In “Kitchen Tables and Rented Room: The Extracurriculum of Composition”, Gere focuses in on the flaws of traditional classroom methodologies regarding the teaching of composition. The two writing groups in the article, the Tenderloin Women’s Writing Workshop and the Lansing, Iowa Writers Workshop, show the benefits of learning outside the classroom.
Like many other students, I have had experiences with the flaws of the way composition is being taught in the classroom. From the time I started writing in kindergarten through high school, I have been told what topic to write on and how to write it. I was given a format and a subject that was supposed to be interesting to me. I jumped through the hoops and somehow came up with a decent essay every time, but it did not reflect me at all. These writing groups put themselves into every piece of writing. “The extracurriculum I examine is constructed by desire, by the aspirations, and imaginations of its participants (80).” The writing I was doing involuntarily in school had none of these components. I wrote with a fake enthusiasm and got nothing out of my writing.
That’s another way in which my experience with writing in a classroom has differed from the extracurriculum. The writing groups in this article used their writing to benefit themselves, their families, and their communities. “Reaching out into the community with prose performances develops in participants the perception that writing can effect changes in their lives (77).” My writing in high school was somewhat like Rodriguez’s; except I became good at faking an interest in the topic I was writing and creating a point a view. I didn’t care about the topic or gain much of anything while doing the writing though.
In school, there were times where I did not feel like much of a writer. I would get writers block, have trouble making papers sound right, think that nothing I said was important, or simply feel like my writing was not up to par. Other people clearly think this as well. “Bob Leppert, a farmer with little formal education, says, “I never felt like I had anything that anyone was interested in hearing” (76).” This paper shows that when you write for yourself, you can write. Anyone can find passion and inspiration in something and write and when they do it for themselves and in something that interests them, the words flow and you gain something from it. These people found confidence in their writing, gained self-esteem, and bettered their communities.
As for being taught unconsciously that you couldn’t write as a student, I think that happens to almost every student. Teachers pick out the format in which students are supposed to write, the topic, and down-grade students for straying from these rules. Creativity is both encouraged and discouraged in schools. Down-grading for straying away from the topic, which in my opinion is another way of putting yourself into your work, discourages creativity. Offering options and some sense of self-direction into writing programs is one solution to this problem.
I agree with Lauren, students are discouraged from being themselves in school. The teachers in high school tell us to be creative, but only if it fits into the mold they give us. How is that creative at all? As a high school student I felt like the only thing I learned is how to be fake. I agree with Lauren, "I wrote with a fake enthusiasm and got nothing out of my writing."
ReplyDeleteI believe many of our schools teach students that they are not good writers. They discourage them from being themselves and incourage strict rules. But good writing, especially poetry, has passion and thought behind it. Schools need to incorporate ways to engage their students in extracurriculum like discribed in Gere's article.