Blog 3

Rex: I loved the part about shifting teaching to promote students' maturity rather than inform them of their inadequacies. "Seeing them as the pupa still at work in the chrysalis and not the fully formed, but crippled, butterfly gave both of us more leverage to experiement and explore possibilities that would not have presented themselves before" (120). This approach, especially with freshman writers, seems like it would make the teacher less condescending and the assignment less intimidating. I also liked the "focusing" exercise, twice removed or otherwise, as a way to show writers of any age, especially resistant writers, that they do have something to write about and that they can write about it well. I agree that students who find something meaningful to write about would expect more of themselves and of each other than simply completing the assignment.

Graves: "That is, I want my students to discover a topic which captivates them in the same way the Apalachicola Estuary captivated Verle Barnes" (115). Again, the emphasis here is on discovery and the creative process. "As long as we rigidly follow preconceived rules or principles or guidelines or whatever, we will miss out on the opportunity to reach that level of excellence in our writing that comes through the freedom to create" (116). I agree that rules immediately make us afraid to make a mistake or, in a classroom setting, get a bad grade. I also agree that discipline is necessary but that it must grow from freedom. Students who are invested in their writing are more likely to be motivated to do the difficult work that is involved.

Murray: "And yet the more personal the stories I write, the more readers recognize their own stories" (331). I think this is true, and I love what this says about the ways in which all people and all experiences are connected.

Suhor: "It would be ludicrous to suggest that we can dispense transcendence like worksheets in the classroom, but good teaching in every subject should deal with the joy of discovery" (337). This is so simple, but I think it's also so easily forgotten, especially considering the demands placed on today's teachers and students in terms of testing and evaluations. This is something I want to be reminded of from time to time in the future.