Collaborative Journal Group 3

Marin Haffner, Sarah Scerbo, McKenzie Mizell, Robert Castle
Mr. Cirio
ENC 1145
4.13.15

Major Concepts

            Throughout the course of this class we have read and discussed many authors and points of view on everyday writing. From Lyons and Lillis to Edbauer. Each one building on the last or creating a new foundation upon which we start a new branch of thought about writing in the common world. Some of us in this group have changed our opinions about writing, and yet others have dug deeper into their beliefs about what makes everyday writing. Our thoughts about writing may have changed, but we all agreed that our thoughts about the class have remained the same throughout. We thought that the major concepts of the class are that writings done by common people contain emotion too, writing is something everyone can do, writing is important, there are many definitions of everyday writing, and because everyday writing is specific to its subject, we are able to understand the situation it was created in. We have seen that writing contains emotion through the inclusion of graffiti as a form of everyday writing. Though the graffiti might just be a gang tagging its turf, inside that tag is the values and emotions that keep that “brotherhood” together. Also, as emotional beings we share our feelings wherever we can, and writing is no exception. Everyday writing is something that anyone who can write is a part of because we all use writing in our lives. We make lists, we write letters, we text and we journal our memories. Everyday writing is important because not only does it have a functional use, like organizing our ideas, but it also has an emotional use, like sharing our thoughts and problems. Writing in a diary everyday is a way for some to unwind, and for others it is a way to put their problems some place other than their brain so that they can escape them for even just a moment. With many different perspectives and fields of study comes many different definitions of everyday writing. These definitions range from only unstructured writing done by a person in their home, to also including doctor’s notes and the U.S. Governments correspondences. Writing is like a picture. When we look at a painting or a photograph we are seeing the event that has occurred. We are able to understand what is going on by what we see. The words that we read on everyday writing texts act the same way. What must the person have been thinking or trying to do? What task was accomplished here? These questions we answer simply by reading the words and picking out the meanings that are in the writing we do every day.