Creative Writing Practices
The further I dug into the Christiansen chapter, the more excited I became about the prospect of teaching writing in the schools. When I look back on my writing experiences during my time in high-school, I remember nothing but writing research papers. I wrote research papers for my college biology class, I wrote research papers for my college history and government courses, and I wrote research papers for my English courses. As I jumped right into my college composition coursework in 11th grade, I remember the goal was for us to be "college ready," meaning that we were to be professionals in regards to academic tone and citation formatting, specifically MLA. I was able to write some fun papers in these courses (I remember that my senior paper was 15 whopping pages of "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" nonsense, which culminated in the line "God bless America"), though I was far from a creative writer.
I did not start writing creatively until college - college, a place I soon found out that did not care whether or not my papers were properly formatted or cited. My junior year of undergrad I took a sports writing course that set my interest in creative writing off, and I wound up graduating with a specialization in creative writing. Through this I became an infinitely better writer, and I continue to grow to this day because writing creatively stimulates my interest in writing and makes me want to keep doing it.
Without teaching creative writing in schools, I can see how writing would become an arduous and unappealing task in the eyes of students that otherwise have no reason to care. I see activities like the "Significant Person" essay in the Christiansen, which allow students to write these descriptive narratives about a person they adore, and I wonder why I was never able to do something like that in high-school while I was otherwise busy slaving away on yet another 5-paragraph essay. These creative practices can absolutely be done in high-school settings.
For my question this week, I'd like to ask: if we are teaching these creative essays/activities, how do we balance that with other more contemporary grammatical rigor, such as something that will help students pass their standardized tests?
I generally get annoyed whenever I see a TED Talk linked somewhere, but I thought this one was pretty neat.
I did not start writing creatively until college - college, a place I soon found out that did not care whether or not my papers were properly formatted or cited. My junior year of undergrad I took a sports writing course that set my interest in creative writing off, and I wound up graduating with a specialization in creative writing. Through this I became an infinitely better writer, and I continue to grow to this day because writing creatively stimulates my interest in writing and makes me want to keep doing it.
Without teaching creative writing in schools, I can see how writing would become an arduous and unappealing task in the eyes of students that otherwise have no reason to care. I see activities like the "Significant Person" essay in the Christiansen, which allow students to write these descriptive narratives about a person they adore, and I wonder why I was never able to do something like that in high-school while I was otherwise busy slaving away on yet another 5-paragraph essay. These creative practices can absolutely be done in high-school settings.
For my question this week, I'd like to ask: if we are teaching these creative essays/activities, how do we balance that with other more contemporary grammatical rigor, such as something that will help students pass their standardized tests?
I generally get annoyed whenever I see a TED Talk linked somewhere, but I thought this one was pretty neat.
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