Abstract:
Is writing cure or curse (Derrida, 1981)? In the academy, more and more writing is demanded of us; this goes for staff and students alike (Hoskin, 1993). It is something of a curse. And for we Learning Advisors, though scholarship in the traditional sense of keeping up with research in our discipline (the “scholarship of application”) might be devalued by our managers, researching and writing about our teaching (the “scholarship of teaching”) is on the increase and increasingly endorsed by them (Boyer, 1990, p. 16). However, although we teach strategic reading and writing strategies to enable our students to take control of the writing process and to practise their various literacies, we are often loath to take our own medicine, to reflect on our writing practice (Hillocks, 1995) – despite embracing reflective practice in our teaching (Schön, 1987). Here I briefly reflect on how I hope to learn from the advice that I give students about writing to become more productive as a writer; how I hope to cure my writing ills, or, to put it more loftily, how I can take care of my writing self (Foucault, 1988).
