Literacy Story

I know this is not a requirement, so to my fellow classmates I am posting this reflection outside of class. I repeat, this is not an assignment.

Creating my literary story opened my eyes. Until I did this project, I did not realize how much of the eleven years between graduating high school and coming back to UCA in 2006 I truly lost. Looking through what pictures I had of my family I found maybe five-six more than what I placed in the movie.

In class this semester, we discussed the myths novice writing students have to deal with and how those myths are reinforced through today's media. I heard a professor once, when discussing the syllabus, actually say that we writers are prone to depression and there were services on campus which would help us. When I started writing again I realized that in order to control my depression I needed to write, but many of my peers say they experience depression due to their writing.

I wonder how many of us fall into either of these camps? How should this knowledge affect how we teach future students?

We talked in class about how to discredit the writing myths students see and how our own experiences can be used to help teach novice writers. Does anyone have any thoughts about what to teach, how to teach, and when to teach students about your own battles with depression? Or is this a topic so close to our core as writers that we can't expose our struggles?

Works Cited page for my literacy story...

Fletcher, Ralph. Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices. Ontario: Pembroke Publishers Limited, 2006. Print.

Royster, Brent. “Inspiration, Creativity, and Crisis: The Romantic Myth of the Writer Meets the Contemporary Classroom.” Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom. Ed. Anna Leahy. Tonawanda: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 2005. 26-38. Print.

Uppal, Priscila. “Both Sides of the Desk: Experiencing Creative Writing Lore as a Student and as a Professor.” Can It Really Be Taught? Resisting Lore in Creative Writing Pedagogy. Ed. Kelly Ritter and Stephanie Vanderslice. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc., 2007. 46-54. Print.

seeing clearly...

This is it. The last blog entry for this class, and though I am excited that this semester is coming to an end, I am not as excited that this class is almost over. The readings for this week’s blog were interesting in that they voiced some of the same questions I have asked over the past six years of my professors and myself. The articles gave me some answers and yet provided ideas for discussion that I have not thought of before.

As everyone knows, general education requirements include a combination of classes, which include English Literature. When it was time for me to take this class, I chose English Lit I. My experience as a reader was at that time much the same as described in the articles for today. I love to read, but I had never learned how to read analytically. I thought that was all I needed to learn to get through college and if I had chosen another field of study then that would be all I needed. The first time I took a Creative Writing Forms class I realized I had to learn how to read as a writer. It took me two years to get to the point I am at now in learning this valuable skill, and yet I believe there is more I need to learn. This is evident when I sit through workshops and some of my peers see things that I failed to notice when reading the pieces of my peers.

I did not realize that the line between being a teacher and a student of writing is so thin. I know now that the objective to learning the craft of writing is not something one ever stops working towards. Knowing this now, I understand that the very professors who teach me every semester are still learning as I am. Over the past three years, I have tutored writing at the elementary level and this experience has helped me to experience this juggling between teacher and student even more. The important thing to remember is that to keep my own process of learning from future students would allow them to believe in the idea that their professors know everything about writing.

When I started writing, again I had not formal training, had read one book on writing, and only had my childhood experiences to pull from to finish my first book. Along the way, I learned that I knew more than I thought about the writing craft but did not have the terminology to talk about the processes and techniques I used. In the beginning, it was like looking through a dense fog. I could see the edges and yet still not make out what I was before me. In a way, this was my way of describing what the articles discussed. We come to the creative writing classroom with this feeling of ‘magic’ writing, we learn and read which causes the fog to lift slowly, and then we realize along the way that what was hiding in the fog was not ‘magic’ but the foundation we needed in order to build.

The important thing to remember is that as teachers we need to guide our students helping them find the same tools we found in the fog and that we will never stop learning.

teaching what you know and gender issues...

The questions raised by the readings for this week are familiar to me. I have asked similar ones over the past five years. I felt for the longest time that I was missing valuable pieces of what it means to be a writer. Those bits of information that my professors held about the craft of writing and only gave to those of us who had reached a higher level of writing. I kept waiting for them to throw me crumbs, and at one point believed that I was not talented enough to receive these pieces. Then I took a special topics course called Creative Living. Half way through that semester, I realized that the precious bits of information I believed I was not worthy of lay in the realization that to be a writer was more than just words scrawled on paper. To be a writer I needed to live as one. I needed to embrace the writing lifestyle. Not the stereotype of what it means to be a writer, but to make living writing a habit.

