Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Metaphor

I really enjoyed the metaphor in "The Discovery of Competence." It was interesting, and kept my attention with how a teacher may view students entering a basic writing course. I especially paid close attention to the woman's first reaction to the trapped starlings. She said, "'How did you get in here?' 'What are you doing in here?' and observed, 'You don't belong here.'" (1) That last question really struck a cord with me. As the story is a metaphor for teaching an entry-level course in writing, it represents a gut reaction to students that a new teacher may have. It's a terribly insensitive reaction to have, but I don't think I would be immune to this sort of reaction at first glance, either. I like to think of myself as a patient and caring individual, but I could see myself reacting with a sort of awed helplessness when faced with a task as daunting as teaching a class full of, as Shaughnessy put it, "those who had been left so far behind the others in their formal education that they appeared to have little chance of catching up..." (2)
I know that this class is designed to help with this feeling of helplessness, and I know it will. And, with time and dedication, I'm sure that my initial reaction will not be "You don't belong here," but "where do we start?"
I remeber my first teaching experience in a practicum. I taught the graveyard scene in Hamlet to juniors in high school. The kids weren't really impressed with the material. I was utterly amazed. I mean, this was Shakespeare! How could these kids not love and respect every word on the page? Of course, then I remembered what I thought about Shakespeare when I was their age. I tried to bring it down to the kid's level and make it applicable to their lives, and I think that some of them actually liked that scene after I was done.
I like the Mike Rose approach of meeting the students on their own ground. He mentioned talking to a kid about rap music, and using that as a jumping-off point. It was his way of putting his foot in the door. This is a similar sort of technique to a "reading don't fix no chevys" mentality. This is brought up in the metaphor when the woman puts down the books in her hands in order to better handle the bird. This, I think would be the best approach. Meet the kids on their own ground, find out what they are interested in and attack with both hands.
As mentioned in class, the metaphor has its holes. It falls apart in some places, some of the devices are flawed and some of the explanation is stretched. But, I still think it was a great way to open the book.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Basic writing

Writing is easy to define. Of course, "basic writing" is a little more abstract and semantically disputable. It could be described as the most basic writing. But, I prefer to see it as a jumping-off point to greatness.
Basic writing is a tool which can be used to find out where a writer stands. It can be used to show strengths, identify areas to improve or simply to help the writer gain confidence in their own writing. This last point is essential for the writing process. Those who lack confidence or motivation need to be comfortable with writing and develop a technique for writing which will help them to best communicate their ideas.
Basic writing is a testing ground which allows the students to explore different modes of writing to find a comfort zone. Basic writing encompasses everything from personal narrative to opinion paper. The topics vary widely. Of course, the subject matter is rather elementary, but it challenges those who do not write on a day to day basis.
Basic writing should challenge writers in order to make them think about their work. In this way, the writers think about what words to use in order to express different views. The writers can see that some words are stronger than others, and how their words can reflect a constant voice.
Basic writing is an exercise in writing. Much the way atheletes stretch out before a big game or work out in order to stay in shape, basic writing is key in the writing process in order to warm-up the brain for bigger feats and challenges.

Basic writing

Writing is easy to define. Of course, "basic writing" is a little more abstract and semantically disputable. It could be described as the most basic writing. But, I prefer to see it as a jumping-off point to greatness.