Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Pettis Perry (Part 2)
When we asked Dr. Pettis Perry to answer our faculty spotlight questions, he responded with a treasure trove of insights—so much so that we decided to break his response into two parts. Click here to read Part 1, and enjoy Part 2 below! |
| Dr. Pettis Perry, Ed.D., is a core faculty member and program coordinator of the Master of Science in Leadership Program. |
How does your own
experience as a writer inform your work with student writers?
The most significant shaping experience came from my father,
who only completed 15 months of formal education but taught himself how to read
and write. When I asked my dad how to spell a word, he would tell me to get the
dictionary and we looked up the word together. I learned that not understanding
something was not an excuse for failure, and I also learned to keep a
dictionary handy, which I do to this day.
A second experience that shaped my work with students was
that I failed every writing proficiency test I took. Over time, I discovered
that sitting down to write about a foreign subject did not allow my brain
sufficient time to process the information so that I could use it. Once I began
to understand how I processed information, I adjusted my approach to my school and
professional work.
My favorite teacher from my Jesuit training required us to
write single-page papers regardless of the amount of reading. This forced me to
learn how to write much more effectively and with greater impact. I was also
inspired by the lack of feedback I received from many of my instructors over
the years. My response was to make a personal commitment that if I ever ended
up in a classroom, I would do everything I could to help students.
Recently, I remembered my high school counselor telling me
that I shouldn’t consider going to college because I would not succeed, and the
difficulties I had with writing assessments seemed to reinforce that opinion.
However, by the time I presented my dissertation, a committee member commented
that my dissertation was one of the best he had seen in 20 years of teaching.
What advice do you
have for faculty who want to help their student writers?
Clearly articulate your expectations and provide substantive
content feedback as well as technical writing feedback. Consider the student
perspective: We have so much variation in our faculty expectations that it
creates problems for students who are confused as they move from class to
class. Students complain that many of their faculty provided them 100% scores
with little or no feedback, leading them to believe that there wasn't anything
that needed improvement. It is certainly much easier for us as faculty to
simply give students grades rather than forcing them to earn their grades in an
environment of tough academic scrutiny, and it can be potentially more
lucrative in terms of how high grades may relate to
more positive student evaluations and, therefore,
higher faculty performance evaluations. However, who is being helped
when we do this? If we truly want to support our students, then we have to do the right thing by letting students
know when they are doing well and when they need additional support.
What advice do you
have for students who want to improve their writing?
Be willing to embrace critical feedback and learning from your instructors. Even strong writers have things to learn in order to write more effectively. Seek feedback when it’s not provided, and focus on the learning rather than the GPA. Cultivate relationships with your instructors by asking questions and seeking understanding regarding the logic of your grades, and seek out those who will give you honest and tough feedback rather than feedback you want to hear.
Work on language skills every opportunity you get. Practice them during every discussion, application, presentation, or memo.
Be patient with yourself as you journey through your degree. Remember that the formal education process is a demanding process that requires a substantial time commitment over a finite period. Informing friends and family members about those commitments can open up scheduled time for writing and completing assignments. Create holes in your schedule, such as working on assignments while using public transportation, during work breaks, or after putting children to sleep.
Since writing requires synthesizing and communicating
information, create a system for managing information consumption, reflection
time, and writing time. For example, the MSL program follows a day 3-7 posting
schedule. This creates opportunities for completing all of the required reading
during days 1-2. Do the reading in order of how the materials will be used for
each assignment, which gives your brain an opportunity to process the
information in preparation for using it sequentially.
Take some time to become familiar with your designated
writing manual. Review the table of contents and the example papers, but live in the index. Only
submit your best work and take ownership of the work you submit. Everyone is
busy, so none of us can use that as an excuse for the quality of the work that
we submit. Remember, your ideas belong to you.
Be excited about your education journey and passionate about
your subject, and you will find it easier to sustain momentum. There simply
isn’t any substitute for a positive attitude and passion about your work. In
fact, when we are passionate about the things we do, we generally do not see
the effort as drudgery but rather as an investment in something we truly enjoy.
How is a student’s
ability to write related to success in your field?
Whether a leader is seen as credible is closely tied to his
or her ability to use language effectively. Leaders have to be able to
communicate to a wide variety of stakeholders, such as employees, board
members, customers, or vendors. In order to adjust their message effectively,
leaders have to be able to communicate using a variety of mediums that require
the ability to write well.
Functionally, the smaller the organization, the more the
leader has to do to produce reports and correspondence. When leaders are unable
to communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively, they inadvertently produce
dysfunction within their organizations. The ability to communicate effectively
will make the difference between success and failure, not only for the leader,
but for the entire organization.
What’s something
about you that would surprise your students?
I used to collect movies and
recently had to get rid of more than ¾ of my collection (about 350 movies)
because of a lack of space in my new home.
Other posts in our Spotlight series:
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Pettis Perry (Part 1)
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. K. Elizabeth McDonald
Student Spotlight: Mary Eldredge-Sandbo
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Thank you for sharing the tips on writing info. I am undergoing the process of dissertation writing from Capella and having tough time. In fact, I asked for an editor from editnpublish.com to help me with improving my writing and he came back to tell me that my writing was weak and required a rewrite before an editor could help. Your post is guiding on how to write which is good and I will recommend a similar blog for Capella as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Puneet! We're so glad you found the post helpful. We have many other posts about writing dissertations, too. Some of them are specific to Walden dissertations, but many of them are not, and you might find them helpful as well.
DeleteWe also encourage you to browse through our
posts on academic writing. We have posts on outlining, paragraphing, thesis statements, transitions, and much more.