Blog Post 2--Kathleen Shaughnessy

Hello! I hope I am posting this correctly.

 
For this post, I chose to write about my process--it's something I've been thinking about in preparation for teaching in the Writing Center, as translating and adapting my knowledge to best serve a student's needs might be challenging depending on the circumstances. In my writing process, the best part is when I am in a place somewhere near the end of a first draft where I am not rushed, not feeling overwhelmed by the material or expectation, and am able to play with words, structure, and creative expression; that’s where I have the most fun in writing. My least favorite part of writing is the stage between the first and second draft, where I must “kill my darlings” and cut sections—however, I recognize it as extremely helpful. For this reason, I think my greatest strength as a writer is that I welcome rigorous critique; as a former editor, I ask whoever is looking over my work to be brutal in correction and not worry about packaging it to me (understandably, I don’t apply this approach to other peoples’ work). I struggle most with stepping back from the material well enough and long enough to think about audience and what I assume is clear. The aspect of my classroom where I see strength is in creative discussions that still stay within the parameters of class goals—I like to have them combine imaginative exercises with rhetorical practice. I struggle more in imparting to them that it is alright and even healthy to not agree with your neighbor and still hold a meaningful discussion in the classroom.

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