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.

The Importance (Or Lack Thereof) of Literacy in Modern Society

The controversy of grammar is indeed a touchy subject, especially amongst future English teachers. It is interesting to me how we began this class discussing the importance of students exercising freedoms in their writing, how this freedom is arguably the most important aspect of an English classroom. Yet once the issue of grammar surfaces, we, as future teachers, are hasty to renege on our push for freedom in the classroom and instead stress the importance of structure and rules of the language.

I've spent a great deal of time thinking on this topic, as I have been the student of another language. I spent the first five months of this year immersed in Chilean culture. The things I discovered about the usefulness of grammar were astounding. Having studied the Spanish language grammatically for seven years prior to my immersion, I anticipated being able to communicate effectively fairly quick. However, what I found was that students who had solely been immersed in Spanish language and had never studied grammar prior, excelled in their language acquisition. Their fluency far exceeded those of us who tripped ourselves up on grammar, unable to fluently express our thoughts because we were so concerned with following the "right" rules of the language.

On the flip side, when those students who could speak fluently were asked to write an essay or complete a grammar worksheet, this they were unable to accomplish on account of not having learned the rules of the language.

Patrick Hartwell addresses this concern in his essay, "Grammar, Grammars and the Teaching of Grammar", saying "William Labov, speculating on literacy acquisition in inner-city ghettoes, contrasts 'stimulus-bound' and 'language-bound' individuals, suggesting that the latter seem to master literacy more easily. The analysis here suggests that the causal relationship works the other way, that it is the mastery of written language that increases one's awareness of language as language".

Considering these experiences, I am under the conviction that grammar is only important to master to the extent to which you utilize it. If you are being asked to write many formal essays, knowledge and mastery of grammar is of utmost importance to you. Thus, the grammar issue is an issue that must be addressed individually. In schools, grammar is incredibly important. But beyond this? We can survive on much smaller dosages of the format.

Lessons of Writing

In his article, "Becoming Your Own Expert", Gillespie argues that writers learn about writing not through guided instruction from a professor, but through their own writing processes--through writing and rewriting and writing again. As independent individuals, most life lessons we learn in life that truly stick come from "learning the hard way", and I side with Gillespie when he says that writing is no different.

Creative writing is what really sparked my passion for the art, and keeping a journal has been a discipline that has enriched some of my best experiences, helped me through some of my most confusing seasons, and guided my discovery of purpose in the dark stuff. I've learned it is best to not edit your thoughts while you write them, but to let everything in your mind run onto the page, regardless of the sense (or lack thereof) that it makes. I've learned that we learn about ourselves through writing, things we may not have known before sitting down with pen to paper, and that complete honesty in writing is key. To write is to explore and discover; to create something beautiful out of nothing is a noble endeavor. And it is because of this that I keep writing.

Teaching Literature So That People Stop Killing Each Other

Writing is a unique academic endeavor in that its purposes move beyond academic advancement and into personal healing, growth and discovery. Through writing, we can unveil insight into our own selves that we couldn't have uncovered by any other means. Reading is much the same. Literature presents ideas about society and culture, and thus allows us to wrestle with relevant topics in tangible ways, allows us to form our own opinions, inspires and frees us to evolve and become. Thus, English educators, in a position to guide their students through these processes, have opportunity to bear incredibly powerful and influential roles in the lives of their students.

In her article, "Towards a Restorative English Education", Maisha Winn proposes a new approach to English Education that allows freedom for her students to create their own literate identity by exploring ideas about race, sexism, classism, and other issues of injustice that cause students to feel isolated, demoralized and discriminated against. She fights for a classroom that rejects labels and instead embraces justice and freedom by promoting healing and restoration. She believes every student is constantly evolving and becoming, and it is our job as educators to allow space for that, and to believe in the vision students have for themselves. This type of restorative approach to teaching has a goal that is motivated by morals rather than academic proficiency. It is facilitated by students sharing life experiences and backgrounds, and being completely vulnerable in the process to promote healing or new personal discovery. Its purpose is to generate unique literate identities among the students, and thus perhaps personal identity as well. In so many words, Winn is proposing that our teaching practices should have, at their very origin, a moral vision or goal that fuels our teaching.

This approach to English Education encompasses my original inspiration to pursue the education field in the first place. My personal worldview has been heavily shaped by former educators, their influence on my life reaching far beyond the borders of mere academics. The most powerful and effective teachers I have had have invested in who I was becoming, not just in my academic progress. They inspired me and challenged me to grow and believed in who I was evolving into. Yes, they contributed and facilitated my progress as a student, but they didn't stop there. They invested into me, and it was this that changed my world--my view of myself and the course of my life.

This is the type of teacher I desire to be: a world-changer. Not just a teacher, but a woman who inspires growth, who believes in her students, who speaks freedom into the spaces of injustice and rejects the labels her students are subjected to. I want my teaching to be shaped by the desire to see my students become, to find their identity and be free in it. Writing is the powerful platform in which we can explore our identities and become together, and this is the type of classroom I envision and dream for.