The readings for this week reminded me of this and reinforced what I learned two years ago. I also realized that although my professors know more than I do about writing, they are not privy to any information that I cannot obtain with the same hard work and practice. I do believe that writing comes easier to some people and not to others, but so does math, science, music, acting, learning languages, etc. I also believe that you can have all the talent you need to be great, but without hard work and determination, you will never reach your full potential. Teachers give precious gifts to their students every time they teach. How much the student learns is up to them, but just as the student should not stop learning when obstacles block their progress a teacher should not stop teaching when students choose not to listen. The seeds you plant will eventually sprout. The potential of the student is worth not giving up on said student.

This semester I have grown acutely aware of my gender due to a gender communication class that I am taking. The material for this week discussed the issue of gender and how it affects a person's writing. I disagree with the idea that only women should write about women and the same should go for men. I also disagree that only women writers are capable of writing emotional pieces, just as I disagree that only men writers write adventure pieces. I do think that it is our experiences in life that we pull from to accomplish the work we set out to create. I am not saying that one cannot write what they have not experienced. All writers, male or female, pull from their own memories to create an experience for their readers. These experiences do not necessarily have to be about the material the writer creates. The thinking that implies gender biased writing can cause young writers to believe they cannot pursue a particular piece just because their gender cannot possibly know how the other gender thinks or feels. FYI: sex and gender for many are separate.

deeper evaluations...

I see both sides presented in this week’s readings. I agree that students should not be graded in such a way that causes them to stop writing, and I agree that there needs to be some sort of evaluation process, which results in academic grades. There needs to be more conversation between the student and professor for the student to gauge his/her progress other than a grade. This debate clearly is not finished.

I personally tend to want more feedback then what is usually given to me by professors. The grades I receive are good. I have never been given less than an A for any writing course I have taken, but many times I feel that the A I got was too easy. It is evident that professors have to evaluate each student on what they bring into the classroom, but it is harder then it seems to find the balance when grading an entire class. One thing the readings did not discuss in detail was that every writing student is not necessarily on the same level as his/her peers.

I have set in classes with students who are much more advanced then I am, but I have also set in classes with peers who are not as advanced as I am. Over the past couple of years, I have come to the point in my own writing in which I feel that I am ready to move into a deeper discussion of the craft of writing. Deeper than many of my professors are able to go due to the level of the majority of the class. I have found the level discussion I crave by reading material outside of the classes I have taken, discussing reading material options with those professors I feel most comfortable with, and reading the textbooks a friend of mine has gotten from her MFA classes.

Ultimately, the grading of a writer's work falls on the evaluation of the professor and how said professor wishes to balance the grading process in his/her class, but they can only do so much. I agree that professors should not only evaluate their students, they must teach them how to find the information they seek, at whatever level they are at, outside of the class. Only then can a novice writer truly grow.

learning by example...

As the weeks have progressed through this class I have opened my eyes to how complicated and rewarding teaching writing can be, and I have to say thank you to all the professors whose classes I have taken during my time in college. Thank you for your persistence, understanding, and professionalism. You have influenced me as a person and writer.

The reading assignment for this week covered a lot of important information that any writing teacher needs in order to teach effectively. There was too much material to discuss in its entirety in this post, but there were two points that stuck with me, after I finished reading. The most important, I think, was the realization that what my professors have done in class was not just to create grading opportunities for my transcript. The material I have read, countless talking points I have turned in, and end of the semester portfolios were strategically placed tools to teach me what I need to know from the class.

Sometime during the fall semester of 2008, I realized that I had grown as a writer based on the knowledge I had gleaned from classes since declaring a writing major. I also realized that if I wanted to continue to grow, I had to take responsibility for that growth outside of class as well as in class. Looking back on the classes I took over the past two years, I realized through this reading that these same tools my professors have used to instruct and evaluate my writing, is what I must continue to do after I graduate in the Spring, if I am going to continue to grow as a writer.

The other point that really hit home for me was that there are different types of students. I have set in classes with the student who is resistant to learning. There have been several times that I wanted to remind these peers of mine, that they are in an undergraduate program and therefore know nothing compared to the professors. I have also set in classes with peers whose skill level is above mine and peers whose skill level is below mine. I hope I have never acted superior and all knowing as I have seen some of my peers act.

