DIY and Developmental Writing Conference on Basic Writing Listserv 19-22 April 2011 MESSAGE #1 Hello!

I have enjoyed lurking on this list for some time. Now, I am asking for your feedback. I am working on material for a developmental writing class that I will be teaching in the fall and I am considering using DIY as a theme. Have any of you done this? I am thinking of using the book Making Stuff and Doing Things: A Collection of DIY Guides to Doing Just About Everything as a text. (http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/1400/) We'd read the text, make some of the stuff in the book, write about making stuff, research what people are making in the nearby area, and, in the end create our own DIY guide. The students are at a school devoted to environmentalism in an area with many local artists and craftspeople. So, I am interested in your thoughts, suggestions, concerns.... Thanks! MESSAGE #2: So much literacy, historically, has been DIY particularly for disadvantaged groups. What a great theme! MESSAGE #3: I've used this type of approach with good success. For example, topics might include "How to Tie a Shoe" or "How to Ride a Horse," etc. Some of the results that students create are very imaginative and funny and they enjoy the creative process. I think writing about enivronmental or artistic projects would help to really bring the focus into even sharper perspective and guide the students. Let us know how it works! MESSAGE #4 i've done a similar course a number of times -- i think it's important to get beyond the how to kinds of writing to the true ethic if that's the right word of diy -- which is how to be self empowered, self sufficient and build community -- so we've talked about what might be examples of it in our area after i've modeled some examples like 924 gilman, indy media then we've come up with larger writing projects like diy guide to our city... diy zines (brought in a zinester to discuss her approach) diy media like pirate radio, community access..

so many options that book is good and it does support an independent publisher i'd love to see the syllabus once you set it up.. MESSAGE #5: Wow! I adore this! The DIY City Guide (smart!) and DIY as theme in BW! How generative that could be/clearly is. Sounds like PERFECT for CCCC 2012, too, especially if couched in something like what Jody Shipka does/argues (her book just out) or Geoffry Sirc (English Composition as a Happening). At least it seems to me-DIY! How inspiring! MESSAGE #6: What a nifty idea! I've already ordered the book. (Thanks for the link.) The price, BTW, is sold on a sliding scale from $12 to $15, allowing the customer to pay what s/he can afford. The site also ties into Paypal. And would you believe that my publisher thinks "the process essay" or any of its iterations is no longer assigned. Fun lies ahead . . . MESSAGE #7: What does your publisher thinks replaces "the process essay"? A different "process" genre or just "no process"? MESSAGE #8: A writing assignment that involves giving instructions or explaining how something is done is a wonderful assignment. It is undeniably useful writing. It can be adapted to students at all levels of writing development. It can range from a numbered list of precise instructions written as commands to a delightful literary essay (my daughter just wrote a dandy a few weeks ago about making maple syrup). At whatever level, successfully completing such an assignment requires the writer to have a clear understanding of what he or she is writing about (there is no way to BS). The writer has to master specific concepts and specific vocabularies. The writer clearly has to have a sense of how much the reader already knows. Instructions can be tested immediately on real readers. It requires careful word choice and syntactic precision. It's fun to do, and there are all kinds of preparatory social exercises that can make the demands of the assignment clear in hilarious ways. It can

be used to help students understand the strategic use of diagrams and drawings and how they interact with text. There are good and bad examples everywhere. Features of this kind of writing can be introduced into other kinds--say, an argument about the best way to do X. A rhetorical treasure trove in a credible real world context. MESSAGE #9: Im mostly a lurker too, but I had an idea regarding your theme. Maybe at the end of the semester, you could ask the students to work together to make a Xs Basic Writing Class Users Manual for your next semesters class. The students could brainstorm what sort of information a student new to your class would need to know and could divide up the work load to get different portions of it written. They could include advice they have about what to make or what they learned from trying to make something that didnt quite work out. It could be a way to sneak in some reflective writing and also show the students how much theyve learned, as well as show them that writing something is also making something. Good luck with the course!, MESSAGE #10: Hi All, I'm new to the list, but I wanted to jump in on this one. One thing that has been successful for me is turning pre-writing/reflection assignments into DIY assignments. For instance, I ask students to research (using their textbook and the Internet), the genre that I am asking them to write in, an informative essay, for instance. Then, they must write a DIY guide/"All About" article on that genre. (I've done some articles for Demand Studios, so I generally point them to these as an example.) I encourage them to include not only basic features, but also common challenges a writer faces when composing in this genre and methods for overcoming these challenges. After the students complete the informative essay, I ask them to go back and revise these guides as a means of reflection. I then post them for next semester's class to see. I allow them to complete these assignments in groups. When they revise their articles, it is clear what they have internalized from going through the process on their own. Do you think this could be a beneficial assignment in the course/themes you are considering? Any concerns? MESSAGE #12: so i like all these ideas but a word of caution -- the reason why for me incorporating the diy ethic into my basic skills class is that it provides opportunities to write back, to take ownership, to see themselves as the experts, or at least as in control... which i think is the key to progressive authentic teaching at any level buy is so important at the basic skills level since so many students have not been served by institutional schooling

bringing in the diy attitude is allowing them to explore how they might do it themselves - differently so using it as a framework to accomplish prescribed, department assignments or to make them write about certain things or in certain ways might not be really genuine and most students pick up on that immediately... MESSAGE #13: I recently was given but haven't had time to read "DIYU: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education" by Anya Kamenetz. Just from a glance through, the transformation suggested in the book's title doesn't seem as imminent or plausible as the author might think, but it could be fun to include or excerpt in a dev. class focusing on DIY. MESSAGE #14: Thanks to all of you who offered feedback! I really appreciate it and I will let you know how the class goes. Be well,