getting to the problem

this was a really intense week, partly because i had to have a colonoscopy done on wednesday as part of my ongoing health situation.  so, i couldn't eat anything but jello and broth on tuesday, which gave me that really delightful combo-buzz of delirious and low energy by the time i got to class on tuesday night.  that said, we did a really cool activity that helped me to think about my dissertation work.  the writing activity was called "getting to the problem" and it's clearly one of those things that you could use for a variety of projects.  you start by answering these four questions:

1. topic: i am studying (writing about)...
2. question: because i want to learn more about...
3. rationale: in order to understand...
4. significance: so that we will know more about...

as a second step, you could try to answer these four questions backwards, i.e. from 4 to 1 and see what you come up with.  here's what my first try (while under the influence of zero food, so it's not awesome, but i'm sure you're not judging) looked like:

i am studying the kinds of conversations and questions that take place in a series of staff-run and staff-attended writing workshops because i want to learn more about (1) the ways academic support staff think about their work and how they are situated in it and (2) how academic support staff view the power and social demands of the workplace in order to understand the various learning demands of the academic workplace (as seen by those doing the work) so that we [in the field] will know more about (1) power and social positioning as legitimate (though often unacknowledged) learning demands of the workplace and (2) how academic support staff negotiate identity and power at work, and so that we [academic support staff] will (1) know more about ourselves and each other in the context of our work and (2) have a context in which to explore the various ways that we write and the types of writing we want to learn.

whew - that is quite a run-on sentence, but it was a really enjoyable and eye-opening activity that helped me to think about and understand my topic in a different and, in some sense, illuminating way.  more on this later, and more on my health later too.  as always, thank you for reading.