BRINGING OUT THE JOY OF WRITING FROM MY STUDENTS

          After reading Michelle Kenney’s “The Politics of the Paragraph and chapter 2 of Linda Christensen’s “Teaching for Joy and Justice”, I could see the similarities between these writings. They both focused on improving students writing by making room for them to write on their own pace and derive joy from their writing. More so, the standards for writing set for students prevents them from expressing their thoughts and believing they are not good writers. The Politics of the Paragraph is a tale of a high school English teacher’s journey into and out of formulaic writing programs as her school struggles with high-stakes exams. We could see Erica in Michelle’s class, who felt that she is a crappy writer because she was trying to incorporate all her ideas into the five paragraph that limits the writer to three ideas, which is how she learnt it based on the standard/formula. Michelle assuring her to “trust (her) own ideas and (her) own judgement”, is just letting me understand that as a teacher of writing we need to make our classroom a “social justice classroom (where) narrative is the heart of the class. Students’ stories build community and connect their lives to the curriculum” (Christensen 61).

          The only way this can be achieved, is by allowing students to write with their heart with limited formulas put in place. According to Michelle, these Formulas that is packaged in form of an easy-to-remember acronym (such as TEETH, TISAS, PEA and also Jane Schaffer’s formula), are systems that “encourage students to produce shallow, fast-food versions of paragraphs that don’t allow much elbow room for creativity or critical thinking, yet lend themselves to speed grading by a standardized test scorer…” In as much as we need the standards for an organized way of writing, students should be allowed to be in charge of their writing, while the teachers become facilitators that guide them through as they write.

          In Christensen’s book, she points out that rigor and high expectations need not be the sacrificial lambs on the altar of literacy development. She built her students’ confidence in writing by going through series of text, and linking it to their own life experience and the society at large, thereby the students and the teacher “gain glimpses of the kind of society (they) could live in…” and students in turn learn the academic and critical skills needed to make it come to life. Students write narratives of their own experience using the text as a model. More so, she makes the students mark with different color highlighter, the elements in each of the text (like the use of setting, flashbacks, blocking, figurative language etc.), and thereby giving them “their own criteria for their essays based on the examination of the authentic models”. Furthermore, Christensen discovered that when students share their writings among their peers, they care more on how their writing will be perceived by their fellow peers when giving feedback. This reminds me of Peter Elbow’s “Sharing and Responding”, which shows that peer response can play a significant role in the writing process, especially if both writers and respondents are engaged. Receiving feedback from their peers in turn help develop their skill in writing. Also, the students use color highlighter to mark all the elements that is in their writing to see if they used “all the writing tools”. This is a way of giving the students the opportunity to determine where they need to revise and make their writing better before giving it to the teacher for feedback.

          As a new teacher in the Providence School District, I feel like our students haven’t been given the opportunity to explore their own imagination and experience and produce an essay or narrative based on their imagination or experience. We tend to strictly follow the standards and rubrics, without considering the voice of our students as part of the teaching process, and trusting in their judgement, in line with the standards. One thing I would love to introduce to my students, is the use of text as a model to enable them write with confidence, while knowing what is expected of them. Also, allowing the students to be in control of their own writing, and collaborate with my students in creating the writing criteria/rubric that their writing will be graded on. Lastly, I want to end with this statement by Michelle Kenney, which is something that we need to keep in mind as teachers, and school district;

“I look forward to the day when all teachers can banish the canned formulas and have discussions about schoolwide writing programs based on their shared knowledge, experience, and expertise as professional educators.”    

