If you already haven't completed it, come up with a plan to have the proofreading assignment done and done well by Sunday, 22 June.
Writing Assignment: Indivudal Assessment of Your Group Work
Due: Sunday, 22 June.
Every few years, the college and your individual departments and programs get accredited. This process involves accreditation organizations visiting campus, reviewing the curriculum you are taking, and even looking at documents--such as our class blog--to make sure you are getting an educational experience as good or better than that at every other accredited college. To gain accreditation, many majors must demonstrate that their students are being prepared to work well as part of a team. Let me use Health Care as an example, but I could just as readily use any other or your majors. The bottom line is that there are very, very few professions or careers where teams are not the norm rather than the exception.
The Health Care program requires a significant portion of their assignments to be done by groups. Why? Nurses work with doctors and therapists and clerical staff to make sure every patience gets the best treatment possible. The public, that means you and I, does not want someone on their health care team who can not communicate well, complete tasks fully and on time, and be trusted to integrate their actions with the goals of their team. Again, why? Because success for the team requires everyone involved to do their job and do it well.
Over the past couple of weeks, you've gained some experience working with your group, and you've participated in a series of tasks where everyone's success depended on good communication, clear objectives, and accountability. For instance, for everyone in your group to have successfully completed the proofreading assignment, everyone needed to get up to speed and learn to share documents using google docs, each needed to share their contact information, each needed to be checking the class blog on a regular basis, each needed to move their five analysis over to google docs, and these tasks needed to be completed in time for everyone to finish their proofreading by last (Sunday) night.
Here's your first writing assignment for the week:
1. Write an individual assessment of how your group did and how you did working with your group? Use google docs to share this document with me and your group.
What to look at in this assessment:
A. Were the tasks assigned to the group completed? A clear idea of what needs to be accomplished by the group, by individual members, and by when is essential to group success.
1. Did your group complete the task of getting everyone's analysis into google docs and shared?
2. Did anyone have trouble with google documents? How was this trouble resolved?
3. Were all the documents shared with the group in time for everyone in the group to proofread each document?
4. Does everyone in your group now have a fairly comprehensive "Error List." They will need this for an upcoming assignment.
5. If all the groups tasks were not completed on time, how do you plan to make sure you are caught up as soon as possible?
B. How did the group communicate? Good communication is essential for teams to succeed.
1. Over the past two weeks, when and how have you communicated with your group?
2. Did you talk to one another about the need to have your contact information and analysis posted?
3. Did you assign a specific date to have these completed?
4. Did anyone assume a leadership role and try to coordinate the group's activity?
5. Did your group follow up and contact members who were not communicating?
6. How did you handle members who did not communicate?
7. Was your communication handled with tack and respect?
C. How did your group handle the problem of accountability? In order for a group to succeed, each member must be accountable to the other members, each member much maintain high ethos with the others, and each must trust the others to hold them accountable.
1. Was anyone assigned the task of double checking to make sure everyone was on schedule and of letting the others know about delays and problems?
2. Did you recognize or reward the members who completed a task on time or took on a leadership role? [This is as simple as saying, "Thanks for getting your analysis up and posted in time for me to do my editing?"]
3. Did you communicate as a group or individually? It helps if each members sees themselves as publicly accountable.
4. Did you communicate as a group and establish a list of the tasks each member was responsible for completing and a schedule to which each was accountable?
3. How did you handle members not turning in their work or not turning it in punctually?
D. What assumptions did you bring to working with your group?
1. Did you expect to communicate with your group to establish which tasks needed to be completed and when?
2. Did you assume everyone would read the assignments and complete them on their own without any communication being necessary?
3. Did you look to your group members to help you succeed or did you assume you needed to do everything on your own?
4. Did you assume everyone was doing well and was on track, or did you check and see what you could do to help?
5. Did you assume you were responsible to the group or yourself first? Why?
6. What could you have done differently to better insure everyone's success?
Some ideas to consider when writing your assessment. Don't attach others. This isn't a game of "He did..." or "She didn't...." In industry, groups and/or management meet to do this kind of assessment on a more or less regular basis. You are doing this assessment to try to see why your group succeeded or failed to succeed. More importantly, you are trying to figure out specific practices you can use as you continue to work with your group--practices which will help you better succeed in future group work. You are also looking at the assumptions you hold about how groups work and what your responsibilities are and are not. Finally, please remember, you will be working with this group in the future. Use this assessment as an opportunity to build and not burn bridges.
