HOW WE WRITE
We Use a Process Model With Three Steps
Maps are not only the colorful squares and globes that we traditionally imagine. We also “map out” a strategy, or we “map our future” when we plan a career. Thus, to “map” something means to understand it. Our maps are going to be drawn in words, in ideas, and in our general understanding of a topic. When you write, you will understand what has already been thought/mapped, and then you will improve the “map” by adding, removing, and correcting information. Think about these three steps in creating a map of whatever it is that you are writing about.
Step 1. Mapping the Territory
Writers—and you are learning to be a writer—begin by making maps of how others have explored a subject. This anchors them by giving the names of important landmarks, methods of exploration, and discoveries. To write well is to improve existing maps, and thus you have to know the field. Writers must perform basic tasks such as identifying trustworthy sources, developing acute reading skills, and sifting the important from the irrelevant. Your first step is to map the world . . . the world of other writings.
Step 2. Identifying Gaps in the Map
Explorers explore because the maps are always incomplete. The gaps are an invitation to propose a new geography that respects prior discoveries but also demands original additions to the field. Explorers and writers map the field so they can find the blank spots where they can write their own discoveries. Explorers do not want to simply repeat the discoveries of others. They want to add to the existing map. The blanks in a map motivate the exploration, give it focus, and connect it to the discoveries of others.
Step 3. Re-Drawing the Map
Explorers can discover a new island, a new lake, or even a continent. These discoveries force them to re-draw the map. The old map still matters because the explorers connect their discoveries to what is already known. Your writing will do the same thing. You will produce a new “map” (paper) that uses existing knowledge, but you will make discoveries that require a re-writing of the map to improve it. Your redrawn map becomes the map to which future writers will respond. It is an endless process of improvement.
WHAT WE WRITE ABOUT
Education, Choice, and Class
Jean Anyon's research has been influential. It has led many other scholars to think about the meaning of "class" in the United States. Using her work as a starting point, we will think and write about the different kinds of education that are offered to students in the United States.
For our project, we will first build background knowledge about types of education, socioeconmic classes, and our own experience in education. It is an experience shaped by educational software, curricula, politics, and many other forces. We will read and write about some of these. Our work will improve our understanding of how they control our lives. The concept of "digital redlining" will play an important role throughout the term. Remember, all the papers are connected, and each paper will use what has been written in previous assignments.