So I've been teaching this class writing for a whole semester...And do they write any better? Have the classes worked?
Many days later
This post was started a long time ago; I took it out today after Vaishali's Thank You. She's with a magazine in Mumbai, subbing...and wrote this morning to say how "rewarding" it is to take a piece of bad writing and rework it till it reads well. She also said, "Thank you Ma'am, really!".
And Bhanu mailed saying that writing is the most "satisfying" thing to be doing, and to my Can I take some of the credit for that?, she said "All of it". That's her being kind... I brought the same virus to a class of 27, out of that some only were infected, but those who were have caught it bad!
So I guess the answer to that question is Yes, in more ways than one, these classes do work, sometimes even if only to the extent of not making the same errors!
To the question of how I "make it work": that I write assures students that I know the ins and outs of these tricky paths; that I can look at their writing and gauge if it will float or sink and - more significantly - tell them how to arrange word, meaning and punctuation so that the vessel sails easy, reassures them that when I say that I am interested in what words do, I'm in dead earnest.
The more I work with students and writing, the surer I am that the first step ought not to be to "expose" them to " good" writing, but rather, it should be writing itself - get students writing and excited by their writing. Go over it and see what it's doing. After, they will read with a great deal more purpose. And pleasure.
Many days later
This post was started a long time ago; I took it out today after Vaishali's Thank You. She's with a magazine in Mumbai, subbing...and wrote this morning to say how "rewarding" it is to take a piece of bad writing and rework it till it reads well. She also said, "Thank you Ma'am, really!".
And Bhanu mailed saying that writing is the most "satisfying" thing to be doing, and to my Can I take some of the credit for that?, she said "All of it". That's her being kind... I brought the same virus to a class of 27, out of that some only were infected, but those who were have caught it bad!
So I guess the answer to that question is Yes, in more ways than one, these classes do work, sometimes even if only to the extent of not making the same errors!
To the question of how I "make it work": that I write assures students that I know the ins and outs of these tricky paths; that I can look at their writing and gauge if it will float or sink and - more significantly - tell them how to arrange word, meaning and punctuation so that the vessel sails easy, reassures them that when I say that I am interested in what words do, I'm in dead earnest.
The more I work with students and writing, the surer I am that the first step ought not to be to "expose" them to " good" writing, but rather, it should be writing itself - get students writing and excited by their writing. Go over it and see what it's doing. After, they will read with a great deal more purpose. And pleasure.
posted by K at 8:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home