3rd Class

I love teaching! I was into the mode of teaching. Although I set my lesson plan down on the table, I did not look at it even once after the class started. My lesson plan was in my head. We were checking in. I asked the class how they felt about their second assignment. Two female students said it was hard to narrate a “slice of their lives.” Yeah, it is not an easy assignment for sure. One participant, who I assumed is an ESL student, wrote half a page with lots grammatical errors.
Another, the one who “stole” the technique from Amanda Davis’ “Circling the Rain,” said, I am going to rewrite my piece. It was hard to focus just one moment, since there are many moments to write about.
It makes me think about, said another male student, the most memorable moment of my childhood, rather than just a memorable moment. It really made me think about it.

I don’t have high expectations of the class to write well because they just begin to learn the craft of memoir writing. I remember when I was an undergraduate I did not know how to “think small” until I wrote an essay about Adam and Eve. I wrote ten pages based on the five lines from Book IV in Milton’s Paradise Lost:

As the Vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection, but requir’d with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best receiv’d,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet reluctant amorous delay. (4.307-11)

Yes, it was a very close reading assignment. And I had to pull my hair out in order to finish the paper up and became very exhausted at the end of Spring 2007. I wrote that essay because it was challenging. If fact, it was a very good stimulated exercise. I often find that I don’t have writing sample to imitate. I think it is best to learn by seeing how other people write. That is why I provided the class with my 1000-word writing sample (about my childhood). Two out of five students have so far kind of known how to write a slice of their lives. I am satisfied that all of them are trying.

My students are interested in writing but they are not fully revealing what they wanted to write about their lives. It is very personal, the “Circling-the-Rain” imitator said, it's hard to share it with strangers. You know.
What she said rings true to me. It is hard to build trust—especially in this five-short-week-course community.

Instead of giving the class a writing prompt, I tried something different this time. Yes, Elmaz. It is one of your teaching tricks again. It is in my pocket now. Write a list of things you owned, I said, when you were seven years old. I go first. The class looked at me. Then I said quickly: I had a bamboo stick, slippers, and a sling shot. I gave them five minutes to do this exercise. When the class was done with their list, I said: Let’s share them.
I had a blanket, Jenny said, which I am still using now, I had a teddy bear, a dog, a notebook with stories I copied from books, a library card, a pink backpack, Lego toys I used to play with my brother.
What does the dog tell you about that kid, I asked the class, when she was seven years old? They looked at me. That child was an animal lover, right? After we finished this exercise, I said: The purpose of this exercise is to guess what family background this person comes from, whether she was a playful, smart, or responsible kid, etc, etc…. by using the list Jenny shared with us.
Show rather than tell, Pamela said.
You got it, I said. See. You don’t need to say it directly in your story. Your reader can gather all the details in your story. We want craft. Writing is about craftsmanship. They all jotted down what I had just said.

This time we workshopped 2.5 pieces. Toward the end of the last piece, I think I made a mistake saying in a soft voice: Don’t ever write didactic statement like that. It might offend the reader. I shouldn’t have said that in the first place because I had no rights. The student explained to the class: The statement is talking about myself. I mean I only have one life to live…

My mistake reminds me of what L’Engle said in “The Domain of the Word”:

Human beings are the only creatures who are allowed to fail. If an ant fails, it’s dead. But we’re allowed to learn from our mistakes and from our failures. And that’s how I learn, by falling flat on my face and picking myself up and starting all over again. If I’m not free to fail, I will never start another book, I’ll never start a new thing. (Csikszentmihalyi’s Creativity, p258)

I will pay more attention to what I am going to say this week. If fact, I am going to use the above quotation as one of my teaching tools. I am learning how to teach, just like other first-timer teachers. I have sent my student an email apology.

I was still energized when class was over. Now I think I am getting used to teaching a class. I am sure this teaching experience will prepare me for the 2010-11 graduate assistantship at Mills. Yes, I am going to teach again! More to come!