Steve
Every few years, the college and your individual departments and programs get accredited. This process involves accreditation organizations visiting campus, reviewing the curriculum you are taking, and even looking at documents--such as our class blog--to make sure you are getting an educational experience as good or better than that at every other accredited college. To gain accreditation, many majors must demonstrate that their students are being prepared to work well as part of a team. Let me use Health Care as an example, but I could just as readily use any other or your majors. The bottom line is that there are very, very few professions or careers where teams are not the norm rather than the exception.
The Health Care program requires a significant portion of their assignments to be done by groups. Why? Nurses work with doctors and therapists and clerical staff to make sure every patience gets the best treatment possible. The public, that means you and I, does not want someone on their health care team who can not communicate well, complete tasks fully and on time, and be trusted to integrate their actions with the goals of their team. Again, why? Because success for the team requires everyone involved to do their job and do it well.
Over the past couple of weeks, you've gained some experience working with your group, and you've participated in a series of tasks where everyone's success depended on good communication, clear objectives, and accountability. For instance, for everyone in your group to have successfully completed the proofreading assignment, everyone needed to get up to speed and learn to share documents using google docs, each needed to share their contact information, each needed to be checking the class blog on a regular basis, each needed to move their five analysis over to google docs, and these tasks needed to be completed in time for everyone to finish their proofreading by last (Sunday) night.
Here's your first writing assignment for the week:
1. Write an individual assessment of how your group did and how you did working with your group? Use google docs to share this document with me and your group.
What to look at in this assessment:
A. Were the tasks assigned to the group completed? A clear idea of what needs to be accomplished by the group, by individual members, and by when is essential to group success.
1. Did your group complete the task of getting everyone's analysis into google docs and shared?
2. Did anyone have trouble with google documents? How was this trouble resolved?
3. Were all the documents shared with the group in time for everyone in the group to proofread each document?
4. Does everyone in your group now have a fairly comprehensive "Error List." They will need this for an upcoming assignment.
5. If all the groups tasks were not completed on time, how do you plan to make sure you are caught up as soon as possible?
B. How did the group communicate? Good communication is essential for teams to succeed.
1. Over the past two weeks, when and how have you communicated with your group?
2. Did you talk to one another about the need to have your contact information and analysis posted?
3. Did you assign a specific date to have these completed?
4. Did anyone assume a leadership role and try to coordinate the group's activity?
5. Did your group follow up and contact members who were not communicating?
6. How did you handle members who did not communicate?
7. Was your communication handled with tack and respect?
C. How did your group handle the problem of accountability? In order for a group to succeed, each member must be accountable to the other members, each member much maintain high ethos with the others, and each must trust the others to hold them accountable.
1. Was anyone assigned the task of double checking to make sure everyone was on schedule and of letting the others know about delays and problems?
2. Did you recognize or reward the members who completed a task on time or took on a leadership role? [This is as simple as saying, "Thanks for getting your analysis up and posted in time for me to do my editing?"]
3. Did you communicate as a group or individually? It helps if each members sees themselves as publicly accountable.
4. Did you communicate as a group and establish a list of the tasks each member was responsible for completing and a schedule to which each was accountable?
3. How did you handle members not turning in their work or not turning it in punctually?
D. What assumptions did you bring to working with your group?
1. Did you expect to communicate with your group to establish which tasks needed to be completed and when?
2. Did you assume everyone would read the assignments and complete them on their own without any communication being necessary?
3. Did you look to your group members to help you succeed or did you assume you needed to do everything on your own?
4. Did you assume everyone was doing well and was on track, or did you check and see what you could do to help?
5. Did you assume you were responsible to the group or yourself first? Why?
6. What could you have done differently to better insure everyone's success?
Some ideas to consider when writing your assessment. Don't attach others. This isn't a game of "He did..." or "She didn't...." In industry, groups and/or management meet to do this kind of assessment on a more or less regular basis. You are doing this assessment to try to see why your group succeeded or failed to succeed. More importantly, you are trying to figure out specific practices you can use as you continue to work with your group--practices which will help you better succeed in future group work. You are also looking at the assumptions you hold about how groups work and what your responsibilities are and are not. Finally, please remember, you will be working with this group in the future. Use this assessment as an opportunity to build and not burn bridges.
Steve
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