We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together. 
<– Nautilus: my favorite cephalopod
So I think its important to start off with I actually really dislike writing. And just to explain myself, it’s because writing has become (for me) a fixed practice also I like drawing better… But so many teachers are rigid about how I should write and what I should write, its become something that doesn’t represent me anymore. Most of my writing is school based but I don’t think that’s any reason for writing to be any less creative. I’ve taken a Creative Writing class where my teacher told me that my writing was not what she was looking for. I’m sorry, since when does a Creative Writing class have rules on my writing as long as I follow the prompt.
In my group, we agreed on some terms like purpose, audience, etc. and while those are gold, I think freedom needs to be added too. Writing is something that connects people whether it be academic or social or personally. I personally have an ongoing battle with academics which is one of the reasons I want to become a teacher. I don’t agree with how a lot of things have turned out in schools and writing is one of them. In the Metaconcept handout, there are three concepts that I agreed with and felt they represented my writing as well; writing is a social/rhetorical activity that adddresses, invokes, and/or creates audience while expressing and sharing meaning to be reconstructed by the reader.
Taking everything I’ve said into consideration, I would have to say that my theory is quite short and simple. I know a lot of people would disagree but my theory is that writing is a gateway for anyone regardless of intention. I know that sounds really lame (like super lame) but I think narrowing down my thesis consitricts it into focusing on only certain aspects of writing which can quickly become a flaw and not an asset.
2 Replies to “<– Nautilus: my favorite cephalopod”
I like that your theory is short and simple (it’s not lame at all!). The point you brought up about freedom is an interesting one because often our writing (especially school writing) can be so restricting in certain aspects. Like you mentioned about how even your creative writing teacher was trying to exert rules over what you wrote in a class that is about writing creatively and that is just really ironic (like what was her damage???) but also how this is a real example of what’s messed up with the structure of our academic writing system. So I agree that freedom is an important aspect that needs to be included into the way that we think about writing and how that freedom allows for a more dynamic interaction between writer and text.
I’m not a fan of writing either: I love having written. Sometimes I find composing to be joyful and generative, but often it is just painful. Freedom as a concept in writing would be interesting to play around with. Is writing ever really free or is it always constrained by some context, genre, audience?
Also, it could be cool to try out an infographic or visual representation of your ideas if drawing is preferable. I might recommend https://piktochart.com/ as a way to create an infographic of a theory of writing. Or a concept map: http://www.kimjaxon.com/engl632/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/B80SupTCcAATDGB.jpg-large-e1484080186468.jpeg
Just a thought…