This semester I am teaching
developmental reading at a local community college. This means that most of the
students are reading at sixth-grade reading level. Their writing skills are, at
best, very basic. Below is a sample of an unedited paragraph (replete with
errors) that a student was asked to write after having been taught the meanings
of autocratic, demolish, debilitating, hyperthermophile, perpetrators, and plaque. You will note that while the
student incorporated the words into her paper, she does not really understand
the meaning or the nuances of the words.
In the Atlantic Ocean
there are tons of Hyperthermophiles hidden in the ocean. These plants often are
by the waters or in it. Some sea creatures around this area are debilitating
because of the warm temperatures. The plants have to be in cold waters where
it's below zero to stay alive. They will demolish into the ocean once they are
gone. These pants will go into the colder parts of the ocean if they can make
it. The marine biologist can be autocratic when picking these plants. They are
just so rare in the U.S. that they don't want these Hyperthermophiles to go
instinct.
A colleague of mine who teaches
at a four-year university for the Transition to School program (euphemism for
developmental students who have been accepted to this school) asked her
students to write a response paper to Kurt Vonnegut's "How to Write with
Style." The following unedited portion is the submission.
In "How to Write
with Style," Kurt Vonnegut, argues that to improve a writers writing is to
make sure that the audience is being keep in mind. Vonnegut thinks that the
author should not write like a reporter because just saying facts can become
boring. Vonnegut states how it's possible to do so by referencing William
Shakespeare and James Joyce's simple writing style. That by staying in an
almost childlike way of writing and
being simple can keep the intended audience's attention.
The irony of this last sentence
would be humorous if it did not highlight the caliber of student who is now
studying at an alleged school of higher learning -- and who will eventually
graduate...To Read More.....
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