Most of the time, I'm not sure that teaching writing really helps me very much with my writing. I know that it should, that I should let it. But I don't think it does.
Sometimes it actually makes me less confident about my writing. Have any of you have seen the student paper that makes you wonder why you're teaching this class and not the student who wrote it? I feel that way especially on memoirs because I feel that creative nonfiction is hardly my strength.
Also, while my writing is normally fairly error-free, I seem to pick up problems from my students' writing. I ask myself questions I no longer know the answers to: "Does punctuation go inside or outside the quotation marks?" (or "?) I accidentally use their instead of they're. And in last semester's conference paper, I realized that I used an apostrophe to form a simple plural--students'. I would have thought that correcting errors over and over would make me more sure of the rule, but apparently that's not always true.
But the Writing What We Teach assignment was a good overlap of my own writing and my students' writing. I think my textual analysis (TA) really helped me teach that paper. For one thing, I better explained what I was looking for in the final product because I had in my mind the concepts I had used to write the TA. But I also got a new view into the process. For instance, the moments I spent staring at the blank screen, not sure what I would write next (on a supposedly "easy" paper), gave me some more sympathy for those students who tell me they get stuck a lot.
At the same time, it was very interesting to see my drafting style played out in a paper. I know that everyone drafts, but I didn't realize the number of times I loop back through my paper and change things--and how many changes I actually make. This realization made me more confident in the importance of teaching the process and of revision because knowing that grad students revise, too, in their different ways, shows me the necessity of emphasizing revision for my undergraduate students.
Finally, writing this TA encouraged me as a writer. Since I have been in grad school, every paper I have written has been difficult, has pushed me in a certain way. Of course it's good to be challenged in writing, but it's a little demoralizing to feel challenged every time I write a paper, especially since I'm supposed to be getting my MA in writing. The TA showed me that there are at least some kinds of papers I can write with self-assurance. And anything that builds my confidence as a writer also builds my confidence as a writing teacher.
Sometimes it actually makes me less confident about my writing. Have any of you have seen the student paper that makes you wonder why you're teaching this class and not the student who wrote it? I feel that way especially on memoirs because I feel that creative nonfiction is hardly my strength.
Also, while my writing is normally fairly error-free, I seem to pick up problems from my students' writing. I ask myself questions I no longer know the answers to: "Does punctuation go inside or outside the quotation marks?" (or "?) I accidentally use their instead of they're. And in last semester's conference paper, I realized that I used an apostrophe to form a simple plural--students'. I would have thought that correcting errors over and over would make me more sure of the rule, but apparently that's not always true.
But the Writing What We Teach assignment was a good overlap of my own writing and my students' writing. I think my textual analysis (TA) really helped me teach that paper. For one thing, I better explained what I was looking for in the final product because I had in my mind the concepts I had used to write the TA. But I also got a new view into the process. For instance, the moments I spent staring at the blank screen, not sure what I would write next (on a supposedly "easy" paper), gave me some more sympathy for those students who tell me they get stuck a lot.
At the same time, it was very interesting to see my drafting style played out in a paper. I know that everyone drafts, but I didn't realize the number of times I loop back through my paper and change things--and how many changes I actually make. This realization made me more confident in the importance of teaching the process and of revision because knowing that grad students revise, too, in their different ways, shows me the necessity of emphasizing revision for my undergraduate students.
Finally, writing this TA encouraged me as a writer. Since I have been in grad school, every paper I have written has been difficult, has pushed me in a certain way. Of course it's good to be challenged in writing, but it's a little demoralizing to feel challenged every time I write a paper, especially since I'm supposed to be getting my MA in writing. The TA showed me that there are at least some kinds of papers I can write with self-assurance. And anything that builds my confidence as a writer also builds my confidence as a writing teacher.
3 comments:
I don't think it's correcting papers that causes us to make our students' common errors. I think it's reading them. We do well at mechanics not just because we memorize rules but because we internalize them from reading and write them without having to think about it. So I guess we need to make sure we're reading more scholarly articles than student papers.
I had the same worry in my 215 class. As i was reading all my students drafts, I realized I had not written a short story or even narration since we had begun work shopping. I suddenly began to fear that I'd begin to make the same mistakes in my fiction that they were making as beginners. When I went to Dr. Neumann to ask him if he ever caught himself falling into the same mistakes his 215 students were making, he gave me a flat no. After we discussed it for awhile he kind of comforted my fear by saying, "If they do, maybe you're not cut out to be a writer." Not exactly the uplifting and joy filled piece of advice or sympathetic ear I was looking for, but it was true. Now when reading student papers, it is as if I am looking over my shoulder to make sure I am not falling into the same mistakes and am keeping my own. But try and write or read something purely for fun and enjoyment every now and then while also paying attention to the same problems your students are making. It may not be for publication or an assignment, but it will keep your writing skills sharpened…..that was a somewhat cheesy line….this may also be interpreted as be wary of who you get your advice from.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I appreciate your insight, Amy, that our errors have more to do with what we're reading--immersion, I guess. So maybe I do need to balance out my reading!
And, Kevin, though I hope no one says the same thing to me that that person said to you, I guess it is a good reminder and caution. Also, I'm sure that you do what Amy suggested, that you normally read good fiction to remind you what good fiction is.
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