Ok...I may be confused here, but where is everyone else getting the WW book from? I've spent hours searching online and to my knowledge, the bookstore still does not have it and Amazon is "booked" until October. Oh, and is there a difference between the hardcover (like CD or DVD) vs. the softcover? Well, I won't be able to write about that read now, because obviously, I don't have it. I event tried the online Ebooks option at the library. Still no go.

I would like to discuss Hairston's take on the paradigm theory. While I do agree that composition should be aided by structure, I also have to agree that the conventional method of teaching writing is ineffective and in dire need of reparation. The "shift" is a much welcome and long-awaited breath of fresh air, and an inspiration to our future writers. For those of us who have lived our lives under the constant constraint of limiting our creative energies to the five paragraph essay, with a completed outline showing all of our work ahead of it's own creation, the new paradigm will allow thinking outside the box. After all, didn't our educational system adopt new forms of learning/teaching for a reason? How can we possibly teach our students that their unique learning abilities are appreciated and acommodated, when we cannot provide them with the actual structure and methodology to learn the material? Many (too many) students simply can't or won't learn through the traditional method and we are just now beginning to figure out how devastating the impact of this consequence has on our children and society. We are becoming an illiterate country, one writer at time.

I've known since the time I was seven years old that I not only wanted to write, but also to teach. (although I've spent much time throughout my life in complete denial)I am an artist and have always learned through the process of trial and error. As a young writer, I was never able to provide my teachers with the exact result up front. I needed time to allow my writing to develop on it's own. Most of my projects wrote themselves, regardless of the teacher's futile effort to inform me that I was incorrect in allowing my writing to develop this way. I actually grew up thinking I was different than other people who "got it", and often wondered why began to hate and avoid the one most important thing to me--writing.

To this day, I continue to write the same way, incorporating all of the strategies I have learned throughout my education. Depending on the length and scope of the project, I may require an outline or I may decide to use my word-scramble method (I won't bother to explain). Either way, the teacher gets their "finished product" and I get a damn good paper that was well worth the read and the grade. I can't count the many times this was not possible in my earlier years and after being "critiqued" and graded by professors or teachers who wished to tear my writing apart with their special symbols and witticisms. I realized wasn't writing anymore; I was pacifying and appeasing the ones who would give me the grade. I sold my myself out; entire works of art destroyed and sacrificed for a single letter--my grade. I don't ever want to see this happen to my students. I want them to learn to love writing, unlike many of the adult (former) students who have been taught by the old method, and learned to fear and hate writing. What a shame too, I personally know that many of these same people are brilliant writers. And it saddens me a great deal to know that their voices may never be heard.

P.S. As you can see, I did not use an outline for this blog. Maybe next time...See you in class!!!!