Like
with the last chapter, Boice suggests that the aspects that make up
good writing (in this case, the “imagination” of writing) come
from practicing daily habits.
Imagination
is a tricky word. It brings to mind images (ha!) of a certain
playfulness in writing. However, the ways he offers up to bring
imagination in one's own writing sound dreary and, well, like work.
“It turns out that imagination requires little more than regular
habits of collecting writable ideas, of taking stimulating but
practical notes, of filing and rearranging ideas until they suggest
outlines and plans, of elaborating outlines with approximations of
how we will express ideas and transitions of prose” and so on... I
do understand what he's getting at. Maybe I'm getting hung up on the
terminology of the word (instead of imagination ideas would be
better? No?) What Boice seems to be saying is similar to what he
talked about in the previous chapter about writing not in these
hypomaniacal binges but through daily habitual sessions. I sort of
understand that, but I do think that the type of writing makes a
significant difference in imagination coming into play. With creative
writing, I'm not sure if the day-to-day practice would always work,
nor would the creating of outlines or the note-taking. Maybe the
day-to-day habit of actually sitting in the chair trying to write
would, but again, the writing process is different for everyone, and
I feel like the type of writing too makes a difference. Maybe with
less creative writing these exercises would be useful (on second
thought, of course they're useful! How could note-taking and
outlining NOT be useful?), but with creative work I think the rules
get a little more fuzzy in regard to process.
The
Rodgers reflection essay really hit home to me. I feel like I'm
failing (every single day I feel like I'm failing) but it's important
for me as a teacher to reflect on the things I'm doing and try and
see what (if anything) I'm doing right, but also what I'm doing wrong
and more importantly, what can I do differently next time to make it
better? Nathan offered me the idea (which the article again reminded
me of) of having the students do anonymous reflective essays at the
end of the first paper which I think I'm going to do. I'm going to
ask them questions about their process writing the assignment as well
as problems they felt they had, what parts of the assignment they
felt I made unclear, and what things I did in preparation for the
assignment helped or hindered them...
I
do agree with Rodgers when he says that it is “the meaning that one
perceives in and then constructs from an experience that gives that
experience value” (7). It is a concept that I am trying to get my
students to understand when writing about their own life experiences.
It's not the experience itself that is important, but what they
learned from the experience and how it influenced them.
I
do also take heart in the quote from Robert Kegan when he says that
“no teacher outgrows the need for others' perspectives, experience
and support---not if they are interested in being what Dewey calls
life-long students of teaching” (16). We are always learning and as
such, it's okay if mistakes are made (I need to keep reminding myself
of this) because it's not the mistake that matters but what I can
learn from it that matters.
Tanya - I really appreciate your comments on how difficult it is for us first time teachers to feel like we're accomplishing anything at all. I think Kegan's quote truly is encouraging because it reminds me that I'm still (and will forever be) a student, in hopefully the best possible way. I also really like the idea of doing anonymous evaluations in which students can express how the process and class time has gone for them. I was already thinking of doing these at mid-semester, but might try them after our first unit is over next week. In discussing Boice, I thought your observations about "imagination" seeming to mean more "ideas" for Boice is an astute one. I do wonder, however, whether Boice would agree with you when you say that "The writing process is different for everyone." This is a (hazy) notion that I too have had in the past, but I think that, at least Boice would argue, there are some writing habits that can be established across the board with writers that will benefit anyone (and everyone). This of course raises some serious pedagogical implications -- how prescriptive do we want to be in forcing our students to adopt a certain process? On the other hand, how free do we want to be in allowing students to adopt any type of process they choose? When we think about how we're going to grade students, these questions become problematic for me.
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