New Ideas New Solutions

New Ideas New Solutions:

 In Today's Business Environment, Entrepreneurs Must Develop a Flexible Business Model to Gain Financing, Contracts, and Market Share. (B.E. Small Business Report)

Hughes, Alan, McKinney, Jeffrey, Black Enterprise

THE STREAMLINING HAS BEEN DONE. EXPENDITURES AND CASH FLOW ARE CLOSELY MONITORED. Virtually all excess has been trimmed down to the bone. Today, small businesses are running lean and mean--or not at all. Challenges--from access to capital to increased competition from larger businesses to healthcare costs--are confronting today's entrepreneur at every turn. Unfortunately, when small business catches a cold, it's pneumonia for African American-owned enterprises. Too often, black-owned businesses are left out of lucrative contracting, part nerships, networking, and financing opportunities.

And with roughly 22 million small businesses (over 820,000 of which are black-owned according to the latest Census count) in the U.S. employing some 51% of the private sector workforce that generate revenues accounting for half the nation's gross domestic product, what happens to the success of small business has a profound effect on the economy. "The biggest problem by far facing entrepreneurs today is the uncertain business environment, particularly in the wake of the slowing economy, post-Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the accounting scandals that have rocked corporate America," says Todd McCracken, president of National Small Business United, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group representing 65,000 small business owners.

Today's entrepreneur needs to be even more flexible in the face of the current business environment, which also mandates that entrepreneurs pool resources, leverage businesses, and forge alliances. "It's so valuable to have partners and form alliances so [businesses] can not only absorb changes in the economy, but take advantage of changes in the economy," says Ronald N. Langston, national director of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency in Washington, D.C. "Those businesses that think they can do it alone today are going to fail."

Despite these difficulties, many of today's black entrepreneurs are meeting the challenge. Realizing the need to be proactive while rolling with the punches, these entrepreneurs are learning that to survive, one has to think outside of the box. They're forming partnerships, taking advantage of networking opportunities, and finding ways to finance their ventures. In short, they're doing whatever it takes to maintain a thriving business. Here are a few of them.

NETWORKING THE CROWD

When Genma Holmes, 35, attended the Black Enterprise/Microsoft Entrepreneurs Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, she carried with her a list of prospective clients and partners in a book bag. By the time she left, Holmes had landed contracts and made contacts with clients that she expects will more than double her company's revenues by the end of 2003.

Holmes' company, Holmes Pest Control, generated some $90,000 in 2001 and she expects that as a result of attending the Entrepreneurs Conference, the firm will not only double its revenues by the end of next year but also generate almost $300,000 in annual revenues by 2004, and possibly reach half a million by 2005.

At the Entrepreneurs Conference, Holmes worked with contacts from the state of Tennessee to get a feel for the companies that were going to be there. She also used the Conference's schedule of events as a guide to help find companies and make contacts with sources she wanted to network with. As a result, she was able to sign several deals, including one to provide services to Ewing Moving Co., a $20 million, Memphis, Tennessee-based moving company. More importantly, Holmes said by making connections with businesses that Ewing Moving dealt with, Holmes Pest Control signed deals with six other companies, each worth about $5,000 to $6,000 a year. The two-year contracts go into effect next January. She also landed three out of four entities that she wanted to service, including one deal that resulted in seven new contracts worth about $35,000 annually.

Philosophy on Teaching Writing (And Other Thoughts)

Writing is a process that, on a basic level, functions to name and communicate ideas. However, writing is also a process that fosters resilience, encourages self-reflection and evaluation and facilitates a form of self-therapy—no shrink required. Clearly, writing’s practical purpose is essential and benefits our communities and societies at large in exponential ways. However, the process, the healing, self-reflection, self-awareness and resilience gained from writing is where its true value resides. Therefore, as I reflect upon the larger goals I intend to reach as a future teacher of writing, I can’t help but feel the burden of responsibility of teaching such weighty and potentially life-changing content. Writing can, in best practice, be powerfully revolutionary. It will be my aim to communicate writing as a process, as a form of resilience, to encourage critical thinking and to instill confidence within my students by helping them develop their voice.

