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.