“A Great Title”
Why
do I write? Well that is a very good question. Usually the answer is because my
teacher/parents told me to do so. Whether it’s a research paper, a reflection
paper, a poem, a thank you note, a response paper, or even a “why do I write”
paper. I have never been one to write freely on my own time or even be a good
writer when I am told to write. I have loved reading since I was a little kid
but I have never found the skills or the drive to be a thoughtful writer,
especially compared to the books that I read in my free time. There has always
been guidelines to writing that have made it less of a interest and more of a
math equation to me. I was told by teachers that I MUST have an intro paragraph
where you outline the rest of your paper, three paragraphs in the middle that
follow what you outlined in the intro and a conclusive paragraph to wrap it all
up. This is on top of every other writing formula and millions of rules that
teachers dump on you from a very young age. I guess I have always felt confined
by these rules and I cant remember the last time a teacher just told me to
write about whatever came to mind and to follow your heart. I have had a few
too many traumatic experiences with writing and sharing my writing for any sane
person to want to give it up all together. So why do I write? I would love to
say it’s to release my inner thoughts and to connect with the reader but sadly
the only answer that comes to mind is “because they make me”!
In
my past few college years I have written many papers more papers than I can
count. You would think I would be a great writer by now but the truth is I
can’t see my self getting better. Each teacher always wants something else from
the paper whether it’s the format, type of paper, voice, MLA format (or any
other of the four formats), or length to name a few. This brings me back to my
early years of writing when the format of the paper was the most important
thing and even if you wrote a great paper and it didn’t have a structured
conclusion paragraph it was still a C grade paper. Szwed expanded the ways that
we define writing in ways that I agreed with and enjoyed reading. I believe
that there is a place for structure in our curriculum early on but after a time
you need to let the students write freely. I loved when we got to read a book
for class because I could read in my free time and enjoy it greatly, although
when it came down to writing about the book I felt I couldn’t do the book
justice in any way possible and found myself dreading the outcome. I have had a
few traumatic experiences in my life that have kept me from fully putting
myself out there as a writer. It was fourth grade with Ms. Mann that I can
remember like it was yesterday. For some reason she thought it was a GREAT idea
for us to write about a hard time in our lives, like I really want to think
more about this horrible time in my life. My mother had recently been diagnosed
with cancer so I decided to write about that. Needless to say it was very
emotional for me and I was happy just to be done with it. The next day to my
horror she exclaims, “so now it’s time to read for the class what you all have
written down.” CRAP. I was forced to recount all these memories, in front of my
peers no less. From that day on I made sure that if I knew if that I would
eventually be reading in front of the class to write about something that was
acceptable to my peers and change the whole outline of my essay choice. I would
write about something socially acceptable like “how I missed the bus”, or “how
my dog ate my homework”.
“Oaths
sworn… Loyalties tested… Forces collide” (Christopher Paolini). This is a quote
from the second book in a series called Brisingr, written by Christopher
Paolini. Fantasy books are a favorite of mine and I can get lost in one of
these books for hours. I wish I could do the same with writing. While reading
these books I can imagine what is happening in my head and create a whole new
world. The trouble I have when it comes to writing is getting all of my
thoughts from my head into a coherent blob on the paper. Reading allows me to
own the information through my own cognitive filter, which sadly does not
translate to my papers. Some of my best
writing experiences in my life have been when I was given the opportunity to
use whatever writing style I wanted and portray what was in my head however I
felt. I can still remember when I got to read a fantasy novel and instead of
writing a paper on it I got to do a comic strip. This allowed me to express
myself in a completely different way than what I was used to and let me
illustrate my thoughts. For me, writing is like freestyle rapping using
whatever comes to mind as compared to formulaic song writes with a verse then a
chorus, then a verse and another chorus.
“Now
do whatever your heart desires”. This is what I plan on telling my students as
a future teacher. I think it’s important for children to be compelled to use
their imagination as much as possible. Especially growing up, when a child has
a chance to grow exponentially. Write a poem, draw a comic strip, write a
paper, write an article strip, do a brochure. These are options I wish my past
teachers had given me. In everyday life you do not write many, if any, essays. If
I can have a child form a love of writing in their early years than I have done
my job. Yes, it is important for them to know sentence structure and spelling
but when this is mastered their love of writing will take them so much farther
then any “rule” will take them. So overall I plan on taking my past experiences
and using them to aid my students to a better writing career. My word count may
not be up to par but to tell you the truth anything past this point would
probably be BS. J
