Baby Steps to Imagination, Baby Steps to Reflective Thinking

Boice’s chapter on “Imagination” builds on the habitual discipline of daily writing established in chapter 1 in order to implement exercises for finding the ever-elusive writer’s imagination.  Toward the beginning of the chapter, Boice discusses how “imagination leads to simplification including greater clarity” (49). I noted when I read this section that having a set method for recording notes that includes limiting oneself to a certain number of words and practicing what Boice calls “list-and-gist” strategy could be very helpful as it helps writers simplify toward clarity. I often find myself recording long lists of quotes from sources either because I am looking for thesis statements and themes and do not want to take the time to read the source first and then revisit it or because I get overly excited about the “quotable” possibilities of a text. Thus, I was intrigued when Boice declares, “As writers practice noticing, organizing, and associating ideas, imagination becomes more controllable” (49). When Boice gets to the point in his chapter where he discusses the participant’s reactions and apprehensions about his detailed system of drafting notes, reviewing and revising them, and finally filing them, one of his participants admits to taking too many notes in the past: “I took reams of notes, most of it useless” (60). Using Boice’s suggested method, this same writer felt he was able to gain focus and achieve depth in his ideas.

In my master’s program, I had two friends who both had established strategies for researching and note taking that they used for every single text they encountered. Both create brief abstracts for themselves on the source, which essentially contain the details Boice encourages writers to include. They then use an electronic and/or paper filing system to organize these sources, making sure that the keywords for the source were at the top of the page. This allows them to quickly scan what they had previously read and remember where certain ideas could be found. When their “list-and-gist” was not in-depth enough for a project, they would simply return to the source and make additional notes. In talking to them, however, it seemed that their abstracts were often adequate, freeing them from being tied to long quotations from these outside sources in their own writing. 

Such anecdotes turn my attention toward the next unit in my English 1000 classes. The version of the exploratory essay that I am having my students do involves formulating a question and then completing an annotated bibliography with sources that somehow address that question. The informative nature of the annotated bibliography is then paired with a brief reflection on how their sources have influenced their initial question: what direction can they see a paper on this topic going as a result of these sources? How have their thoughts changed over the course of their research? With all the technicalities of conducting research (I can’t even find books in the Ellis library – how am I going to expect them to?), I am worried that students will relegate the exploration and reflection of their question and process to the last minute. I am also concerned that attempting to teach them healthy research methods at this point will be overwhelming. I remember being forced to try the notecard method for a research paper in high school and disliking the tediousness of writing out citations and extremely abbreviated notes on 3x5 cards. How can I give my students tools for developing their own methodologies while encouraging them to try ones that have worked for me and other writers in the past? Ultimately, I am wondering how I can emphasize prewriting in my version of the exploratory essay by essentially casting the entire essay as a “prewrite” for the argument they will formulate in their next formal writing assignment. I might even consider introducing a few of Boice’s “rules” – without using the “r” word. Rule#6 “The most fluent, efficient, comfortable, and imaginative writers spend as much time at prewriting as at prose writing” (53), could be a great place to start.

This also leads me into Carol Rodgers’ article “Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking.” John Dewey’s educational philosophy obviously permeates the modern American school system, but I have had very limited exposure to the pedagogical theory of Dewey himself. Therefore, I was surprised to learn that Dewey placed such a strong emphasis on reflection, especially since I consciously engaged in very little school-related “reflective writing” in my secondary and post-secondary education. As a result, I particularly related to Rodger’s noting that “without a clear picture of what reflection looks like, it is difficult to talk about...practitioners find themselves using terms that are common but hold different meanings or are different but have overlapping meanings” (843). I fear I was guilty of using multiple terms with slightly different meanings last week when describing reflection to my students.

Yet, what surprises me most about Rodger’s analysis is the systematic criteria that Dewey establishes for reflection. Most of my English 1000 students seem relatively excited about our first formal writing assignment and are more or less looking forward to the chance to create a narrative that reflects who they are as writers. However, I have a few students who have been very resistant to the idea of reflection or really any type of open form writing. Letting these students know that “Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry,” could be a helpful way to engage students who think in more scientific or mathematical ways. This criteria is of course balanced by the rest: “Reflection needs to happen in community, in interaction with others,” and “Reflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of others” (845). I realize that I was wrong in seeing reflection as an individual activity that could border on narcissism with the wrong ends in mind; a reorientation toward community helps promote the type of progress Dewey supports. I also find it fascinating that reflection, in Dewey’s analysis, is a “means to essentially moral ends,” which again leads us away from the idea that reflection involves spending endless hours considering ourselves as the center of the universe and instead points us to the type of moral “action” that will benefit the community. This also points to the fact that “reflection is not an end in itself but a tool or vehicle used in the transformation of raw experience…”(863). For me, the notion of reflection as a tool is a large incentive to begin attempting this type of writing as I try teaching for the first time.