The first article from Janet Emig does an interesting job reminding us of how we learn.  I used to use a similar idea when I would tell my students to use flash cards for memorization because it uses all the different aspects of learning.  You write the word, see the word, read the word, speak the word, and hear the word.  It was one of the best ways for me to learn something because I was using many different areas of learning in order for the information to “sink in.”  Emig describes this as, “The symbolic transformation of experience through the specific symbol system of verbal language is shaped into an icon (the graphic product) by the enactive hand”(124).  From this article I learned how the writing process is a right-brained activity as well as left-brained.  We go through a slow process of writing our ideas down and seeing them on the page at the same time, which doesn’t happen when we speak.

The next article by Flower and Hayes was very interesting when talking about how writers write.  It was interesting to think about the linear model of the writing process because that is what most of us are taught as writers.  Pre-write/Write/Re-Write is a staple of the English class.  But all of us are different and we use different tactics to get to the desired final product.  I know that when I’m writing an assignment for a class I get hungry.  I don’t know if this is a pattern or if I’m really actually hungry, but something about eating lets the information settle into my brain.  Perhaps it is just getting away from the information for the time being that helps me, but it is something that I do.  Sometimes I pre-write, and sometimes I don’t.  I have never actually thought about the different assignments and how that might persuade me to do some things differently for different papers.  Usually when I am writing a research report, I get tired.  I think that is a pattern of wanting to escape my reality, but it happens.  I think being conscious of it is a start to be able to work more productively in my own writing process.

The last article by Janet Eldred also raises some interesting areas of discussion.  Should we be able to code computer language in order to keep up with the digital age?  Is knowing how to use computer technology in the classroom that important in today’s classroom?  I don’t know.  I know that there are a lot of laptops in our classroom and I am curious to know if that enhances what we do when we are together in the same space.  Does it enhance our discussion?  I don’t know and I’m not sure that is what the article is talking about, but it’s interesting to look at how technology can effect the classroom in good and bad ways.