On these grounds, it is priority to first and foremost communicate writing as a process, rather than a means of production. In his article, “A Thousand Writers Writing”, Robert P. Yagelski says, “I had always assumed, like most English teachers I know, that writing should produce a text to be used for some explicit purpose--to keep a record, promote learning, communicate ideas or information, or demonstrate writing ability (as in the context of assessment). It was not until I attended the opening session of the National Writing Project’s annual conference in 2004 that I began to consider the experience of an act of writing as separate from--and as valuable as--the text produced as a result of that writing” (Yagelski, 2009). And from personal experience in my own writing, I concur. I have never written to publish, but instead have found tremendous value in writing to reflect, to analyze, to make sense of things, to dive deeper in understanding of myself. In accordance with this goal, I intend to implement several types of assignments in order to yield the benefits of such a writing process. These include an extended writing project, (identical in nature to the piece we worked on all semester for Professor Branch) that allows students to explore their capacities and abilities as a writer while simultaneously encouraging personal reflection and continuous revision. Students will be forced to not focus on the end goal, but on the daily task at hand, as little as it may be. 

Moreover, as students view writing more and more as a process, I hope they would grow in self-reflection, that they would begin to see that they can gain something more than the text itself from writing. Therefore, I intend to incorporate memoir-esque writing assignments that challenge students to reflect on their life’s experiences and the ways that they have been shaped because of them, as well as daily writing prompts with questions that guide students into deeper, perhaps more introspective thinking. 

Finally, still in regard to writing as a process, I hope to strengthen my students’ revisional competency.  Mark Farrington, author of “Four Principles Toward Teaching the Craft of Revision”, says this, “Whether it be pride, a grade, or publication, revision is hard work, and everyone needs a reason to do it. Sometimes that reason might be practice. Teaching revision sometimes means practicing the technique of revision. Exercises like, ‘Write the beginning of your story from a different point of view, just to see if you can do it’ or ‘find a place other than the first sentence where this essay might begin, ‘ are valuable because they show student writers the possibilities that exist in writing” (Farrington). In this way, revision functions to challenge students to expand their thinking, to step outside of their comfort zone in writing.

Another major goal that I want to drive my philosophy in teaching is to promote writing as a form of resilience. As stated before, I will incorporate daily writing prompts that foster self-evaluation and reflection. However, I also hope to guide my students to harness their experiences and see the value in them as they work to create the individuality, strengths and unique passions within my students. I want to expose my students to writing’s therapeutic qualities so that later, when they are faced with struggles and setbacks, they are able to recall how writing can help them see their situation from various perspectives and can serve as a means to overcome their struggles or transform their thinking.

Additionally, I want to encourage writing as a means for critical thinking. I want my students to see the importance of engaging with the relevant political and social issues of our time and to challenge them to form their own opinions and standpoints. More than that, however, I hope to equip them with the ability to communicate those opinions in an effective and appropriate way. This, of course, can only come with practice. Ergo, I hope to regularly address the goings-on within our community and country and ask my students to respond to these events in the form of writing--something that could easily be incorporated into a daily writing prompt. 

Finally, as a teacher and mentor, I hope to instill confidence within my students--as writers, of course, but of greater importance, as individuals as well. I want my students to value their own individuality, their own strengths and weaknesses. Writing can do this for someone in a thousand little ways, but most dramatically as students begin to recognize and develop their own individual voice. I want to expose them to different types and styles of writing on a regular basis, to challenge them to experiment with their writing until they find a form that makes them come alive, to then make it their own. There is great value to this, beyond the beauty and art that can be produced from raw individuality. When a student finds their voice, who can begin to imagine what great things can happen?

In conclusion, I hope for my classroom to be a safe space, a place of exploration, vulnerability, imagination, healing, inspiration and growth--void of limitations or prejudices. Yes, this is a romantic idea--certainly difficult to create and perhaps impossible to actually attain and maintain. But, a teacher must keep this ideal in sight if progress of any valuable, lasting form is to be fostered within the confines of a classroom. Perspective is a lovely thing to hold onto--vision, a beacon of hope and promise for change. 