The examples of how to handle these students are good. I know now that some of my professors have actually used them in classes, quite successfully, but much of the journey writers go on to grow is done on an individual basis. Yes, we watch each other, in some ways emulate one another, and without us knowing are in turn emulated, but we still have to take responsibility for our own growth. I think that the resistant students have not quite figured this out and until they do, they will stay on the same level as a writer, never gaining ground on their development and reaching their potential.

~a bright new future...

Excerpt from an emergency meeting held on a planet somewhere in the Milky Way...

My fellow Zahanans, as you know, I have just returned from an interesting expedition to Earth to learn how the creative writing teachers help to mold their students into such great writers. We all know that our programs have lacked motivation for some time. We know that our students cannot seem to break into the publishing market like the Earth writers. I believe I have figured out why!

I managed to convince my contact at the University of Literary Artists to show me their best kept secrets, which fuel their program. I was able to watch Finding Forester and Wonder Boys. I learned many things from these training videos, and I am prepared today to teach you what I have learned.

The most important aspect of being a writer, and to truly create the works of art that all Earth writers produce is to be reclusive, shutting out all those outside the writing world and to some extent, fellow writers. We must teach our students to drink, a lot, and it might be a good idea to introduce them to certain illegal drugs so they can create the best possible writing, which will help them compete in today’s expanding market.

I also propose that we import from Earth the writers ‘red pen’. These special tools will ensure that our students are able to see our comments about their work on top of their own words. It will also help them to develop a deeper reclusive behavior that comes naturally to Earth writers.

My final point for today’s meeting is that we need to step out from behind our podiums and become mentors. Earth professors are so familiar with their students that the females are comfortable walking around in nothing but t-shirts in front of their male professors whom they rent rooms from while in school. The male students are just as comfortable driving around with their professors with dead dogs in the trunk of the car, smoking, drinking, and sleeping with their professors’ editors. We must become more available to our students.

Although these changes will call for some of us to feel uncomfortable, we must think of our students. Earth teachers feel that to create the next generation of writers, they must pass on the knowledge they have, to those who are talented and to those who not so talented. We must mold them into copies of our own writing habits, techniques, and lifestyles. We must show them friendship and compassion all while keeping a thin line between them and us.

I hope that you will all join me, as we embark on a bright new future in teaching creative writing, and as we prepare our students to compete with the Earth writers in today’s growing universal market. Thank you.

Back on earth...

I agree that we should pass on our knowledge about the creative writing process. I agree that we should show our students how and where to find the information they need to become better writers. I do not agree that we should teach the stereotypes that are presented in these two movies, but that we should make our students aware of them.

that's just Hollywood...

I will never forget the moment I finally told members of my extended family that I was writing a book. I received mixed reactions. My parents were supportive from the start, almost too supportive. I remember my mother working on a short story when I was younger, and how she sent it off to some magazine seeking publication. A few months later, she received her first and only rejection letter. She gave up. So when I told her my news, she jumped immediately saying things like, “You’re going to be rejected but don’t let that stop you.” Now going on five years later, my mother is worried I will give up on my dream because she has this preconceived belief about the publishing industry. The process from writer to publisher to print is as fast as the movie industry depicts.

I also received the typical reaction, “How are you going to make money at that?” and “Shouldn’t you be working towards a degree with more opportunity?” My brother’s only question was, “So when you going to start drinking, smoking pot, and divorce your husband? There are many state parks and cabins you could hole up in while your life disappears.” Now my brother was joking. Jamie has always supported me just as I have supported him, but when he said these things, other family members were quick to back his comments.

Reading this week’s assignment, Box Office Poison by Wendy Bishop and Stephen Armstrong, forced me to examine not only all the movies I have watched based on writers but these comments as well, and I saw for the first time how they influenced my own life as a writer. We all know that Hollywood romanticizes certain occupations. When I see a writer portrayed in a movie now, I find some of them laughable. Hollywood’s betrayal of how easy it is for a writer to reach publication and the speed in which their book hits the market, is one reason people, who are not writers, think that taking several years to write a book is plan lazy.

The article asks how we can change these Hollywood depicted images of our craft. I agree that it needs to start in writing programs. The learned writer must pass to the novice the images they have discovered about writers, but the novice must be willing to accept these new ideas. However, will this erase the Hollywood images of the public, the outsiders to our profession? That will take much longer to change. In a way, those writers who are household names in our society feed into these images.

