I daydreamed several times about instruction that I would be able to give, once I get my own composition class to teach.
Some of the ideas that I have I included in my other blog posts, but I really would like to employ as many valued techniques as possible without going overboard, like I felt Williams did. I think that the best way to teach writing is to have the students write. That, to me, is a no-brainer. In my senior writing class, my professor had all of us write on a single topic at the start of every class. The subject would be so vague, like "doughnut" or "werewolf," and we would freewrite for ten-fifteen minutes. She allowed us to continue writing if we got rolling on a particular idea. The topics could easily relate to something cultural, or something from the previous class's readings, and then the students could use those freewrites to help them write their papers.
I heard the coolest idea once of how writing should be conducted...You bring the naughty child (right brain) into the room and let him wreak as much havoc as possible, paint on the walls, toy trucks glued to the ceiling, the works, and then when he has done all the damage he can do, you lock him in a closet and let your well-behaved child come out (left brain), not to clean up the mess, per se, but to make sense of it. The freewrite at the beginning of the class would allow the naughty kid an opportunity to get some of his energy out (like telling kids to wave to their parents before the choir concert starts so that they are not frantically waving the whole time), and then mechanics can be introduced.
I am a firm believer with starting simple and working into complicated. Subject matter does not mean anything if students do not have the tools to correctly and adequately express their ideas on any particular topic. First come the mechanics and voice and then come important topics and theory. There are two comp classes for every student, and one semester for each (though I believe it should be a year, and I have a feeling not many other comp profs would disagree with me), and that is enough time to equip students with the basics. I do believe in starting with the five-paragraph essay to get their feet wet, focusing solely on one text (and I like anthologies because they tend to provide students with well-written and over-analyzed essays of which there is plenty of information), no research. Then, same text (give them the option of choosing which one they would like to focus on through weekly readings), introduce research, then comp theories, and have them roll it all into a portfolio that they will retain at the end of the semester.
Perhaps I am over-reaching and idealizing, but I do not see any flaws in this particular plan. Of course, that is what the readers of this blog are for. Tear, tear away.
"You bring the naughty child (right brain) into the room and let him wreak as much havoc as possible...and then...let your well-behaved child come out (left brain), not to clean up the mess, per se, but to make sense of it."
ReplyDeleteI think Elbow says something along these lines when he talks about beginning the writing process by completing a draft that ignores audience. Trimble says basically the same thing in Writing with Style, referring to "letting the madman out," and I've seen writers as varied as Stephen Koch and Stephen King espouse the same idea for creative writing, calling for a "closed-door draft" to get the story out before you begin fiddling with it too much. I like it, as long as students know it's no excuse for a sloppy final product.
I think this double mindedness can further be reflected in the double role of the teacher/professor. (Elbow talks about this dichotomy as well.) We are both the students' best friend (or rather, more clearly, the best friend of their work), the students' cheerleader and nurturing mentor, and their evaluator, the gatekeeper who determines to what degree they have succeeded in learning the skills/content that we have presented.
I like the naughty child metaphor. One I like involves dream interpretation—imagining the topic as a dream and the writer freely associates what comes to mind. The task of rewriting a first draft is like the process of interpreting what the dream means in the real world.
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas: start simple and go slowly into the complex.I also think that the more we think about how we learn, like you are, the better teachers we will be. Its when we forget and get carried away with just the Teacher hat on too long and not the teacher-learner that we get in trouble. And we have to be idealistic! that's one of things that keeps us going.
ReplyDeletenancy
Yes, Nancy, metacognition is essential. Without stopping to reflect and evaluate the effectiveness and significance of once instructional strategies, one becomes tyrranical and out of touch.
ReplyDeleteI believe giving students freedom and room for creativity is also key to helping students become writers. They need to first understand that writing can be a beautiful, enlightening, and even cathartic experience. It isn't something to fear. So, I'm with you guys - let them run wild first and then go back and make sense of it.