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Summary Of Baron's Essay 'From Pencils'

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In Baron, “From Pencils” the authors' objective is that every form of writing is an adaptation; writing technologies will always evolve. Once they are invented, the spread depends on accessibility, functionality, and authentication (Baron). His motivation was to stimulate a conversation to why societies depend heavily on technology to communicate. He believes that is important to understand why it is important and what the lasting effects on society. In the essay, Baron explains his process by walking through the technology, humans have adapted over the years, from using pencils as a technology to discussing how the computer is used to develop a pattern of literacy technology. The significance of the piece is that writing with a pencil is perceived …show more content…

The motivation behind the essay is to provide a tool for teachers and scholars with evidence that that students learn better when they read and compose in multiple ways. If we don't educate students to be effective literate actors within such a communication environments, in short, we are not educating them to assume their role as literate, global citizens in the 21st century. He did this by providing lists of benefits, what the original assignment found, and giving the teacher access to examples that other teachers have used to teach students how to design a PSA. 
 In “Writing,” the author reviews, reports from the Pew Research Foundation over the data that was collected from teens. Pew sought out to discover what teens consider formal writing in e-communication. The motivation behind this was the desire to know how new technologies influence teens writing habits and how they communicate. Whether it be through texting or other sorts of e-communication. The information in this article was researched by the Pew Research foundation. The results found that

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As technology grow and increasingly gets bigger and and better people are finding new ways to harness that information and use it to their advantage and learn from it. Clive Thompson suggests that technology is even helping literacy and this young generation. He states that “Young people write far more than any generation before them”(Source 7). You can thank Twitter and Facebook for the mass amount of posts and writing from teens. Thompson followingly says that “students were remarkably adept at what rhetoricians call kairos - addressing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across.(Source 7)

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In his essay, “Should Everybody Write?”, Dennis Baron focuses on the expansion of information due to the advancement of technology and the vast amount of unchecked writing available on the internet. Baron also goes into depth about the origins of writing and the impact it has had on readers, authors, and researchers. After he presents the origins and progression of writing, Baron answers the question of, should everybody write? In early era’s, according to Baron, “… in the 17th century England, a period known for the flowering of English letters, where even kings and queens composed poetry and the brand-new Royal Society promoted science writing, literacy in London remained a mere 10% for men, a shocking 1% for women” (845).

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Naomi Baron, a linguistics professor at American University, believes that texting is harming students writing. She states, “So much of American society has become sloppy and laissez faire about the mechanics of writing” (131). The author used this quote to drawl in the teachers who believe texting is harming students writing. Cullington goal is to make them continue reading and learn how she believes texting is actually beneficial. By putting the opposing view point of texting affecting writing in the beginning, is confusing to the target audience.

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Today, texting has become the most widely used communication technique for teenagers and young adults. It is written in completely informal language and it has no literature value in it. Although the critics believe texting is destroying literature value, McWhorter has another opinion in mind. McWhorter thinks that texting is another form of language that is developed by teenagers. It is the creation of a brand new language evolving from the old literature.

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In her essay "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington presents her argument that texting does not impact formal writing written by students. She discusses the concerns presented by many people about how texting language can transfer into writing, but through the use of personal experiences and credible sources she discusses how this is not true. Her use of multiple different studies and situations help boost her argument and allow the reader to truly see how students actually do formal writing. She presents a strong argument as to why those who believe students don't have the control and knowledge to write formally, instead of with text speak, are wrong.

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The influence of textspeak on teenagers' writing is a polarising concept with both fans and critics of texting weighing their opinions. In her essay, "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington, a previous student of Marywood University in Pennsylvania, outlines her investigation into whether or not texting affects writing. Cullington analyzes the critiques of texting and why critics believe that texting has a detrimental affect on teenager writing. Along with the critics,

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Alexis Adan 12/4/2014 CH150 T,TH 9:35- 11:00 The Aztec pantheon was a very important and vital concept for the Aztec empire since their religion was born from fear of nature and fear of the end of the world. The death of a sea serpent was actually the cause of the universe’s birth. The Aztecs believed the pantheon attempted to create the world five times.

