Coming Full Circle :: College Writing Education Essays

Coming Full Circle Roger Sale, a former professor at the University of Washington says, "I can't know what I want until I see something I like." This is said in response to the common question asked by students, "What do you want our papers to be about?" Hearing this must get tiresome for teachers as well as students. Sale, in his essay on "The Relationships Struck Between Writer and Reader, Reader and Writer, Student and Teacher, Teacher and Student", suggests not telling the student exactly what is wanted, to be flexible and "suggest to all students that what is important is what they think, not what the teacher thinks." Over the years I've found that teachers and students go through stages in the education process in what they want to hear and what they like. Throughout this process students learn that not all teachers have the quality of being flexible, and often wonder "Does it matter what I think?" I think and certainly hope the stages come full circle. When we were young and learning to write it seemed that each sentence was an accomplishment, something to be proud of. In elementary school our teachers encouraged creativity. Writing was fun, not a chore. It seemed we could write about anything and our teacher would write "Very Good!", stick a red star on our page and encourage more. In fifth grade I wrote a poem on the color brown. I have no idea where the source for this poem came from and I wish I could remember what others wrote. Did we have to write about a color, specifically brown? Probably not. I do like this color but why not pink? My poem is absolutely morbid! To this day I am chastised about it. Leave it to Mom to put it in a scrapbook for my entire graduation party to read. Following is a sample of "Brown." Brown I need you I'll give you my dead animal for all you have Brown I need you How ridiculous! Who ever heard of a fifth grader writing so passionately, yet morbidly about a color? Know what? My teacher claimed he liked it! Maybe he feared my morbidity. At any rate I continued to write and enjoy doing so. There seemed to be little or no boundaries in elementary school. My teachers were always flexible and encouraging; they seemed to care what I thought. There comes a time in junior high when teachers don't encourage creativity and individuality. Coming Full Circle :: College Writing Education Essays Coming Full Circle Roger Sale, a former professor at the University of Washington says, "I can't know what I want until I see something I like." This is said in response to the common question asked by students, "What do you want our papers to be about?" Hearing this must get tiresome for teachers as well as students. Sale, in his essay on "The Relationships Struck Between Writer and Reader, Reader and Writer, Student and Teacher, Teacher and Student", suggests not telling the student exactly what is wanted, to be flexible and "suggest to all students that what is important is what they think, not what the teacher thinks." Over the years I've found that teachers and students go through stages in the education process in what they want to hear and what they like. Throughout this process students learn that not all teachers have the quality of being flexible, and often wonder "Does it matter what I think?" I think and certainly hope the stages come full circle. When we were young and learning to write it seemed that each sentence was an accomplishment, something to be proud of. In elementary school our teachers encouraged creativity. Writing was fun, not a chore. It seemed we could write about anything and our teacher would write "Very Good!", stick a red star on our page and encourage more. In fifth grade I wrote a poem on the color brown. I have no idea where the source for this poem came from and I wish I could remember what others wrote. Did we have to write about a color, specifically brown? Probably not. I do like this color but why not pink? My poem is absolutely morbid! To this day I am chastised about it. Leave it to Mom to put it in a scrapbook for my entire graduation party to read. Following is a sample of "Brown." Brown I need you I'll give you my dead animal for all you have Brown I need you How ridiculous! Who ever heard of a fifth grader writing so passionately, yet morbidly about a color? Know what? My teacher claimed he liked it! Maybe he feared my morbidity. At any rate I continued to write and enjoy doing so. There seemed to be little or no boundaries in elementary school. My teachers were always flexible and encouraging; they seemed to care what I thought. There comes a time in junior high when teachers don't encourage creativity and individuality.