Sometimes I don’t know what to write here so I ask Leanna to give me a topic.
It usually works – great training from 7th Grade, Mr. Hansen, and 11th Grade Mrs. Arcinega. They would have a topic written on the board when we walked into class, and we were to have a seat and begin writing. Ten minutes on that topic. Mrs. Arcinega taught us stream-of-consciousness. It was a brilliant move – a way to become aware of our own thinking.
I had a writing professor at UNR who used the same tool, but he took us even deeper with the thinking about thinking idea. He had us keep a notebook through the semester and we often had to write about some thought we had that day that made us think about something and then that took us to some other random topic that led to blah, blah, blah. He taught us that writing is evidence of thought. That you can’t be a good writer unless you are a good thinker, and that horrible writing is the artifact left when there is poor, unorganized thought.
He taught us that as writing teachers we were actually helping students become better thinkers.
Another lesson learned over the years is that to be a good writer you have to read a lot. If the nightstand book pile is any indicator, I, and all my sisters should be brilliant writers. Judging from what I read of theirs, it’s worked.
When I was a teacher there were some topics I brought back every year. The kids loved writing about their “Superpower.” They would wax on and on about mind reading, x-ray vision, and of course, flying. I heard a gal say the other day that women’s intuition is our superpower and we needed to learn to listen to it.
They also loved writing about a topic that came from my Sophomore Reading class when we did the BFG by Roald Dahl. “If you had ears like the BFG, what would you hear as you go through life – what would be the soundtrack of your life?”
One of the very best pieces of writing I’ve ever seen came from that prompt. A male student wrote rap lyrics about how he would hear his momma crying, and he criticized the father who left them in a beautiful, painful, tear-jerking page-long poem. This kid had never written a thing for me, I wasn’t even sure he could read.
But back to the topic of the day – Leanna said, “Where are we and why are we in this handbasket?” when I said, “Topic, please.” That girl. She has a very good sense of humor, thank goodness. She’s been doing layout since last night, getting the paper ready to upload to Vegas so we can get it printed for you.
Her topic led to this strange stream-of-consciousness pontification on the beauty of writing. Funny how one thought leads to another and then another.
So while we’re rambling around contemplating our navels, we’ll be right here…
…Keeping you Posted.
Rach
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