From Pre-Writing, "We described the entire activity called 'writing' as a person's transformation of the events of his life into experienced conceptual structures revealed in language for the sake of his own self-actualization and for communication with other persons through commonly shared patterns of meaning."
I believe in structure in a writing curriculum. Structure is your foundation. It's what you build first, so that later your creation won't come crashing down around your ears. Grammar is important because it is a method of expression and also a connection between a writer and her audience, and therefore deserves time and attention. I also believe in pre-writing and the outline. Structuring an argument, providing argument support, and ensuring logical execution are easier to visualize as new writers with structure supporting it. So yes, I like structure, and rules, and form.
But once your foundation is built, you enter less certain territory. Rhetoric, creativity, and theory in writing require human evaluation. We can tell our students what to think, and that may stick for an hour, 3 weeks, or years. But what we really should be doing is encouraging that human evaluation from our students. We should give them the critical thinking skills to take those areas of thought on writing and learn to deconstruct them for the tools they need. Then, using rhetoric, creativity, and theory along with their own experiences and beliefs, they can build their own creations in which they are personally invested.
A structured argument will always be important because it’s the discourse most often used in daily life, and education should have a practical application. However, I think it’s important to expose students to a wide variety of textual forms, not only to make them aware of the ranges of human expression, but also to allow them opportunities to find their own expression. A balance of structure and free-form writing allows a range of expression while providing stability to that foundation. In short, I think balance is important.
Essentially, all these elements are used to give students the tools they need. But the experience and insight they each bring to the table personalizes the writing process and makes it unique. Whether they are writing for scholarly recognition or to tell a story they need to be invested in the final product and not just regurgitating rules and structure. At this point I don't know exactly how you do that, yet. But I'm personally invested in figuring it out.
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Thank goodness! I thought I was the only one in the class who still thought grammar and structure were necessary. I am a proponent of learning the rules because they're kind of like the skeleton that keeps everything else standing. My creative writing teacher, mentor, and adviser used to say "Don't shoot from the hip!" He meant that one must learn the rules before he/she can break them. "Shooting from the hip", he argued, "makes any work of genius a mere accident." That was a frightening thought to me. I want to be a genius on purpose, not accident!
ReplyDeleteThat is why I think, at least in the case of novice writers, grammar must be at the center of the curriculum. But it must be taught in a memorable way as you suggested, lest the students forget. I think maybe I'll be using Mad Libs a lot in my class...
Once the inexperienced writers have a firm grasp of the fundamentals, let them express their little hearts out. I am a creative writer, and certainly wish people had more imagination in their work, so I am not one to stifle it for grammar's sake. But even in the most outrageous, free-form creative work, you must have a skeleton propping up the body. It is our job as teachers to provide students the bones.
I agree! Break the rules to heart's content, AFTER you know them. I'm all for expression and I don't want to stifle anyone's writing, but I do believe knowing proper grammar helps with that expression.
ReplyDeleteMad Libs would actually be a great idea for an interactive activity that would give them context for the grammar without beating them over the head with it. I might steal that!
Structure is important, especially when making an argument. Yet, it is hard to give your ideas structure BEFORE you actually generate your ideas. Filling out a form (which an outline technically is) does nothing to inspire fresh thoughts or creative ideas. I think structure is important and outlines are a useful tool. However, an outline form is great to incorporate AFTER the writer has already done some brainstorming and writing. Writing is not just a creative craft or a constructive process; it is both. Starting with the creative, and then applying the constructive pieces -- grammar, transitions, introductions, conclusions, structure -- offers writers the best opportunity to create fresh thoughts with reader-friendly navigation.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for brainstorming, and I think for many people that is the necessary first step. But I also don't view an outline as a static form. It's as much a brainstorming tool as the structure of your paper. The outline can and should change as the ideas incorporated in the paper become more realized. Thanks for the comment.
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