Work It Together

Much of our reading this week made me think back to the beginning of our literate culture from the oral culture of ancient Greece. In oral cultures, stories are told to communicate important information or to record historical events; they are told in an entertaining way to make the story more memorable for both the teller and the audience. A new orator learns his craft from an experienced orator and is dependent on his audience to understand his message. The concept of a group effort is definitely present. Additionally, the group and the orator changed over time and the message changed accordingly.

In our current society, however, the group mentality related to work of any kind seems to be all but lost. Much of our reading this week emphasized the importance of collaboration during the writing process and the inherently social process of writing as well as the lack of this type of instruction in our current classrooms.

I must admit that I have always thought of writing as a fairly individual process, but after these readings I went back and thought about my most influential writing experiences. These came down to two very memorable events, both occurring in my undergraduate program as an English literature major: a creative fiction writing class set up as a workshop and an English literature class set up in a more traditional format. My creative writing class collaborated on each student's work of fiction and resulted in richer, more thought-provoking writing. The end result was a short story I published in a local literary journal. It was a rewarding and interesting experience. On the other hand, the writing I did for my literature class was analysis of the literature we studied and each paper was written expressively for the professor and read by no one else. After turning in my first paper, I received the following comment on the title page: "Run, do not walk, to the nearest course in essay writing!" Not only did I find this comment incredibly hurtful (at the tender age of 19), but I found no constructive value in it. There were no comments as to why I should be running to enroll in an essay writing class, nor was there any feedback that helped me understand how to make the paper better. In direct opposition to the creative writing class, the results of this experience were feelings of fear, drudgery and solitude every time I attended class.

Another result of the classes I mentioned above was that I began to consider creative writing to be interesting and fun and nonfiction writing of any kind to be boring and difficult. As an adult, I have changed my mind about this, but I think it is a common misconception in our society and in our classrooms. I found an interesting website through the University of Iowa, renowned for its creative writing program. Surprisingly, to me, they also offer many courses and theories on "creative nonfiction," a term I have never even heard before. I'm sure most of our students would say this is an oxymoron. The site is full of interesting information and references, including a "literary nonfiction essential reading list" that is quite extensive. Here is the link: http://www.english.uiowa.edu/nonfiction/index.html.

Overall, I would like to encourage my students to work collaboratively, even though I know it is often difficult for writers to share their work, especially teenagers. While I realize the importance of group work and larger audiences, I worry that the students won't be willing to share and won't understand how to give criticism that is helpful rather than hurtful. I suppose this is where I come in and establish a trusting classroom environment. I feel fairly confident in this area, but have to admit that I worry about the students I cannot get on board.