POEM AS AN EXPERIENCE

          Jen McConnel, “The Teacher/Poet in V parts and Kati Macaluso’s “Finding the Poems that Hide: Why Students Should Write Poetry”, made me realize that Poetry is not just about reading and analyzing. I remember teaching the poem, “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats to my SS 2 students (in U.S it is called the 11^th Grade) and students looking bored and tired, and stating that they don’t like poetry. I asked one of my student why they don’t like poetry as much as prose. This student replied, “…..poems are complex and boring, I don’t like it. I don’t see the importance of us doing it and its usefulness to us…..” This is in line with what Jen McConel said in her writing that students should be allowed to approach Poetry creatively; to be not just the reader, but also the poet. Poems mustn’t always be works by Aristotle and other famous poets, it can also be poems by the students. In Kati’s writing, she writes a poem called “Forgotten Items”, which is about her experience at the grocery store, and how she ended up being a companion to an elderly woman who has been forgotten ‘by the one she loves most’. More so, Naomi Shihab Nye’s spoken poem, “Gate A-4”, talks about her experience at the airport; how helping an Arabic old woman who felt helpless due to her inability to understand English, and also the sharing of the ‘homemade mammal cookies’ made her realize the world she wants to live in, ‘the shared world’.

          These poems, written through one’s experience makes me wonder why the Common Core State Standards doesn’t make mention of writing poetry. Teachers of course has to follow these standards to the letter (which can be said to be the Dominant discourse that is being followed in the classroom), which makes the classroom to be more traditional. I believe that incorporating, ‘writing poetry’ to the curriculum will allow the students to come alive and get involved in the study of poetry, just as Kati stated, “While some might rightly make the case that writing poetry sharpens students’ linguistic awareness or knowledge of genre, I’d like to reflect on how writing poetry,…..might serve as an invitation to students to “live” as Nye says, in a particular way”.

          Poet Charles Simic, in his explanation of poetry says that the “labor of poetry is finding ways through language to point to what cannot be put into words.” This is the reason why students see poetry as a complicated work of art, because it is written so the reader would not fully understand it. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser counters Charles explanation of poetry in his book, ‘The Poetry Home Repair’ by saying that, “once a writer begins to work in the spaces between language and experience, the way she sees the world is forever altered.” I agree with Poet Laureate on his argument. I believe writing a poem about one’s experience doesn’t require the use of complex and abstract words in order for it to be authentic. Poetry should be a work of art that can be read and understood by the readers, and the readers should be able to link it to reality. This we clearly see in Naomi’s spoken poem, and also in Jen and Kati’s poem.

           As a teacher, I would incorporate writing poetry into the curriculum, and would follow the guidelines by Jen McConnel on ‘What I’d do now’. Approaching poetry not only through analysis, but allowing my students to write poems describing a character of their choice in a text, or allowing the students to write poems based on their personal experience. I believe this is a way to not only teach poetry, but to also develop the students’ skills in writing, just as Kati stated in her writing,

“…..I have tremendous faith in what poetry writing can and will do for these students’ linguistic dexterity, knowledge of form, and other technical knowledge. But I also wholeheartedly believe that the opportunity to work in the gaps between language and experience, like my own experience listening for and writing “Forgotten Items,” will serve as an invitation to live in a particular way: to seek out poems by becoming more fully present to the details and people that might otherwise go unnoticed.”    

RESPONDING TO JESSE HAGOPIAN’S STUDENT ATHLETES KNEEL TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD AND CHRYANTHIUS LATHAN’S DEAR WHITE TEACHER

Jesse’s writing on the students’ football team kneeling during the national anthem to protest against the “crisis of police terror in Black communities across the country…” in support of Colin Kaepernick who also knelt down during the national anthem, shows the power of youths in fighting for justice.  The Garfield High School football team and other high schools across the country taking a kneel is a way of making their voices heard as young kids, just as Garfield football player Jelani Howard said, “It really affected people and we showed that kids can actually make a difference in the world.” Also, Kaepernick told the Seattle Times, “We have a younger generation that sees these issues and want to be able to correct them… I think that’s amazing. I think it shows the strength, the character, and the courage of our youth. Ultimately, they’re going to be needed to help make this change.” I think I am in support of his statement in regards to the youths needed to help make a change. I remember as a youth in my Secondary School, my Business Studies teacher always reminds us of the saying that, “We are the future and the leaders of tomorrow”. This is her only way of making us to realize that we can help make the nation a better place.

