Anthro Dept Interview

Dr. C. is a part of the Anthropology Department here at OSU. She teaches the writing intensive course for this major, along with several other classes. In our interview I asked her the significance of grammatical writing in the field of anthropology. She replied by emphasizing its importance, explaining how writing is a central form of communication between anthropologists. “If it isn’t published, it doesn’t exist in many cases,” she explains. Due to this central role of writing, conciseness is mandatory. Not only does the paper have to be factual and have a great deal of evidence to back the data, it also has to be clear and understandable. She even discusses the recent movement of anthropologists looking to fictional writers to make their material more engaging as well as informational.

A teacher's stance on writing

For this assignment I decided to interview a middle school teacher who I had worked with last term during a practicum course. Teaching is what I plan to do for a career, so I thought it would be best to go straight to the source for this interview.
I asked the teacher, Mrs. C., how writing is important in her filed. She replied, “Writing is empowerment.” According to her, writing is unique (good writing especially) because it is indelible; it has a legacy. When words are put on paper they take on substantial meaning, more so than spoken words can. She described an instance in which a parent at her school wrote a letter to the faculty which described why the school was such an outstanding place. This letter was so well written, so clear, so concise that this parent has become “somewhat of a legend.”
As a teacher, Mrs. C. usually writes to parents as a way to keep them in touch with what’s happening in her classroom. When communicating in this manner it is important, she says, to keep personal and opinionated language out of her writing. She says she has to stick with clear words that accurately illustrate her points. She calls these letters “bridges” between the parents and herself, so they need to be well written in order to work effectively.
Mrs. C. went on to show me the outlines of the grammar instruction she is currently giving her students. I was shocked because it is the same stuff we are learning right now and her students are only sixth graders! I thought it was particularly funny that she had just taught her students about the differences between “lay” and “lie” and this is what our class talked about today! I was very impressed with the level of grammar awareness Mrs. C., and the school in general, has. The students are expected to understand concepts like subject, predicate, sentence types (simple through compound-complex), active/passive voice, semicolon use and many other topics by the sixth grade. This dedication to grammar was very nice to see and I could tell that Mrs. C. was very serious about it.
Overall Mrs. C. feels that writing, both for students and teachers, is a “reflection of who you are.” One’s ability to write clearly and eloquently says a lot about them and their educational background. She considers writing a powerful tool that can be used in really great ways.

7th Grade

I interviewed a 7th grade humanities teacher, who said that the way a person writes has a huge influence on that person's impact. She said that grammar and general writing skills such as spelling are a huge problem nowadays, becaue much of our communication is verbal. Even email sometimes has a negative effect on writing skills. She compared poor writing skills with poor hygiene. It is very quickly noticable and creates a bad first impression that can very likely distract from a person's genius.
With student writing, she is most impressed by maturity of thought combined with a sense of humor. Evidence of "voice" is also important. As a teacher, it is important for her to have strong writing skills, because she has to model things for the students, and she must model correctly. Spelling is especially difficult. The style of her writing varies from concise and direct for the students, to more discriptive and elevated/ flowery language when writing to parents or grant proposals. It's all about audience.

interview in the animal science department

I talked to professor H. in the Animal Science department about the importance of writing in the animal industry. He stated that some of the most important aspects a paper must include in the animal industry is paying attention to detail, stating factual evidence, and providing an understanding for the every day public.

Since several of the topics involved in the animal industry are related to political and environmental issues, an employee must include factual evidence in every paper as well as clear and concise reasoning behind the facts. While a student may jot down particular experiments in a research paper, if they are not clear and concise the average public will not understand and furthermore will not support the researcher and their findings.

While this is applied in the job market of today, H. also suggested some tips for students to use in school essays. He believes that the key to a great paper involves organization and logic. A well-organized paper, which involves reasoning and thought, will achieve the writer’s goal of convincing and educating the reader.

I talked with a professor in the theater department and the first thing she said when I asked about the kind of writing that would be involved in any type of theater job was articles, articles, articles. So much of what is invovled is research and writing articles. Advertising is also a big componant. Writing for posters, press-releaces and reviews. Of course, there is the posibility of writing the plays themselves.

Foreign Languages and Grammar

I interviewed a professor in the Russian department about the importance of grammar. First we talked about how important it is that a student be interested in correcting his mistakes. Learning a foreign language can be very difficult, and students will invariably make mistakes. What is important is that a student continually work at gaining understanding. It's not enough to simply recognize one's mistakes - students should take the effort find out the right answer and learn it.

The importance of correction also brought up the importance of repetition when it comes to learning a language and its grammar. It may take a student 20 times before he finally makes the right grammatical choice, but hopefully the correct answer will eventually become second nature.

As if that weren't enough work, we also discussed the importance of knowing exceptions to the rule as well as the rule itself. While it may be unrealistic to expect a student to know every single exception, it is valuable to learn the most common exceptions since those are often the ones that catch students off guard.

To finish off our conversation, we talked about the necessity of confidence when learning grammar in a foreign language. It's better to make mistakes than to be too scared to ever talk. Students should learn from their mistakes, but they shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes. It takes time to learn a language, and students should have patience and perseverance as they study.