I maybe know what I’m doing, perhaps…sort of….

The articles we’ve had to read in class have helped me solidify some of my own ideas about teaching. For example, one of the first articles we read in the beginning of the semester brought attention to how students tend to take on different ‘personas’ depending on who their target audience is and the purpose behind their writing. This led to a class discussion about how what we (students) really learn in high school is essentially how to be a good student and work the system. Other articles also brought to my attention some of the teaching methods my previous teachers used when I was in K-12, and have resulted in my becoming a little bit angry.

I think, for this mutli-modal project, I really just want to showcase my own ideas about teaching writing as well as my attitude towards certain methods. personally, what matters most for me- and what should matter most for a writers audience- is the content and that it is effectively conveyed to the reader. Based on my own experiences, a majority of my high school teachers strongly supported and believed in this cookie-cutter styled essay model- 5 paragraphs: intro conclusion, body made of 2 pieces of evidence with 2 sentences of analysis for each.

We see in different writing genre how writers play with form and image and even sounds when they compose their words- examples being House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Easter Wings by George Herbert, and Dentist Dan by Shel Silverstein. Such a huge emphasis is placed on grammar, and I’ve even seen in my 30 workshop classes that students are always treated their first draft as their final draft-always asking for revisions on their sentence structures and words while remaining completely unconcerned with their arguments and ideas. Even I, personally, have been able to get away with so many half-assed papers because of my flowery language. The only time I was ever called out was in a Psychology class.

content is important, but having a go-to cookie cutter format makes it way to easy for a student to fake-it-till-they-make-it, so many aren’t really learning anything. As mentioned earlier, they learn how to be students in high school, which preps them for a rude awakening once they reach the real world, when suddenly they aren’t able to get away with the types of material they produced as students.

I’m thinking maybe for my project to mock these students and teachers who support this ‘easy’ writing format by mimicking a pinterest photoset tutorial, but applying it to essay writing. I’m also debating on making a youtube video that parodies those ‘_blank_ hack test- DOES THIS REALLY WORK?!?!?!” on different methods of essay writing- my only difficulty will be coming up with an appropriate prompt.

Even now i’m not really sure on whether or not my intention behind the multi-modal project answered by my project, or it it’s even a good topic to explore. A part of me still feels  unsure about my own ideas of writing, but that’s because writing shouldn’t really be so constrictingly defined.