Reflections on Assignment Writing

1. My writers for this assignment entered into a space of vulnerability in their writing that they weren't particularly expecting. The prompt asked them to reflect on the spaces, physical spaces, they have occupied in their lives and recall an event from the perspective of the space itself. My writers seriously contemplated and reflected on their lives and the settings of their most prominent and significant life events, and their writing evolved from there. This prompt, and the work it produced, very accurately reflected my goals as a teacher of writing in that it took the writers to spaces they weren't anticipating at the start of writing, and thus allowed them to explore more of themselves and reflect on what is really important to them. I think it was a prompt that allowed space for growth, not only as a writer, but as a person as well if the writer allowed themselves to go there. I learned that this assignment does, indeed, have the potential to reach possibly touchy and emotionally charged places within my students. Considering this, I think I would definitely need to consider my audience, if they are capable of the maturity and emotional stability writing a piece like this requires, or consider alternative writing options. It is not, and will never be, my desire that my students feel uncomfortable with the level of vulnerability expected of them. I want to give my students choice to explore vulnerable places, to stretch themselves, but with such personal content, I never want a student to feel forced into those places. Therefore, I may consider altering the wording so that a student does not have to recall and reconstruct memories that cause negative or uncontrolled emotional reactions if they are not ready to be recalled and reconstructed.

2. Based on the extremely personal accounts that I received back from my writers, I decided that it was appropriate, and even necessary, to write each writer with personalized feedback that focused not on any particular grammar mistakes or the structure of their piece, but that focused instead on the process they were going through in their writing and the acknowledgment of their bravery and courage in writing their memories on paper. I learned that this piece should be purposed to focus on the process of writing, rather than the product--and maybe even that the product is altogether separate from what we would normally consider the "product" in writing--not just a final piece, but a process of growth for the writer as an individual. I wanted my feedback to encourage the process. I didn't care so much about what the finished product looked like, if it was publishing-worthy or not. I did care, however, about the state of my writers, about their courage in writing down memories hard to recall, about where they found themselves and what they learned about themselves after they were through. Feedback changes in regard to the purpose of the assignment, therefore my feedback became uniquely personal to each writer.

3. I was intrigued by the platforms of the writers who assigned assignments to me. Their platforms were heavily founded in big concepts like grief and core beliefs and values. I think I learned that it is important to write these things down, regardless of how much of a grasp you believe yourself to have on them. I learned so much about myself and my own ideas, things that were completely new to me though I had held these beliefs and ideas for quite some time before. As a future teacher, it causes me to reflect on the topics and issues I consider most important so that I can guide my students to write on these ideas, and thus solidify their own core beliefs and values. I didn't personally love everything I wrote, however the process led me to gain more clarity and insight into the values that ground every other belief and frame of mind I have. Had I had more time, perhaps I could have created a piece that I absolutely loved, however, the ideas I communicated were exactly what I hoped for.

Teaching Does Not Equal Correcting

In her article, "Knowing When to Shut Up: Suggestions for Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment", Marsha Arons gives examples and suggestions for how to encourage students to take initiative of their learning process. She talks about how students learn best when they are in charge of their own learning, and how it is our responsibility as teachers to give them the tools to do so. All good teachers know that feeding students answers does not help them grow--in fact, it cripples them as learners, causing them to be dependent upon others for the information they retain. When teachers instead ask questions or step out of the way of their learning, students are given opportunity to flourish.

One way that Marsha Arons does this is by allowing students to fail. When they are given freedom to fail, they are able to learn from their mistakes first-hand and brainstorm how they will act or learn differently next time. Additionally, Marsha Arons ensures that she knows her students well. She observes them in a variety of contexts, one of which is through memoir writing prompts. Arons guides them through the process of writing, but allows for students to share and improve their writing as they are so inclined. Due to the personal nature of these prompts, she gains a foundational understanding of who they are as individuals, and thus how she can best come alongside students to scaffold their learning. This individualistic approach makes students feel safe and known--the perfect combination for amplified growth of the learner. As students become comfortable to share, Arons strategically takes steps back, removes herself from their writing processes, and "shuts up". She recognizes that learning takes time, it is a process, and constant correction does not help the student, but often hinders their growth as they become self-conscious about the content they are producing.