The public only see these writers after the books are written, after the countless hours of revisions, after all the hoops they had to jump through to satisfy the publishing house, and at the book signings and television interviews. In a way, the same Hollywood images that blind the public and potentially hurt novice writers are fed into by the writing community. We helped birth the monster and need to help in its taming. We have to be the first in our society to change our self-image. Only then can we reasonably expect Hollywood to change.

evaluations: better ideas...

Chapter 8 in Released into Language, was interesting not only in that the ideas presented were practical, but I now see why all the professors I have taken in this program require the portfolio. Before reading this, I thought the reason behind the portfolios were to take the place of the traditional final tests other classes have at the end of the semester. I now know the portfolio not only serves the professors in evaluating our development as writers, but in teaching the students how to critique their own work and the work of their peers.

As for the evaluation process itself, I have set in class with peers who can tell horror stories about teachers they had growing up, who bled red ink onto their papers. In the Writing Center, we see how these teachers have ultimately affected those students by causing them to self-diagnose themselves as poor or bad writers. I work with students in the Elementary School Writing Center who are on their way to thinking the same.

I like the suggestions in this chapter, which discuss what an evaluation should be. On page 160, there is a list, which shows what the conventional form of evaluation includes, but on page 161, there is also a list, which shows how different a good evaluation should look.

I also liked how the recommendations made to teachers, are giving with the idea that the individual educator should choose what fits their particular classroom’s needs. Something that I found interesting was the idea that teachers should remove themselves from the center of attention, becoming the mentor rather than taking on a more traditional role as teacher. This was a point discussed in last week’s readings, and to have it stressed again, shows how important this decision can be for the writing classroom.

~swing batter batter...

The reading our class did for this week’s blog discussion came from Released Into Language: Options for Teaching Creative Writing by Wendy Bishop in which we read the first three chapters. I have to say there was so much material that my brain is now saturated, and I am dripping knowledge, about teaching creative writing workshops and classes, all over my desk.

Chapter one talks about the expectations of creative writing classes, the teachers, and the students and how these expectations have developed through the years. One of the students discussed, John, talks about his experience in a high school creative writing class. In this class he had a teacher who focused not only on the text, but also on allowing the students the freedom to write responses using creative writing techniques (4). For example, John and his friend were allowed to create a mock newspaper to show what they had learned from the text (4).

I thought back on my own experience, in my tenth grade high school creative writing class, in which we were not allowed such freedom. My classmates and I were not given the option to explore techniques that interested us. Instead, we were told what and how to write. I can see a huge difference in my abilities as a writer now verses then. I tend to agree with Bishop’s research that the writing classroom should be a place where writers of all levels should be guided to discover their strengths and weaknesses, a place were the teacher is just as much a student as the students (1-14).

Chapter two was a bit harder to summarize, but the one point that grabbed my attention, above all the other information, was the idea of asking your students to define or explain what their writing process is like. The four that Bishop brings up is actually from Barbara Tomlinson: ‘writing is cooking’, ‘writing is mining’, ‘writing is gardening’, and ‘writing is hunting or fishing’ (24).

This list got me to thinking about my own method of writing, and I decided that right now mine would be ‘writing is playing softball/baseball’. Every fundamental element that I practice on a daily basis, such as plot, characterizations, world building, scene development, and the mechanics like grammar, sentence structure, and point of view, come into play when I put pen to paper. The elements that I practice, study about, and practice some more, help me to hit the ball, run the bases, and eventually score. Just like my husband and I tell our kids. If you want to get better at something, you have to put in the work, time, and practice to reach your goal.

Chapter three talks about the different types of class modes on page 44. What I found interesting as I read about these, was that every creative writing class I have taken in college has had some variation of these built into their structure. A creative writing teacher does not only have to use one type. They can mix it up based on how their classes responded to each mode. I like this because it allows freedom of choice. Without the freedom to customize the class structure, you run the risk of losing some of your students.

I am probably a bit bias, about the last point I would like to make, but I feel it is important. I noticed throughout the reading that references were made about students going to their college Writing Centers. I feel that this is an important step in the writing process that seems to be overlooked by writers of all levels. We not only need to workshop our pieces with our peers in class, but we have peers in the Writing Center, fellow Creative Writing/Writing Majors and Minors, who can help us develop our material before it ever gets to the classroom workshop.