My Writing Classroom

It all started with an AB rhyme, A series of words all strung in a line. Before text response, before assessment, I would use poetry as a form of refreshment.  

Writing became a personal salvation. Perfectionism caused a block in creation. Technology changed the mode, the form. And critical questioning became the norm.

My classroom is one of dialogue, Analysis through handwriting, spoken and blog. Negotiation with students is the key Of my classroom that is to be…

… Or not to be? That is the question.

So, enjoy your journey through this site. Non-linear, form-tastic, a miniscule insight To this world of writing inside my mind, Who knows what treasures you may find?

Dear diary,

My rationale for a writing classroom has to be epic, insightful, philosophical. But where do I start?

I sincerely wish for my students to be able to seek and delight in beauty, which is what I believe is the true purpose of all art forms. The aesthetic gives us ‘an experience that allows us to understand the world more fully and experience it more richly’ (Mission & Morgan 2009, p. 50). That’s what this is all about. To fall in love with the idea of beauty, to find it in visuals, in language, in novels and films and artworks and performances; to find a sincere form of expression.

As critical literacy informs my practice, I dream of a classroom that questions, that fights back. That is interactive and questions the status quo. That asks, “What makes the literary canon?” (MacLachlan 1994, p. 18), and “Why have set texts at all?”. I want students to engage with texts beyond the literary canon. I want to ‘make use of the printed material that daily assaults the student’ (Watson 2009, p. 80), particularly social media, blogs, vlogs, advertisements, streaming media - not only reading and interpreting, but also writing, speaking and creating! I want students to engage with the ‘universe of discourse’ (Andrews 2009, p. 39) – to understand and question the values placed on some forms of writing over other – and to argue that... 

I want to rid this weird culture where students feel that they shouldn’t speak unless they know the answer. Although the students in Australia aren’t told this message as explicitly as in Vanuatu where I taught (yes, below was ACTUALLY a sign in the classroom), it still troubles me that in many of my classes, students don’t speak up in fear of being wrong (Locke 2014, p. 8).

(In case you can’t read it, the sign says “Sh.....!! Silence!! Keep your mouth shut until you know what you’re talking about”) - UGH! 

I want students to get it wrong, because that is when learning occurs! Mission explains it perfectly, that ‘poststructuralism undercuts this vision of glorious certainty’ (Mission 2009, p. 69), and further, I want the students to understand that certainty is a mirage, and all I care about is growth. I don’t always hold the answers. I am all too aware of the power dynamic in classrooms and hope to have a more balanced, student-centred, student-led and dialogic classroom where my position is as one of many interested readers (Andrews 2009, p. 42). 

What can technologies do that pen and paper can’t?

I regularly participate in journal writing, as it clears my head. I was only ever able to handwrite, as it felt inherently more personal, however typing on a computer was able to capture the speed of my thoughts more efficiently, though still never fast enough. Locke explains this as ‘different media are not equally effective in aiding the externalization of inner thought’ (2014, p. 34). The computer was also quick to point out my mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation, though with the free-flow style of my writing, these mistakes were not important to me. Nevertheless, I couldn’t leave my entry with all the red squiggly lines and uncapitalized letters, so I edited my own thoughts. It felt wrong, yet I couldn’t leave my imperfect thoughts typed so haphazardly.

So, Jasmin, why did you choose to format your assignment in a blog?

As writing is a deeply intimate exercise, students should be given opportunities to express themselves in a variety of forms. Blogs and Vlogs allow for a multimodal and technology-based focus, which presents a portfolio of ideas, musings and creations which reach beyond the restrictive limits of a traditional essay response. In our ‘networked and electronically connected world’, multigeneric technologies such as this blog allow for authentic contexts to be realised in assessment rather than imagined (Jetnikoff 2009, p. 307). As students today are finding online forms of self-expression through various social media sites, these platforms can be used collaboratively to connect the outside world to the classroom setting in an authentic context, with a potential ‘real’ audience beyond the teacher or assessor.  

Are you saying we should ditch traditional forms of writing?

Not necessarily! Language skills should continue to be taught, as the act of handwriting can crystallise syntax, grammar, rhythm and provide excellent opportunities for drafting and editing processes. However, I can’t imagine writing essays these days on paper, as we expect our students to. My thoughts translate to the page in messy phrases, where the links are not immediately apparent. I construct my essays as though they are a puzzle, rather than a letter. Sometimes whole chunks of text are moved, shifted and deleted. However, our students are expected to handwrite for hours on end and spill free-flowing thoughts onto the page in a logical, coherent and ordered manner. Technology has changed the nature of drafting and editing to become a live and fluid process, and yet there will always be a place for the pen and paper, both in my heart and within the classroom.

So you are at the end, and are wondering, what’s next? Good question dear reader, don’t feel too perplexed. This is a work in progress, and will never be complete, As long as there are more things to learn, and new students to meet.

Andrews, R 2009, ‘Towards a rhetorical perspective’, in S Gannon, M Howie & W Sawyer (eds), Charged with Meaning: Re-Viewing English, 3rd edn, Phoenix Education, Putney, NSW, pp. 39-43.

Jetnikoff, A, ‘Using media technologies in English’, in S Gannon, M Howie & W Sawyer (eds), Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd edn, Phoenix Education, Putney, NSW, pp. 307-313.

Locke, T 2014, Developing writing teachers: Practical ways for teacher-writers to transform their classroom practice, Routledge, London.

MacLachlan, G 1994, ‘The teaching of literature: a killjoy profession?’, Idiom, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 7-21.

Mission, R 2009, ‘Poststructuralism’ in S Gannon, M Howie & W Sawyer (eds), Charged with meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd edn, Phoenix Education, Putney, NSW, pp. 69-75.

Mission, R & Morgan, W 2009, ‘The aesthetic and English teaching’, in S Gannon, M Howie & W Sawyer (eds), Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd edn, Phoenix Education, Putney, NSW, pp. 45-52.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority [VCAA] 2014, Victorian Certificate of Education: English and English as an Additional Language Study Design, VCAA, retrieved 4 August 2019, <https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/english/2016EnglishEALSD.pdf>.