For this reason I chose this article to support my own writing prompt. I asked students to write a creative writing piece inspired by a space that they have occupied in their lives (a home, the home of a relative, a school, a workplace, etc.) in which they have experienced a significant event or spent a significant deal of time. Once they have chosen a place, they must then write their piece from the perspective of the place itself. Upon reading the responses I received from Caleb and Zach, and speaking to them about their pieces in person, I modified how I anticipated responding to the pieces of my students. They developed beautiful work, and both reported that their writing took a far more emotional turn than they were expecting it to. Based on their responses, I think that these pieces require me, as an instructor, to "shut up". I will not harp on my students for correct grammar or misspelled words. Instead, because there is potential for these pieces to evoke heightened emotions, I hope to respond to them with gratitude for their sharing and encourage their vulnerability in a way that makes them feel seen and heard, guiding their journey as they process particular important events in their lives.

There is a time and place for correct grammar and spelling--this prompt is not one in which I will be concerned with these things. Instead, I hope to cheer them on as they venture deeper into the places they are exploring of themselves, and celebrate the finished product regardless of its grammatical accuracy. As teachers, so much of our job is to merely facilitate a vibrant learning environment. If we are constantly correcting our students at inappropriate times, they are not going to feel safe to fail and in turn, their growth as a student and as an individual will be hindered.

Significant Spaces Assignment

1 - For this assignment, I would like for you to reflect on your life and consider the spaces you have occupied—anywhere  you have spent a significant deal of time and within which you have had significant experiences. This could be your own home, the home of a friend or relative, a school building, a workplace etc. From there, I would like for you to develop a creative writing piece, written from the perspective of the building itself. This piece of writing can be anywhere from 300-600 words, but may be longer if necessary. You may reflect on the complete history of the building, the experiences that occurred within the building, the reasoning behind it’s significance to you, etc., however you must tell your story from the building’s perspective.  

2 - For this assignment, I developed a prompt that could potentially be utilized at any point throughout the semester. Ideally, students will reflect on their personal lives and their experiences, considering specifically the various and particular spaces they have occupied throughout their lives. Upon reflection, they will choose one which has significance to them as an individual and write a 300-600 word creative writing piece from the perspective of the building itself. They may choose to write on the building’s history, the experiences lived within their chosen space, or go in a completely different direction—really, students will have complete freedom as far as the direction they wish to take, so long as they write from the building’s perspective. This prompt addresses several of my larger teaching goals that I wish to implement within the classroom. One of which is creating an environment of safety that breeds vulnerability within my students. This prompt has potential to get students thinking about more personal life experiences, and it is my hope that through their writing they may discover their own resilience and create something out of their significant life experiences. This type of writing requires vulnerability, a depth that I hope my students will feel comfortable to explore within the walls of my classroom. Moreover, this prompt address another larger teaching goal that I have as it pertains to writing: I want my students to think outside the box and take risks with their writing. I want them to experience the flexibility that we have in being creative. I think that this prompt can fuel that goal, challenging them to think from a different perspective and produce from outside of their comfort zone.

Against a "One-Size-Fits-All" Teaching Strategy

Since taking classes within the Education Department here at MSU, I have heard countless times of the importance of cross-content curriculum implementation in the classroom. The hard facts reveal that students retain more material when they are expected to access the information in a variety of ways within a variety of different contexts. Therefore, we can conclude that writing, as a means to reflect upon and communicate information is of great value in academic contexts beyond the standard English classroom. It is not, however, the ultimate.

My experience with writing in secondary school was confined primarily within English and Creative Writing courses alone. Very rarely was I asked to complete a writing assignment in my science or math or social studies classes. In such contexts, the bulk of my writing consisted of lab reports or historical outlines, in which I was never required to write in complete sentences; rather, bullet points or quick, jotted-down notes were adequate.