It is really amazing to see these students give their voice out in their own little way to show that they are also part of the nation and are also affected by the injustice. The only way we can encourage them and make the youths know that they are accepted and are heard, is by telling the story of these youths who were courageous enough to stand for what is right, just as Jesse said in her final statement, “And let us not forget to tell the story of our youth today who, at great personal risk, are fighting to level the playing field by taking a knee in the struggle for Black lives.”

I think that the statement, “fighting to level the playing field…” is just a way of saying that there should be “equality for all regardless of the race, gender, class, social standing, and /or sexual orientation-both in and out of the classroom as well as the community.” As a teacher, I can say that this applies to our classroom. A traditional classroom doesn’t allow for equality among all the students, because the non-English speakers feel marginalized, which makes them to start having a feeling of social injustice. Also, the kids that have special needs, especially the special education students who feel less than other peers because of their difficulty in carrying along or understanding the concept. The only way that can be prevented, is by creating a cultural classroom that accommodates the needs of every students, thereby making the classroom a conducive place for all students to learn.

Chrysanthius Lathan’s “Dear White Teacher”, tells a story of a black teacher who isn’t happy with the white teachers who are always sending the colored students that are acting out to her for timeout or asking her to call the colored parents because they don’t know how to address them. She also expresses her confusion on why her son’s teacher (who is a white man), who teaches on the same floor as her, did not let her know that her son wasn’t acting right in his class until she got a discipline referral. According to her, when she confronted the teacher, he said he doesn’t “want to interrupt (her) teaching or use (her) as a crutch,”

To Lathan, she suspects that the white teachers are been defeated by fear of black and brown students. She affirms her suspicions when she sent an invitation to all the black students that have always been sent to her, to know why they don’t behave well in those classes. Out of all the reasons that the kids gave, I can agree with them on the statement they made that beats me, “You’re not scared of us. We are scared of you, though. Just kidding. I mean, scared in a good way. We’re scared to disappoint you.” This sounds familiar to me because I had a conversation with one of my student who is always acting out in class, and the teacher always wants me to pull the student out to the learning center. The student says to me, “Ms Eze, that teacher is always scared of me and always believes that I can’t act right….. I don’t want to be in her class.” I remember in the last class, Dr. Johnson taught the position that suits a teacher when standing in front of the classroom in order to have control over the class and also a way to get students to listen to you because students knows when a teacher is not confident when standing in class. More so, Lathan’s guidelines on how to converse with parents is a food for thought and I think following that recommendation makes for a good relationship with the parents.

Being in control of your classroom makes a teacher to know more about all their kid, thereby strategizing a way to meet all the needs of the kids in the classroom. This in line, makes the kids feel among irrespective of the race, gender, or sexuality. Jesse’s words that, “student athletes kneel to level the playing field” and Lathan’s words on, “care enough about this student to build and fortify your own special relationship with them” sends a central message on how to build a relationship with your students. In Jesse’s writing, the students are asking for equality in and out of the classroom, and in Lathan’s writing, the students are asking to be cared for.

Responding to Peter Elbow’s “Sharing and Responding”

