Prewriting & metacognition (From the book Think Write! 2012)

Meta-cognitive Prewriting

From Ideas to Directed Goals

CognitionWhat is thought?What is language?Can you think without

language?What is the value of thinking

about thinking?How is language related to

thought?

Socrates claims that thinking is talking to yourself…What does that mean?

Language as ThoughtBefore you can say anything, you have to know

something—what you want to say. We often do not know what we know (or what we don’t) until we have to put our ideas into words.Words are symbols that represent ideas—concepts.

Discovery: Dia·Logos

Knowledge through dis·covering. Often, we miss things that are right in front of us because we don’t stop to think about what passes right before our eyes—to look at what is all around us—essentially missing the forest for the trees.

To become successful thinkers, we have to develop more than one voice (introspection), and learn to dialogue with others. Everyone needs a sounding board to

bounce ideas off of.To do that, you have to cultivate

language skills. Language is the medium of reason (logos) and thought.

Meta-Cognition

Your book defines meta-cognition as the act of thinking about thinking. Think about that… • What metaphor might we come up with to represent meta-cognition?

Meta-cognition

Reflection

Ideas

Consciousness

Knowledge

Self- awareness

Mind

Thought

Information

Truth

Memory

Identity

Beliefs

IBeing

Prewriting: Reflective Discovery

The first step of the writing process is Invention (inventio)

• Discovery or exploration• Inquiry• Topic selection

All writing is rhetorical. Aristotle defines rhetoric, the art

of persuasion, primarily as invention: the ability to see in any given situation the available means of persuasion.

Concept EngagementReflect

Think of a time that you saw something and thought it was terrifying, dangerous, or impossible, and your first impression turned out to be utterly wrong.

Discuss the illusion and subsequent realization that there was in fact no real threat. What changed your perspective? How

did you feel after you discovered that it wasn’t as bad as you originally thought? Explain why.

The Writing Process

Strategies & Key Components

The Language of Language

Keeping the concept of meta-cognition in mind—always—remember that when you get ready to write, it’s not a magic act. It takes work.

Thinking & writing are arts• They are mastered through disciplined

practice. Skillful communication is not a science!

There are conventions, but like a sport or playing a musical instrument, you have to do it to get better at it.

Prewriting Strategies If you don’t know where you’re going, and

you don’t have a plan, you’ll never get there.

Topic selection strategies:Free WritingListingClusteringAsking Questions (stases)Outlining

First things first, find a topic that you’re interested in and get your ideas together.

Know the Situation

Once you have a topic, you have to consider the occasion for which you are writing. We call this the rhetorical situation

Topic alone won’t direct you. You have to know three things:Your subject/topicYour audienceYour purpose

Audience Subject

Purpose

Know Your Audience

Thinking ≠ WritingIf you don’t know who you are writing to, you may end up writing to nobody. While Socrates posits that thinking is talking to oneself, writing is usually to and for a specific (target) audience.

Code Shifting: Different kinds of audiences require different kinds of:Tone & dictionStyleLanguage conventionsPresentation

Know Your Purpose

What is your goal? What is at stake?Every text has a goal or a purpose—your reason for writing. If there is no reason, what’s the point?

According to Cicero, there are three reasons to write:Inform (instruct)Entertain (delight)Persuade (move)

When you write, like when you travel, the purpose is your destination—where you’re going. It keeps you focused—on course.

Concept EngagementRead the following excerpts. Discuss and write down

the following information with your groups:1. Who is the audience and how do you know?2. What is the main idea or topic?3. What do you think the author’s purpose here is?

Excerpt from the Rush Limbaugh Show:

Again, I've got no reason to make anything up. I have no reason to lie to you. There's nothing in it for me to do that. I don't have an agenda so important to me that I want people believing what I believe when it isn't true. That's the exact opposite of what my objective is. My objective is to have people grounded in truth and reality in greater and greater numbers, governing themselves responsibly, participating in the arena of ideas. I have no interest in lying to you. I have none… Now, there are rare times when I'm wrong about something, but not purposefully. I'm telling you that if you are a new listener to the program or a recently arrived low-information person, the manmade global warming story is a hoax. 

Excerpt from Scientific American:

In August 2012, John Christy, a climate scientist from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, testified to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the Earth is not warming. In part, Christy's testimony, a controversial one, was based on what he described as a problem with how surface temperatures are measured and averaged. Climate scientist Gilbert Compo's response to that was: Well, I'll measure those temperatures differently. So he set out to use an entirely different method to determine if the Earth's surface temperature had increased 1.2 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. The answer: Undeniably yes. This new method shows that it is not a factor of measurement error and that the Earth has in fact warmed, said Compo.

Concept EngagementNow, in your groups, come up with your own topic about a

contemporary problem that needs to be solved or addressed. Select one of the different forms of prewriting and collect the group’s ideas. What do you know about the subject?

Free WritingListingClusteringAsking Questions (stases)Outlining

After you brainstorm, write down the following information:1. Who is your audience and why are you addressing them?2. What is the main idea or topic? (Be specific.)3. What is your purpose or goal? Is there a solution to the problem?