Silencing the Writer

Ever since last night’s class, I cannot stop thinking about the concept of silencing a writer during a workshop. I guess it just makes no sense to me. How could this ever be beneficial to a writer? In my previous understanding of a writers “workshop,” a possible read-aloud, a question/answer segment and any other constructive comments were the main elements that would be helpful to the writer. In workshops where silencing the writer is a deliberate action, I cannot see how the writer would be able to advance his or her piece of writing, without being allowed to voice their own opinion.

In our workshop that we participated in last night, if I had to remain silent, I would still be left with the crappy draft that I had from day one. Asking focused questions to my readers helped to gain a sense of what readers got from my piece and engage in a conversation with all of the members of my group. Keeping a writer silent during a workshop eliminates one of the most important elements of personal writing, voice. There seems to be quite a mixed message when writers are told to be silent during workshops, but also to make sure to have a strong and profound voice in their writing. That sure does not make any sense to me!

In my future classroom, I plan to have my students work in writing groups, partnerships and workshops, encouraging students to talk as much or even more about their pieces of writing as the others in their group. I find voice to individualize writer’s works and silencing them during their workshops would go against all I hope to teach and model with voice. What does everyone else plan to do in their classrooms when it comes to workshops and silencing the writer?

Frustrations

So for this blog I am going to take a different route than most. Instead of focusing in on the readings for this week, or following up on my last blog, I am going to talk about the frustrations and problems I have been having with my blog. Hopefully, in my attempt to release some of my frustrations, one of you, my fellow readers, will be able to help me work through these issues.

I have successfully created a blog, posted my first entry and am currently working on this one (my second blog entry). What I seem to be having issues with is posting comment on peoples blogs. I know this may seem rather ridiculous, seeing as though there is a wide open space to write your comment and then a button that literally reads, “Post Comment,” however, mine does not seem to be working this way. After reading different blog entries and wanting to extend some sort of response, I am unable to post the comment I have created. Some of you may be wondering how in the world I can be writing this entry when I did submit five comments this past week, but that was from a friend’s computer. It seems as though my computer is creating the issue and this may be why:

My gmail email address is keeleythode@gmail.com, however, when I log into my “Google Account” and also my Blogspot account I use, keeley-thode@uiowa.edu as my username. I have no idea how this confusion has come about and I think I may be making this a whole lot harder than it needs to be. Is there a specific name that I need to be signed in under to be able to post comments? What am I doing wrong? PLEASE HELP!!!! I normally am not this technologically challenged!

Why Write?

Beginning in the early years of life, most learn to write. One of the very first things children learn to write is their name and signature; the key element to their identity. As we progress as writers through elementary and secondary schooling, for some, writing becomes an excessive amount of unnecessary work given by teachers; while for others, it becomes an outlet for expression and creativity.  It has always been of interest to me why people choose to write and what leads me and others into the profession of teaching writing.

Thinking back to my own experience with writing in elementary and high school, I used to look at it as a chore. I remember always trying to fill the length requirements with longer words or unnecessary “fillers.”  In the back of my head, I knew I loved writing, having kept a journal and enjoying writing letters to family and friends;  so why had school given me such a negative connotation with writing? The dreaded writing assignments and language exercises were driving me further and further away from what I thought was my favorite subject. It became quite an annoyance to have so many rules and regulations when it came to writing.

Entering college, I knew I had already decided that I was going to become a high school English teacher and was determined to find a deeper meaning and better understanding of myself as a writer, writing in general and my future of becoming a teacher of writing. It was in my nonfiction writing class, as a freshman in college, where I found my passion for writing. This class along with my amazing professor threw away all of my previous negative experiences with writing. I was also encouraged to explore writing in my own way and to throw away the usual or expected “rules” of writing. Once I had accepted that writing contained no boundaries, it allowed me to experiment with free-writing, ultimately leading me to find my own voice as a writer.

Teaching writing is something that is extremely exhilarating to me and is in my near future. The flexibility that writing allows for is something that no other subject/content area can compete with. Allowing my students to find their own voices as writers will help writing become less of a chore and more of a self-awareness activity that is important in the lives of my students. Throwing away all of the general “rules” of writing is going to be a theme that I introduce in my classroom from day one, in hopes to inspire students to think more about the meaning behind their writings instead of following the rules and regulations that are often expected by teachers of writing in elementary and secondary schools.