My classes are based on three premises: (1) writers learn best through practice, (2) through community they can more easily bear with the revision and stress that are an inevitable part of an effective writing process, (3) and they develop skills and techniques through lively engagement with literature. As a result, I use many collaborative methods in my courses, including beginning and advanced fiction, creative nonfiction writing, and women’s literature. For example, students complete and share exercises designed to generate ideas or to process the obstacles they face, and we do many small group and class workshops and discussions. Also, at the beginning or end of class we often schedule troubleshooting sessions in which students present project ideas, questions, problems, and successes. Other students and I chime in with strategies from our own experience, reinforcing that fellow writers are students’ most valuable resources.
Many of my exercises use cognitive scaffolding, building from simple, concrete concepts to more complex, abstract ones. If students are struggling with narrative structure, for instance, we look at plot development diagrams and metaphors. We then sketch out our own structures, followed by a paragraph of reflective analysis. If students need to flex creative muscles, moving into more associative ways of thinking, I loosen them up with a metaphor exercise that asks them to draw comparisons between concrete and abstract words. To look at how scenes are built, we use colored pens to underline the elements in a model piece. Creating a colorful representation of a good scene, we isolate dialogue, sensory images, setting detail, pop culture references, background information—categories that often overlap. To guarantee vivid action verbs, we sometimes “borrow” particularly strong or unusual ones from assigned literature and recast them in our own contexts.
To encourage interactive participation and engagement with literature, I open discussion with round robins. Focusing on technique or content, we start with a simple activity—appreciating and unpacking stylistically effective passages, or thematically important ones, or favorite phrasings, evocative details, and humorous moments—to use as a bridge to critically think about interpretation and craft.
Since I ask students to take risks and experiment, to push past first inspirations to more complex and original ideas, I consider it essential to do the same. Therefore, I often participate in exercises and assignments, offering insight into my own successes or failures. Not only does this participation enable me to retain realistic expectations, it helps me to encourage the community atmosphere of the most productive and inspiring writing class.
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