And to be honest, looking back, I don't see an issue with this. In their article, "Snapshot of Writing Instruction in Middle and High School", Arthur N. Applebee and Judith A. Langer address the lack of writing assignments across content areas as a fatal flaw within the education system today. It may seem like blasphemy, as a future writing teacher, to say otherwise, but I don't feel that writing of a particular form--the five-paragraph essay in particular--is a necessity in all classrooms for all assignments. For instance, a historical outline was a very appropriate and beneficial assignment for me to complete in my social studies classroom. The same was true for that of my lab reports for science. These assignments incorporated writing of a particular form that aided my understanding of the specified content without requiring that I write a full-blown essay (as I probably would have in an English class).

My point is that writing, though an incredible tool for understanding, reflection and communication, is not the end-all-be-all, singular form of higher-level understanding. There are countless strategies of instruction that facilitate student learning effectively, and at times, even more so than writing. If we, as teachers (even as writing teachers), venture to say that writing is the only effective means for students to access the full potential of their understanding, then I fear that we are limiting our teaching strategies and thus, limiting the potential of student learning and putting them at a disadvantage.

The types of writing assignments that should be encouraged in schools are those which specifically aid a student's understanding or acquisition of a particular learning objective. In other words, there must be a specified purpose to the writing (as in all academic assignments). There is a great deal of research that shows that students are more likely to succeed when they understand the expectations and motivations of the teacher behind particular assignments. There is a time and place to write just to write (an English class, for instance!), but I don't feel that writing (at least of particular forms) is as essential of a component to other content areas as Applebee and Langer proposed in their article.

As teachers, we must become students of our students. We must observe and learn what excites them, what motivates them, and what helps them learn best. From there, as teachers we can differentiate and adapt our teaching strategies to best fit the student, and thus propel them into individualized academic success.

Process Over Perfection

Based on personal experience alone, I can attest to the healing power of writing as a form of "being", as Robert P. Yagelski proposes in his article "A Thousand Writers Writer: Seeking Change through the Radical Practice of Writing as a Way of Being". Writing draws on the innermost pieces of our souls and names them...and for whatever reason, the naming brings healing and ascribes purpose to even the most painful places. Writing is cathartic and therapeutic in this sense, a means by which we can break the chains and release the monsters that hide within us. Writing is powerful.

Or rather, writing can be powerful, but so often its paths are not traversed based on a fear many people harbor: that writing must be perfect. This belief has been produced over time within the school system as teachers have capitalized on correct grammar and spelling, and marginalized the content that students are writing. Thus, students who are less adept with their writing capabilities will choose to not write altogether if given the option. Because of this, I love the point made at the beginning of the article that highlights the importance of cross-curricula writing. If this were instituted in schools, and if grammar and spelling were not taken into consideration, students would inevitably become more comfortable with their writing capabilities, in expressing themselves in written form. They would be less concerned with the structure and form of their writing, and instead would be involved in the process of composing their writing, focused on the content they are producing and how it affects them.

So, when considering what writing can do for me as a teacher, I can't help but recall the power that writing and sharing our writing has had on the classroom dynamic of this very class. I think that due to the very vulnerable nature that is writing, implementing writing activities in the classroom can give extremely unique insight into students as individuals, and can create a comfortable, safe classroom atmosphere for them to explore more of who they are, more of what they want to know, and more of who they want to be. Writing goes beyond academic knowledge, and delves straight into the heart stuff. Because of this, I think writing can serve as a means of deeper connection with students.

But beyond this, writing can be a means to an end for students, regardless of if the teacher is included in the process or not. As Yagelski articulated, when we write, we have an experience all our own. The product is completely separate from the process by which we arrive there. The important thing is indeed not the finished piece, but rather, the process. Therefore, it is truly a shame that students will avoid writing simply because they aren't comfortable with their own abilities as writers. It is our job as teachers to empower students in both what they feel confident in accomplishing, but also empowering them to find the confidence to engage in that which they are least comfortable as well. Our responses to students are of utmost importance.