When we were given this prompt, to write about what
assignments we would give students using our teaching philosophy, well, I don’t
want to be a teacher, have absolutely no interest in being a teacher, and as a
result have no teaching philosophy. I wasn’t even sure what a teaching
philosophy is until I did the reading for this week, to be quite honest. From
what I can gather, a teaching philosophy is what you as a writer value and what
you want to impart on your potential students. Well, I thought, I could work
with this.
After I have completed my education my ultimate goal is to
become an editor for a publishing house. With this in mind I reexamined the
prompt for this week. As an editor what will I be looking for in the submissions
that come across my desk? Working with this expectation, what will I want
authors to have the most experience with? Thinking from this perspective, the
answer came quite easily: interesting, creative content and a strong clear
voice.
Keeping in line with those expectations, I feel that the
assignments that would best help young writers meet those expectations are
assignments that help them find their voice in the context of creating writing.
Give students the ability to write whatever they want so that they can
experiment and discover what works for them. Journaling exercises would help
with this. Possibly have students read letters and then write responses to
those letters; or perhaps one sentence prompts and let the students figure out
what story that prompt seeds; or have students read stories and then talk about
the different methods the authors use and discuss how they can apply those some
methods to their own writings.
I feel that allowing students to find their own voice in
their writings, especially in their creative writings, is an incredibly
important part of the writing process. When I was in grade school all I ever
wrote were research based papers which were good exercises to be sure but
because there really had no creative outlet in my academics I turned instead to
what is called fan fiction in which I took already established characters from
published works and manipulated them using my own plots or settings. I would
then take these pieces post them online where I would receive feedback from
other writers on the websites but it wasn’t the same as getting feedback from
those with the experience and education to help young writers learn and grow.
It wasn’t until I entered college and began taking creative
writing courses that I began to receive the kind feedback that really helped my
creative writing. Sure, the more academic writing helped with my overall style
but I had to work hard to develop my voice in my fan fiction and then my
college professor helped me refine it.
The using of spare time to hone writings skills is not
something that every student does. If I were ever to be a teacher—and keep in
mind if this were to happen I would try to be an elementary school teacher—I would
really like to focus on allowing my students to explore their own imaginations
through the medium of writing and I would give them assignments that reflect
that focus.
Colleen, I think your goal for students, "interesting, creative content and a strong clear voice," is extremely worthy for any classroom or any job. You're correct that not many students would use time outside of school to hone their writing skills, so conducting a classroom that uses class time to encourage writing could be very enlightening to students, especially since they have immediate help available to them in the classroom. I do think that there needs to be a balance between academic writing and creative writing, as well as between reading and writing. I take it from your comment that online commentary was not as helpful as that from professors with experience and education that, in your "hypothetical" classroom, a professor's feedback might yield more helpful results to a student than peer feedback. This is a concept I have struggled with as well; in my experience, peer critiques, like we discussed in class, are (1) more helpful to those doing them than hearing them and (2) better delivered as formal, written feedback rather than informal class discussion.
ReplyDeleteGood work here, Colleen. Nice specificity. Good reflection over your own experiences as they help you think about the value of feedback. So how can the quality feedback you received as a CW student be used in composition? Make it happen. Think through plot, setting, etc. in terms of argument, persuasion, research. CW is very important, as is composition. They require different skills. And many of those skills, as well as tools which get students to those skills, are shared. I've never been an editor for a publishing house, in the same sort of way that you're interested in doing. But, I am an editor of an academic publishing house, and I have edited journals and books. There are a combination of skills and motivators that come from both expressionistic (being creative) and socially constructive and formalist perspectives. Okay, so assignments and a teaching philosophy? Keep working on it!
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