Discussion
Using the ideas I wrote about in posts from August 15 and 17, I conducted my first days of class. I have two sections of the same first year class. And as usual, each section is completely unique. Even though I will presumably talk the same talk in each section, each group personality is decidedly different.
Still, the questions I pose in my August 15 post went over very well with both groups. On the second day of class, I paired students and had them use the questions as discussion points. I gave them approximately 20 minutes to discuss and come up with three thoughts/ideas/observations/questions that grew out of their conversations. I then collected these. I plan to use their responses as my opening into our next class meeting.
After I collected their responses, students had many questions about my questions: Is all writing creative, they asked? And is structure as important as content? They really thought about the questions, and it opened up a class discussion about all the challenges of writing, from soup to nuts. The students were engaged, and so was I.
But now, as I write, I wonder: even though my audience members are presumably teachers and writers, the students about whom I am writing can read these posts. And that stops me from going into detail about class interactions. Hmmm. How open can I really be if I want to preserve the confidential community of our classroom? I’m rethinking this whole endeavor.
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