Thursday, March 15, 2012

Day 90: Painfully Poorly Written Case-Studies

If you ever find yourself in a position where you are writing case studies for students to use, please for the love of whatever you hold dear, DO NOT give a ridiculous word-for-word account of every conversation of stilted dialogue that your two imaginary characters have ever had....

...And then top it off with ham-fisted attempts at purple prose. That prose is now purple only because you bludgeoned it into submission.

Highlights (paraphrased):
"She watched the janitor below and envied his uncomplicated life."
"[rambling paragraph of unrealistic internal monologue filled with overly specific references to obscure management techniques and theories] she meditated as she watched the sun dip below the horizon."

-_- Are you kidding me right now?

However, even the most hated things can hold a lesson! At one point in her over-theoretical ruminations, this particular character wonders if the employee giving her trouble has psychiatric issues, and wonders if she should recommend him to a psychiatrist, or if maybe bibliotherapy would help.

"Bibliotherapy? That sounds cool, is that actually a thing?" I mused thoughtfully. I could kind of guess at what it suggested, but I wanted to be sure. "To Wikipedia!" my internal monologue cried out as I grasped my iPad...

See what I did there? ...I think that case study melted my brain...

Lesson 89: The Ancient Greeks inscribed signs above their libraries, "stating them to be healing places for the soul"[1].

How poetic! I think I'd like to make a sign like that for my future, and inevitable, home library. Maybe I'll learn to cross-stitch just to make a sampler that says that...

Bibliotherapy: definitely what I thought it was, and definitely cool. And definitely added to my topics to read about list.

In other news, yesterday's post has been delayed because I'm waiting till I can add a couple pictures, as I largely discuss my Toronto adventure. So it'll be worth the wait; a lovely illustrated post.

[1]Sullivan, A. K., & Strang, H. R. (2003). Bibliotherapy in the classroom. Childhood Education, 79(2), 74-80. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/210384283?accountid=12339

5 comments:

  1. "she meditated as she watched the sun dip below the horizon." Is what killed me. HOW LONG WAS SHE STANDING THERE?

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    1. Well did you see how long and detailed that internal monologue was?
      "If he's theory X, does that make me theory Y?" "Maybe I should try the MBO approach!" ...
      She was probably there for ages! I'm half-shocked it didn't end with "as she watched spring turn to summer, turn to fall, to winter and finally to spring once more"...

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  2. I have a nice paper about bibliotherapy. I reference the one you noted above :-)

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    1. I'd love to read it if you're willing to share!

      Delete
  3. http://journals.cec.sped.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=tecplus&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dmaich%2520bibliotherapy%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D3%26ved%3D0CC4QFjAC%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fjournals.cec.sped.org%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1061%2526context%253Dtecplus%26ei%3DeIxjT5mYLO-80QHD3cibCA%26usg%3DAFQjCNFOTGvWfyzTRAWhtEGCadQPLonDrw#search=%22maich%20bibliotherapy%22

    ReplyDelete