Week 4 (CHC)

We looked at your writer's notebooks today and found a number of you who wrote and poured your heart and soul into the writing. Clearly some of you are seriously engaged!  This made us quite happy.  Thank you!  We often think that the teacher forms the student, but when we say this, we sometimes forget that this learning endeavor we are all in is all about the relationship we create with one another and that the student also forms the teacher.  You depend on us, but we also depend on you in more ways than you can ever imagine.  We hope you realize the power you have.

With that said,  we want to point out that too many of you were wallflowers rather than the wildflowers we expected.  Instead of letting go of the bad habit of waiting for the right moment and running to the dance floor to get your groove on, you held back and did not do the work I asked.  We were left dancing with ourselves in a zombie land of non-writing.    We are always dreadfully disappointed by this. It's no fun!

It's a strange thing to be putting on these skits that deal with the very issue of alienation and then seeing that a good many of you are falling by the wayside, not engaging,  even with this class requirement that should not be that difficult to fulfill.  Please understand that we're not trying to berate you;  instead, we want you to think about this and ask yourself, if you were one of the ones who was not prepared, what you want for yourself and what you are working toward in this class.  Don't forget that what you do affects you and also affects the rest of us.  I hope you can make a commitment to lighten the load for everyone and take up the challenge of doing the best you can!

We switch gears a bit this week and remember that creating community is hard but good work.  This weekend we took a step toward deepening the connections amongst us and a lot of us showed up and had a great time.

Beach BBQ this Past Weekend

During this fourth week, we move closer toward our first essay by attempting to answer the question "Who are you?"  Today we began sifting through our notebooks (and our own chaotic thoughts) on the question as we search for a limited topic to develop in our first formal essay. We worked on helping each other identify three ideas that are rich enough to explore for the essay. But as we tried to emphasize in class, don’t feel that you somehow have to force these three ideas into a potential essay. Don’t think too much about structure, in fact. Think about what really interests you, what you want to explore, what topic would feel meaningful to you. You’re only job for the rest of the week is to find something to write about that is not bull caca. Read and re-read your notebook until you’ve identified the ideas that you want to start focusing in on. We’re not worried about right or wrong right now. We're not worried about 1, 2 or three ideas. Just no bull! Find something authentic that you want to and need to learn more about as you look at your life.

Once some of these ideas are in the open, we’re start to help you craft them into a structure that is logical. We’ll help you narrow things down into a manageable topic you can really cover in 800 words. We’ll help you look for details and connect ideas. A draft of this 800-word essay will be due the week of October 1.

Just remember:

Please read on the effect of telling one's story in the first and third person perspective.  As usual, aim to learn something from this reading and respond to it in your writer's notebook.  We will be sharing what you picked up from this reading with one another.

As part of the buildup toward the writing of the essay, we want you to watch Ira Glass, a favorite storyteller of ours, describe how he puts together narratives for his radio show, This American Life.

What two elements does he use for his stories?  Write about the two elements he mentions in your notebook.  Come to class the second part of the week ready to share what you learned from the video and to pose any questions you may have.  Don't forget that asking questions is the fuel for all learning.

We're very excited about the upcoming essays.  It's a writing birth of sorts we will experience and witness.  We want you to have as much support as possible. As I have said in class, the question is not an easy one, so please read and respond to "Writing Is Not a MacDonald's Hamburger" in Writing Down the Bones (36-37).  I think this short passage has much to offer.

Finally, keep preparing yourself for the work at CHC.  Please listen and respond to the "Special Ed" show in This American Life.  The program is an hour long; split it so that you do half this week and the rest of the show the following.  Use your notebooks to respond.  Any ideas for the work we are going to do?

If you have any questions, please post them here under comments.

Reminder:  IF Club Meeting on Wednesday, September 19 (12:45pm) in Rm. 2208.