Blog 3

First and foremost, I'd like to express how much I love this textbook, especially over the other two we use. These readings were all enriching and exciting for me. The multiple authors with specific focuses to their short pieces keeps me interested, and the variance in style is also refreshing.

Chronologically, Graves came first. I too was a bit off-put by the sea turtle bit, but there was a lot of content worthy of consideration beyond his estuary example. I found the core of this to be his statement "the first lesson in teaching composition is that the writer must find his or her own subject." (115) Further into the paragraph he explains the the goal comes in steps of 1) letting the writing grow naturally out of experience, 2) let it takes its own direction, 3) let it find its own form, and 4) reaching its own audience. The key word in all parts being own, and I firmly agree that writing should be one's own, but ownership is just a jumping off point. It's a motivator, but without craft you can write hundreds of pieces you feel passionate about, but none of which would be good writing. I do value that Graves stresses "the lesson of freedom is important in the composition class" (117) and he does say that after the freedom and writing passionately, a student will be more willing to go through the editorial process.

Graves then proved himself to be a very good editor, by following up his freedom based piece with Rex's piece on teaching craft and technique. At first I resisted enjoying the piece for the shock value of the opening, and the authors account of students criticizing literature without having an understanding of what made it a great work worth reviewing. Also, I resented the cheesy camera analogy. But after recognizing my predisposition and moving onward thinking on a less personal level, I found that she addressed very important issues in writing classrooms as well. "The dramatic impact and persuasive engagement of the professional essayists eluded [the class] as long as they continued to write in a mode that restricted how they approach their subjects." (121) That sentence brought me into a state of full agreement with the author, because it is hard to allow students to find their personal style and comfort zone, and then have them reevaluate their work, become critical of the structure, and have them searching all over again for how to make their work a functional piece they proudly support. The "so what" technique is very effective in creative situations. I've been in classrooms that employ the method, and it really causes the author to step back from their work and find where they can add depth to the piece. The only big problem is a defensive student, but since Rex doesn't address that, neither will I. On the matter of disclosure, I focused less on the responsibility of the teacher, and more so on the result of opening up trust in the classroom. Rex says, "Class members also expected more from each other- more openness, more personal commitment, more honesty... they were also more curious about each other." (125) It's a wonderful experience when a class opens up and you have an intimate classroom environment. It breeds better writing. There always seems to be at least a few students who are willing to share openly right off the bat (and I'm one of those), and they help set the class up. There is of course the problem of a student disclosing a bit more than is comfortable, but that's somewhat rare. One can usually depend upon a few students that in no way wish to open up, and though they may be some of the best writers they don't add to the intimacy of the workshop. Sometimes it's a matter of fearing criticism, and teaching someone to accept, learn from, and appreciate criticism is a hard lesson. Rex hit the nail on the head a few times in the piece, but her approach is very creatively based and makes for a more workshop environment.

I found that I loved the style of the Murray piece immediately. The personal narrative really brought you into the matter. I did find the I-am-my-own-student aspect to be a bit cheesy, but it's effective in illustrating that we can effectively reinforce ourselves as writers, which is a valuable lesson to pass on. His breakdown is really interesting. I like that he first stresses to need for solitude and introspection. The need for experience and faith seemed like a given. His next breakdown of need, tension, pattern, and voice had good insight in all elements. My favorite came out of pattern and voice. First, he says that "pattern... is molded by meaning" (332), which is somewhat vague, but you really do need your intent to be reflected in the structure as well as the content, and I believe that is in part his point. I also liked that in voice he said "I must hear that fragment of melody" (333) , which I find to represent naturally hearing the beauty in the composition that comes spontaneously. Especially in poetry writing, you need to listen to the word, and I think that is what he is saying needs to be present in voice. Ease, productivity, and readers seem like given needs to be addressed in a first draft, but I like that he points out "the writer must be promiscuous, wasting language, wasting ideas to find the few that work." (334)

Lastly, Suhor's piece also seemed to be full of instructional gems. He opened with a very beatnikesque comparison of Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong to Shakespeare, which won me over as a reader. It's fantastic that he directly says "good teaching in every subject should deal with the joy of discovery." (337) This is something you wish every person who has ever taught you (or at least tried to teach you) understood, but that many people in teaching positions fail to keep in mind for whatever reason. It made me laugh that he was addressing humanities and interdisciplinary programs (by the way, my major is interdisciplinary humanities) as a great forum for joy in discovery, and also criticized that the breadth has the ability to give "second place coverage". I worry about that all of the time, especially now that I'm looking at grad schools and I'm going to have to prove that my broad education has made me a better scholar rather than a directionless student. Overall, his call for hippy-like spirituality and direction in writing was interesting, and I felt his insights were not applicable to ever situation, but handy for writing classes.