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.