Sunshine and rainbows.

Okay, so I feel a little guilty about all the negativity in my first post for this week. I had just finished the Covino reading that I thought I'd never get through, my cat sitting on the couch behind my head was incessantly licking her fur, somebody ate the last of my Twizzlers, and it's past my bedtime. So, I was in an annoyed, Mr. T. kick-butt kind of mood. Now that I've had my Sleepytime tea and have looked over my notes again, I just want to share a a few, more uplifting, thoughts on this week's readings. Now for the sunshine and rainbows.

My first happy thought comes from the end of Lynn's Invention chapter. I appreciate that his text adds suggestions of practical classroom applications based on the information he presents, and I particularly liked the fruit-poem. Lynn questions if any "bizarre practice" may serve as an invention strategy. Perhaps, and if so, I want more. I got the most attention from my students when I stepped out of the box and tried something unusual. For example, this is one free-writing type of activity that was always a favorite in my classroom: I would play new agey music, turn off the lights, have the students put their heads down on the desk, and then read from a script that took students on a virtual walk outside of the classroom and the school. Students were instructed to listen carefully for all the details and sensory images of the story. They walk through streams where fish nibble their toes and through dense forests with tropical flowers and all types of wildlife. They also go to their "special place" where they interact with a person of their choosing before coming back the way they came and "waking up" in their seats. They immediately upon opening their eyes must write without stopping about their journey. I have gotten the best pieces of writing from this activity. Students can't say they don't know what to write and it helps them try to connect with their "voice" and use vivid details.

 As far as the discussion on form, I think that Lynn's quote from Kenneth Burke is interesting. He says form is "an arousing and fulfillment of desire." Therefore, it's about writing in a prescribed manner so that your reader will anticipate what is coming next. But then it seems that veering from the expected would better serve to grab the reader's attention. In the movie Memento (which he mentions), the story is told from the end to the beginning. The scriptwriter did not want the audience to anticipate every move, but instead to be surprised and engaged by its form. So, to teach form using the five-paragraph theme, even though the audience feels safe and at home in anticipating the topic sentences, restated thesis, and generalized conclusion, they're going to be bored and forget whatever message it was you were trying to convey. Still, my students craved that fill-in-the-blank security blanket that is the five-paragraph essay. So, I guess it's good to know, sort of like backup ammunition, but I want to learn more about how to help my students step out of their comfort zone.