How will I design instruction that helps students develop
habits that enhance their writing lives?
The best way I can think of to show my students how to write
is to lead by example. I had this bright idea to open this blog post with an
old poem I’d written. But when I looked through my dusty tomes, I found that my
most prolific writing period was in my wild years. The subjects I was writing
about were not things I would share with my adolescent students. At best, the products
I created in that time would serve as a cautionary tale against chasing superficial
pleasures and taking the easy way out. And the poems I wrote that would be shareable
are ones that I’m just not satisfied with.
But here is where Randy Bomer’s advice comes into play.
Bomer says that in order to write quality art, we must lower our standards and
allow ourselves to make mistakes so that we can raise those standards with
later drafts (204). This makes perfect sense to me. I shouldn’t just show my
students my best work and expect them to be inspired enough to create great
writing themselves. I have to show them the process. Therefore, instead of
pulling poems out of my past, I should create new works of art alongside the
students. That way, they can see that decent composition doesn’t just hatch
fully formed; It takes nurturing and editing.
I don’t intend to simply have my students write poems all
year either. Poems are great, but they only scratch the surface of the world of
writing. Perhaps my students will be more into writing story-telling narratives
or memoirs from their own lives. Book reports and/or reviews will be a doubly
useful tool for both showing me that they comprehend items they’ve read and
developing effective writing styles. Maybe I’ll have students who shine when
writing easy-to-understand instruction manuals like my classmate whom I admire
for his intellect and professionalism.
I feel that it is my duty to appeal to various types of
writing personalities instead of trying to get all the students to write in
styles that I personally find enjoyable. I want to shatter the belief that
school is about enforcing conformity. I’m not trying to put people in identical
little boxes made of ticky-tacky like the old folk song criticizes us for. I’ve
mentioned throughout this essay that writing is art. That is the whole reason I
enrolled to study English education. My wild years weren’t just about partying;
The partying was a way to nurture myself through times of suffering. My family
had made it clear that I wasn’t welcome around them because I rejected their hateful
religion and politics. My love life was largely unsuccessful, and my career was
made of unfulfilling jobs that I could have done as a teenager. I had little
self-esteem. But while the partying served as a temporary quick fix, what
really got me through that time was my creativity. That is what I want to share
with my students. I want them to know that I believe they are capable of
achieving the individual goals they create for themselves and more. Creating
quality writing won’t be easy for all of them, but the process of working
through difficult tasks will make them stronger people, and it will all come
from what is inside of them.
Works Cited:
Bomer, Randy. Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s
English Classrooms. Heinemann, 2011.