Literary Sponsors

Deborah Brandt's article, "Sponsors of Literacy", proposes an important ideology--especially for up-and-coming teachers of writing. Literacy has transformed over the past couple hundred years to be not solely a marker and privilege of the upper class, but a vital skill to the success of any individual in modern-day society. Nearly every occupation requires their employees to be literate, and more than that, an ability to read is necessary for keeping up with the ebbs and flows of day-to-day life. In so many words, literacy is a requirement of every modern-day individual. Yet this process does not simply occur--to read and write, one must by taught and scaffolded. This is the job of literary sponsors. Of course, this includes "the figures who turned up most typically in people's memories of literacy learning: older relatives, teachers, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, influential authors", and anyone else involved in the process of learning (Brandt, 167). However, literary sponsors also include any events, whether political or cultural or societal or personal, in your life that inspired you to continue growing your literary dialect. Every aspect of our language has been influenced in some way shape or form, and these influencers are what Brandt refers to as literary sponsors. Moreover, it is important to note that Brandt argues that all literary sponsors gain something from their sponsorship, and this is important for the continuation of the cycle of literary sponsorship.

My literary career, so-to-speak, began as a child. My parents and grandparents began teaching me how to read before I entered elementary school, so by the time I officially enrolled, I was already ahead of many of my peers. I would definitely consider them literary sponsors of mine in the academic sense, as they pushed me to perform well in school. This was out of love, and their sheer desire that I would succeed in my lifetime. I can imagine similar familial situations with many of my peers.

Another strong group of literary sponsors in my life were my English teachers in middle school and high school. They continually expressed to me that I had an advanced ability in reading and writing, and this affirmation led me to really believe this about myself. I began to operate out of this belief, which in turn sparked a newfound motivation to continue applying myself in this subject area.

Slowly, my tastes for reading and writing began evolving into a genre less academic. I began reading authors like Donald Miller and Ann Voskamp, and I remember loving their style of writing--so honest and raw and genuine. Every time I read a book by them, I felt like I was sitting across the table in a coffee shop, listening to them talk about life. I would finish one book, and pick up another, and found myself loving to read their words. I know I am one of thousands who feel this way about both authors, and such is the goal of their writing--to inspire and encourage and advise. In this way, they receive their compensation in full.

My sponsors were not solely academic, either. Since I was a little girl, my mom has always written me handwritten notes. Her words were always so intentional and meaningful. Sometimes they were just on a napkin in my lunchbox, sometimes they were in birthday cards, sometimes they were scrawled across ripped journal pages after we'd gotten into an argument, and sometimes they were just for fun--solely meant to encourage and build me up. These, I treasured. Her example taught me how to express myself in words. I began to do the same for the people I loved, always writing down my honest feelings. She, of course, loved to write to me solely out of love. I think her expression of love is all she really wanted--to be able to express was enough for her.

Finally, I see that my writing style has evolved into an emotional outlet for me, and this is what keeps me motivated. My literary sponsors have imparted inspiration into my life and shaped this motivation for studying writing. With words, we can build up or tear down, inspire or put out flames. I want my writing, by way of honesty and intentionality, to inspire others. I want to declare the good I see in people and help it grow through words and affirmation. In a generation where media is constantly speaking into the identity of its youth, I want to speak a different language--honest, raw, good. My literary sponsors, through the investments they have made upon my life, have brought me to this place of understanding literacy through a different lens. As a teacher of writing, to see my students come to understand the truth of their identity through their own writing  and the ideology of the literature we read would be reward enough for me.

Good Ol' Frode

I remember signing up to take Creative Writing at fifteen years of age for the sole purpose that my high school crush had signed up for the class as well. Looking back, I can't help but smile. One, because I was so fickle to base my decisions on fleeting emotions and petty flings. (Thank God puberty is over). Two, because I had no idea at the beginning of the semester, sitting next to Ryan Brown and his contagious smile, that I would really end up falling in love with writing.

Mr. Frode had a way of capturing our attention. He was an old guy with quirky mannerisms, a quick wit and a gentle disposition. He loved to tell stories. Mainly, I think, because he had the best ones. He'd been a monk at a monastery for a good chunk of his life. After leaving the monastery, he'd been married and divorced and remarried. He had so much insight into the world--some I agreed with and some I didn't--but he made a space for us as writers to express those ideas and insights freely. When he asked us to write, it was never about Hamlet or politics or what we did that weekend--though I think those  can be valid and important prompts. But Frode didn't care about that stuff, not ultimately. He wanted to know what was going on inside, the deeper issues of his students. He wanted to cull out our inner thoughts and sift through them and maybe get a beautiful piece of writing in the process.

He understood that creativity acts as a catalyst to process deep emotions, ones that you don't realize you have at first glance. This was the foundation of Mr. Frode's creative writing course. And so, at the end of the semester, it came as no surprise to me that he wanted us to write a memoir of an event that had, in hindsight, influenced our "becoming". Something that had worked to shape who we were at that point in our lives.

It was incredible to hear the stories of my classmates. Some wrote about a joy they had shared, or an adventure they had gone on, or a relationship that had enriched their lives. Others wrote about their parents' divorce, or their dad being thrown in jail, or being abused or raped as a child. I had no idea that these memories had been kept tucked away behind the eyes of my peers. And in the process of drafting and editing and rewriting and editing again, I saw my peers work through the baggage of their stories.

Mr. Frode's goal had been accomplished. He hit a cord with us. We came out on top...not because we passed, but because we had relived some of the scariest, some of the darkest, and some of the best, most sunshine-y experiences of our lives, ascribing definition to them and ultimately understanding their purposes in shaping us into who we were.

And for this, I fell in love with writing. With the way it can caress our minds when our thoughts run wild, and shed light on the mysteries of the things we can't quite figure out.

So cheers to teachers like Mr. Frode, and here's to hoping I can be one of his kind someday.