This week’s chapter beautifully summed up the purpose of education and an educator. I absolutely loved the section on the teacher as coach (page 105). We are educators because we seek to encourage our students on their knowledge-generating journey and not to basically bore or steer them away from this exciting (and at times frustrating) process. As a coach, we are allowing the students to seek out answers, examine perspectives and in the end, claim their voice. This chapter offers beneficial exercises that allow students and teachers to reclaim the classroom and curriculum from the “teaching for the test” standard. However, there was one point that seemed to impact me and greatly influenced this blog. This chapter basically highlights how there are multiple avenues that a student can take to fully explore his or her various ideas. In this blog, I wish to address how a student is able to fully realize X, Y and Z.
First off, I love that Williams refers to the writing process as “the composing process” (106). I feel that this term appropriately denotes what a writer is actually doing. A writer is creating a masterpiece , a work of art that only he or she is able to fully shape, mold and showcase. In the case of all artists, it takes time and numerous “false” starts (initial efforts) to finally unveil a stunning product. Why is it that Western civilization marvels and praises the works of noted artists and musicians, while writers are denied the same praise and even deemed lazy for “slowly” working on a book? Indeed, same noteworthy authors, like Alcott, have described the anguish of having a publisher and “waiting” public. Anyway, the point of this chapter centers around this idea of writing that “proposes that a finished paper is the result of the complex interaction of activities that include several stages of development” (106). One can see that through these different steps, which a writer may or may not fully utilize, the writer is able to fully develop his or her thoughts and focus.
Within the first step of writing, prewriting, Williams offers his readers several activities that aid students in exploring all their ideas, comparing the ideas to see which one best focuses on the key points of the given topic, and finally helping students discover their points and voice. For example, in the discussion checklist, Williams provides several important questions that require a writer to seriously think about before responding. Some questions that I have found helpful with my own students and self are “Who is the audience for this paper,” “What am I trying to do in this assignment,” “What effect am I trying to produce in those who read my paper,” “What point or message do I want to convey,” “Where will I get information about my topic,” and “What should the conclusion do” (109). For both my students and myself, I found that these questions aided in guiding our thoughts to suitable topics based on our answers. I discovered that these questions allowed my students and me to better recognize the situation and audience of the paper and this allowed my students to discard alternative ideas that would be best for other writing assignments. For example, last semester, I had to write a research paper on an art history topic. By utilizing these questions, I was able to immediately narrow my vision on a topic that not only served my overall academic interest but one that best answered all my questions. These types of questions not only help control the panic and anxiety that arise with a writing assignment (what am I going to write on, why am I writing this anyway) but they also help to better focus the writer at the task at hand. Right now many of our fellow blog peers are trying to answer these same questions for their concept papers. It is through this discussion that students are better able to figure out whether idea X,Y or Z best suits the writing situation.
I equally love Williams’ take on outlines. This textbook is showing that outlines are not scary or beastly items that will destroy the writer but rather outlines can be another guiding light for a focus struggling writer. Just as Williams advocates for the top-down approach instead of the nitpicky bottom-up approach (where grammar, punctuation, sentence structure are the main focus), so too does he advocate for writers to create an outline that best suits them and their work. Williams writes that “Too often, however, the focus is on the structural details of the outline rather than its content. That is, students spend much effort deciding whether an A must have a B; whether a primary heading begins with a Roman numeral or an upper-case letter; whether a secondary heading begins with a lowercase letter, a lowercase Roman numeral, or an Arabic numeral, and so on” (108). Thus, our students are scared, worried and panic stricken when a teacher asks for an outline. How on earth are they ever going to finally form their idea or ideas if they are too busy worrying about this A or that B. The whole point of the outline was to aid the student and writer on composing his or her piece. In the sixth grade, I decided to rebel against the whole notion of outlines, who needed that darn A and confusing numeral system. I told everyone that I did not need an outline. It was not until I was in my senior year at my undergraduate college that a professor gave me the greatest shock of my life: I did indeed create outlines for my major (and long) papers. I tried to counter him till he pointed out that I created my outlines through the use of color coded post it notes. I had to admit that while I bucked the traditional notion of outlines, I did utilize another outline technique that aided me when composing larger papers. Suddenly, the light clicked and I realized Williams’ point that “Outlines begin when writers list the major points they want to address in their papers, without worrying much about order (style)” and this allows “outlines [to] start with general points and shift to specific ones” (108).
The last item that I want to discuss is simulation. I utilized this method a lot in my classes and found it extremely beneficial for those students who have been labeled “general (remedial/basic)”. This technique really allows those students who have been negatively impacted by such a stigma to give school a second chance and to really find their niche. Williams writes that “Students also seem to enjoy role playing a great deal, and thus, they are highly motivated by stimulations” which “offers students reasons to move out of their role of student and into the role of writer” (125). I found Williams’ comments to be completely true. My students really enjoyed this activity and for many of them, this new role allowed them to find their voice and niche in an English classroom. Since this event was already focused on a topic or event (Jane Austen, Slavery, Zlata’s Diary, etc.), the students were able to dig deeper into a particular avenue and present a unique perspective on an idea. For example, one of my students was so touched by the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave that she wrote for her creative paper a letter from the perspective of Frederick Douglas’ fiancée in response to Douglas’ critics about the authenticity of his book. She spent a lot of time researching not only Douglas’s life, the fiancée’s life (who at the moment her name escapes me) but she also studied the book’s criticism. She not only borrowed books from her local public library, but also loaned out texts from several local college libraries. She spent time researching at the Lancaster Historical Society and even attended with several of her classmates two lectures about slavery at the society or local college. All of this generating from a student that many teachers dubbed “a complete waste of time.” Thus, this activity not only aided in focusing the writer’s thoughts but it allowed the writer to seek out and present a new perspective on an “old” scholarly topic. I highly recommend this activity for any classroom and I found that it really did allow my students to seek out knowledge and discover the joy of writing.
I love this chapter and am thrilled that we are finally going to discuss how writing is a process of composing. After all, don’t we call it composition for a reason? I loved this chapter and how it highlighted that education is about bringing forth new ideas to long standing issues.
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