Reflection on tonight's class...

I loved the way class went tonight. I feel like I know the people who read their memiors with us so much better now. They were all amazing...now I am terrified to read mine next week. I was on the phone with my mom while walking home after class tonight, and I bragged the entire way home about how brilliant my classmates were.

So, I'm dedicating this blog to all those who read their memiors tonight. 1) For doing an amazing job, and 2) for putting so much pressure on the rest of us who have yet to read ours in class. :-)

This class is so inspiring, and I can't wait to hear everyone else read their blogs.

Myth number 16

After leaving class today, I felt inspired to go back and re-read Smith's article. I had read it before, but when I read it the first time, I never really placed myself within the myths. I just kept saying to myself, well duh, of course that isn't true... but when going back and actually placing myself in situations where I fell into those myths, I was able to better identify with the article.

For example, "A fixed period of "prewriting" can or should be distinguishable before any writing act", is one myth that was forged into my brain as a high school student. We HAD to come up with an idea, write an outline, include a thesis, draft, edit, and then begin the write the paper. Why? Why did I HAVE to write an outline? I understand it helps struggling students find a way to organize thoughts, and outlines definitely are not a bad thing...but they are not my thing. I hate outlines.. I would much rather just start writing and see where it takes me. Outlines scare me because once I write one, I feel I can't go out of it. I can't switch paragraph 1 with paragraph 2 because the outline says it should be that way. I like how Smith categorizes daydreaming as a prewrite. Some of my best ideas come to me while I'm on a long run, and just because it doesn't fit into those defined steps, it isn't considered a credible to my high school teacher.

I love the quote, "The act of writing does not break itself down into neatly identifiable and manageable "steps", rather it is part of all our existence" (30). I think we need to allow our students to go beyond these myths, and while some of them (like prewriting) are useful, people naturally go outside of them.

My Morning Revelation...

As I was sitting at my computer this morning trying to decide what piece of writing to submit to the National Day of Writing, I had a revelation. I discovered that I am incapable of disregarding the fact that people may judge my writing. I was afraid to submit any of my work because I was so paranoid they’d judge it, and as a result, judge me as a person. I ALWAYS have an audience inside my head that I am constantly trying to please.  I had to overcome these inner voices and just pick a piece. I chose to submit my one-pager, because, while some people might not like my opinions/writing…I feel strongly about the issue I wrote about.

I also chose my one-pager, however, because I have not saved a single piece of expressive writing since I’ve come to the University. I was looking through all my old files and folders on my computer, and the only things I have saved are essays I have written for class. How depressing! This needs to change—immediately.

I like how Britton writes that, “Because expressive writing is appropriate to a relaxed and trusting relationship, it is also a form of writing in which we are willing to take risks. If we don't take risks in our thinking we are not free to explore, discover, learn. This, then, is the bonus: that is to say, while expressive writing (or talk) is not necessarily, or even usually, exploratory, it has a strong potential in that direction, a strong heuristic potential.” I like the idea of expressive writing being a medium through which one can learn. Now, why don’t I have any form of free writing saved on my computer?

I guess it’s because when I started college, the assignments required for a grade took up so much of my time, I lost any free time I once had to write. In order to be an effective teacher someday, I can’t be a hypocrite and ask my students to write freely and expressively on their own, if I don’t even take the time to.

I’ve decided that this needs to change starting today. From now on, I will make time to rediscover expressive writing—something that is so important to learning. Excuse me, while I go attempt to write a poem…

Writing to Simply Write (aka my one-pager)

I love writing. I love forming words that shape human emotion, I love creating riddles out of preconceived answers, and, most of all, I love conquering the monster of a blank page. I love how something as simple as a grocery list can form itself into a masterpiece. Take for example John’s use of sausage as inspiration for interpreting a poem. While his professor might see this as a “reach”, to writers like me, I thought it was brilliant. To me, these “reaches” are the best part of writing. Using the image of sausage to create an interpretation of a poem is not only conquering the blank page, but brutally sucking the life out of it. And that is why I love writing. Something as teacher’s we must remember, however, is that not everyone in the world appreciates the challenge of a blank page like we do.

            So, why do some of our students see writing as something to be afraid of?  Many of our students will inevitably favor science or math over the classes we will be teaching, and there is nothing wrong with that. Where a problem does arise, however, is when students do not understand that in order to be a functioning member of society, they must be able to write. Thomas Newkirk writes in his book, Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones, that no matter what job field a student will someday go into, they will need to write. He states, “The amount of paperwork generated for one Special Education student is phenomenal; police officers need to be skilled at writing reports of arrests; social workers need to create informative case narratives. Exchanges that years ago would have been casual and oral, are now, by legal necessity, done in writing” (56). Everyday tasks like sending a professional e-mail will unavoidably require humans to form coherent sentences—it is our responsibility as teachers to educate youth on how to do this.

            Newkirk raises a good point about this issue when he questions why there is not more emphasis put on writing classes.  He writes, “…the teaching of literature of any kind required advanced training while the teaching of writing can… be assigned to relatively inexperienced graduate teaching assistants” (53). He believes that students learn to write in order to aide in the process of comprehending literature. After further thinking about this, I totally agree. Back in high school, the only time I was required to write was when I had to explain how I understood a text. Newkirk writes that, “… at least two of the three objectives for writing were to enhance reading; writing is a means, a vehicle for the enhancement of reading proficiency, not a goal in itself” (52). It is our responsibility as future educators to reverse this thinking, and stand firm in our beliefs about writing.

             It is not that today’s education system is deeming the teaching of writing as “unimportant”, but as Newkirk writes, administrators are incorporating writing into the curriculum as means to enhance the act of reading. It is required to teach students how to write a basic essay, but it is not required to show students how fun writing can be, or how useful it will be in their everyday life. “Students develop ‘basic’ skills, but millions don’t progress from there” (129). Every occupation requires some form of writing skills, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I get totally irritated when I receive an e-mail from my boss that is filled with grammatical errors.

            It is beyond wishful thinking to imagine a world where everyone loves writing as much as I do, but I know that as an educator someday, I will try my hardest to get my students to appreciate writing for exactly what it is—creating your own, complex, creative, and, sometimes, quirky meanings out of words. I want my students to see writing as a tool that will take them far in life, not just a way of responding to a piece of literary work.