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All of these factors combine and work well together to form a well-executed argument within Cullington’s essay. Cullington begins her essay by addressing her opposition: “It’s taking over our lives” (pg. 361). She cites studies done that suggest that a decline in the quality of students’ formal writing has occurred since the advent of text messaging, and she also cites teachers who believe that their own students’ works are influenced for the worse by the students’ being accustomed to texting and using textspeak. Cullington then proposes her opposing position that the writing of students is unaffected by their use of texting and text speak. She also cites studies that support her thesis that text messaging and textspeak do not have an effect on

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Not So Fast” Andrea Lunsford researched students’ writing for 30-plus years to see what effect new technology has on how students learn. Lunsford discovered that students are actually improving their own writing skills with the help of mass media. Not only does it allow students more access to educational resources and information, but it also encourages students to do more creative thinking and writing outside of class which Lunsford refers to in her article as “life writing.” In her research she recalls the account of a student who sent a friend a text message which was completely informal and would be considered unprofessional by most piers. However, the same student also sent a very formal and professional report to her faculty adviser later on.

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Most students in the United States go through their K- 12 schooling years not knowing how to write a proper essay. Most teachers are all about short cuts and getting papers done with the least amount of work as possible. This has led to college students not knowing the basic skills that professors assume they already know. With teachers avoiding teaching necessary writing skills and today’s technology creating shortcuts to use for everything, students are not only having trouble comprehending the English language, but also with writing grammatically correct essays. In the article “For $100k, You Would At Least Think That College Grads Could Write,” contributor George Leef expresses his opinion on the flaws in writing education in the United States.

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Everyone’s An Author with Readings by Andrea Lunsford, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carole Clark Papper, and Keith Walters; is about how everyday writing is very closely related to academic writing. This book discusses The Need for Rhetoric and Writing, Genres of Writing, The Role of Argument, Research, Style, and includes Readings. The text also bridges the gap between Facebook and academic writing, showing how some tactics students use in social media may also be used in their academic

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Not So Fast”, conducts her own study with a few colleagues to take notes on how students writing skills are changing. She decides to conduct another one twenty five years later to see how much the writing skills have changed since technology has been updated and became more available to students. She found that “students today are writing more than ever before.” Although we still have the same amount of writing errors as before, the patterns of errors are different. Many people argue that technology is only making our writing skill worse, this study helps to prove a different theory.

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Baker want students to read this piece and understand the deeper meaning. Baker also writes about how Baca “encourages students to use poetry to discuss issues they might not normally talk about”(896). Baker wants the reader to see how writing and poetry especially can be used to express even the most controversial or awkward topics. Once you understand the audience you can see deeper into Baker’s piece. When you understand that the audience is students and purpose us to show what else writing can do; you can see how this piece can be so persuasive.

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In the excerpt “Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers,” Josh Keller discusses the debate if internet helps college students or if it’s hurting them. This article discusses the issue that college professors face with students and how they use social media as a source of writing. Many agree that students using social media may not help them in writing papers because it decreases their intellectual brilliance, by using in proper grammar such as the everyday “slang”. Another reason to why many disagree that the internet is a disadvantage to college students is that they do not write about academic situations but instead of things that are non-relevant to the academic world. On the other hand professors do agree that

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“ Facebook Has Transformed My Students' Writing—for the Better” was written by Andrew Simmons, a high-school English teacher and this article really impressed me on how social media influence students’ writing. Mr. Simmons claims that Facebook made many of his students especially young men better writers and they become more open to writing emotionally. Although I agree with this point, I believe it's still controversial. According to Mr. Simmons, social media is very helpful to improve students’ writings, especially young boys for the following reasons.

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