“Sharing and Responding” is actually a pamphlet extract from a larger textbook, “A community of Writers”. The goal of this writing was to help “writers become comfortable and skilled at asking for feedback and giving it. I believe this is very important to know as writers because most writers feel pushed back in allowing other readers give them feedback or respond to their work, which could be as a result of fear of responders giving bad feedback or making their work look bad. Bringing out these 11 techniques of asking for response to one’s writing will make writers and also students confident, by choosing which of the response they would want from their readers. Also, students (readers) who are asked to respond feel reluctant to judge or evaluate their fellow classmate’s writing and give advice on how to improve the writing. According to Peter, writers do not need an evaluator, they need a thoughtful, interested audience rather than “advice-givers”. The techniques go from quicker to more time-consuming, easier to harder and from safer to riskier. Although, I understand the techniques and how it makes the writer develop confidence and trust with the responder, but I see no difference in applying the techniques of responding and asking for evaluation of the writing. This is unless if the writer wants to use the 1^st technique, “Sharing: No Response”, where the writer asks the reader to just read his/her work as a “form of communication or celebration” with no feedback needed. The rest of the technique, especially the 7^th technique, “Movies of the Reader’s Mind”, seems to be ranking the writing. The writer ask the reader to tell him/her “honestly and in detail what is going on in their minds as they read (his/her) words”, which according to Peter is the richest and most valuable form of response, which requires the writer to feel confidence in himself/herself, because when getting the response from the readers, they may say they don’t like the writing or be angry with it. What if the writer gets embarrassed or angry? This is a topic that I would like to discuss with the authors if I am to meet with them. I believe as a writer and responder, what is needed is trust between them, which is going to drive the objective feedback and the writer not feeling bad about it. Also, making the responder realize that criticizing or giving feedback to the work is not criticizing the writer, it is all about telling the writer what he needs to hear to make the writing better. 

Considering Peter Elbow’s “Writing without Teachers” and Kenneth Bruffee’s work on Collaboration and Writing, there is no doubt that peer response can play a significant role in the writing process, especially if both writers and respondents are engaged. In Bruffee’s foundational article, “Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind”, Bruffee makes clear that students are working “collaboratively on their writing not when students write or edit or, least of all, proofread, but instead when students (1) converse, (2) talk about the subject and about the assignment, and (3)talk through the writer’s understanding of the subject (645)”. Also, in the summary of Daniel Starch and Edward Elliot’s 1913 School Review articles in Kirschenbaum, Simon and Napier 254-59, they tell us what it is like to evaluate or rank someone’s writing, “We know the same thing from literary criticism and theory. If the best critics’ can’t agree about what a text means, how can we be surprised that nothing in literary or philosophical theory gives us any agreed-upon rules for settling such disputes.” This is also something to consider when a student hand in his writing to two different teachers for grading. The teachers will obviously give different grades because they don’t see it in the same light, which supports Peter’s writing about giving a non-judgmental feedback. Although, composition theorists are critical of Peter’s writing, arguing that it fails to empower students to effect change through language. These critics argue that Elbow’s theory “hides the social nature of language” (Faigley 531) and teaches students how to “assert a private vision, a vision which, despite its uniqueness, finally represents humankind’s best nature” (Berlin 487).

As a teacher of writing, I believe that Peter’s writing is a powerful force in composition studies. Placing the power and authority for learning how to write squarely in the hands of students, makes them feel involved and they will derive joy in their writing. Using such techniques as free-writing, open-ended writing, and other forms of private writing, students are encouraged to tap their own ideas over the academic community. So, the students will be in control of their writing. The teacher just leads them along, and their fellow classmates becomes the readers and responders. Also, as the teacher, before we begin the groups formally, the class looks at something I'm working on. I read it aloud; they read it silently. Then I encourage everyone to give a response. I let them see how the "I" statements work. ("I was with you there; I saw exactly what you were talking about.") The statements makes editors to tell the truth and keep authors from feeling like they're being attacked. I model the appropriate non-defensive author behavior that includes taking notes and responding gratefully to helpful comments. I listen, nod, and say little but, "Thanks." This is great fun for me, prodding them to take my writing to task, which eventually my students would have helped me immensely with my article. Then, I allow them to take charge of theirs. This affirms Peter’s writing on Sharing and Responding aims to help bring about a productive environment for group work. The activities featured in his writing moves from nonjudgmental kinds of responding to criticism to help build students’ confidence and trust.