Voice and Power

What seemed to be consistent across the readings on Expressivisim was the tenet that good writing has “a sense of writer presence,” as Burnham put it, and that through finding this “voice,” a person can be empowered to “act in the world.” Immediately I was drawn to what Burnham describes as the Espressivist’s ultimate educational goal: “fostering individual moral and ethical development.” I also liked much of the passages and quotes taken from the writing of bell hooks. Although I’m not really sure how to more “actively commit to a process of self-actualization,” I know that I want to be a teacher who helps students develop into “socially and morally aware citizens.”

Perhaps this child needs a dose of social awareness.

In class we have talked about why we teach writing and what we want our students to get out of it. My view has always been that I want students to learn from their writing and to discover something about themselves that they maybe didn’t already know or to be comfortable expressing something they feel without being ashamed and without the fear of embarrassment. I was always trying to get students to tell it like it is – be honest about their life, situation, and opinions. I wanted them to be comfortable in their own skins. I wanted to hear the voice of my students. I wanted them to hear their own voice too, which leads to a feeling of power and ability to make change.

Sometimes I felt like maybe I wanted too much, and I was also pressured by mentors and administrators to fall back into the comfortable, old, traditional way of teaching writing that culminated in painfully dull, lifeless essays and papers. Faigley writes in “Competing Theories of Process” that “expressive theorists validate personal experience in school systems that often deny it.” I do feel guilty that I was one of those teachers who denied students opportunity and didn’t give their writing the “value and authority” that it deserved. But, I will again assert my unapologetic cheesiness and say that they key word in that sentence is “was.”

It was either this illustration or a photo of David Hasselhoff holding two puppies.