Elbow's message really resonated with me. I love narrative. I respond to the rhythms of narrative in a way very similar to the way I respond to music -- the same waves of expectation and satisfaction, itch and scratch, stretches of both adrenaline and frustration. I like the idea of taking narrative principles and combining them with academic writing (whatever that is). Elbow is clearly aware how completely boring typical comp student essays are, and how the act of reading, which can supply us with such fascinating discoveries in itself, has been pushed aside in favor of thesis statements, bullet points and signposts.
Elbow's "story of thinking" is exactly what we've been doing with the exploratory paper. The cycles of expectation and satisfaction go hand in hand with that model. "I started off thinking this, but then I found this, now I'm thinking this, and it's making me consider something else I hadn't thought about..." A good paper should take you somewhere. It shouldn't just bring you back around to where you were in the first damn place.
My students proved to be very confused by the exploratory essay. After reading their drafts, many of which were traditional research or argument-based papers, I readdressed the original intention of the exploratory paper in class, and I think many of them had a small light bulb moment. "Oh, you want us to do THAT? Nobody's ever asked us to do THAT." I found myself using the temporal phrase "Your Research Journey," which sounds super cheesy, but which I think pretty accurately describes what we're asking students to do in an exploratory paper. "Research journey" is a time metaphor rather than a visual one, and I think it's important to make sure students understand that there's a benefit to getting out of that five-paragraph high school rut. Scratch that creative itch.
This is here for my own amusement.
Jen - great photo! Also, I have had a very similar experience with my students not getting the whole "exploratory" and "do not include a thesis" concept. I just received a stack of final drafts today, so we will see how they did over the weekend! Also, I really appreciate your comments about how Elbow resonates with creative writers. I think it's easy to create a strong divide between creative and "academic" prose, but that divide rarely exists in some of the best writing (academic or otherwise). I'm excited that all of you guys (meaning creative writers) are part of the program because it really encourages me, who has been struggling through dry, intellectual prose, to imagine how I could find that rhythm and that voice that I'm missing.
ReplyDeleteJenchilla, I love your graphic. I thought Elbow used "mixed diction," in his piece. So as a poet, I understood what he was talking about with the music in the form but his approach, in particular, his word choices were often at one extreme or another: obtuse or ludicrous, i.e. "temporal," and "itch(y.) Ha, ha, ha, ha!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read your responses, because I kept thinking these ideas were perfect for creative writers trying to incorporate their work into composition. Voice is such a difficult skill to learn, especially for Freshman, because they are so unsure of their identity and the value of their writing. That is why I have really grown to like the exploratory essay because it bridges the personal with the academic. What is going to be tricky though is transitioning to the academic paper. How can we show our students how to maintain their own voice even while taking on the persona of a professional?
ReplyDeleteOh and I call it a "research narrative" and I like research journey even better. But then again, I am a bit cheesy so there you go.