More and more letters to students, back to school version.
1 September 2020
Dear Creative Writers:
If this were what old
people like to call normal times (or I
could say this is unprecedented since
everyone has that word tattooed on their brain), I’d be going over a syllabus
and introduction to the course with you, in person, and we’d do some sort of
ice breaker that was colorful and brilliant. And I could certainly do this over
our first Meet, but I thought instead I’d write an introductory
letter/syllabus—henceforward known as letterbus —to make sure I don’t
miss anything. This will also give you something to go back to, like if you
need to prove me wrong on something. But
Ms. P. It was in the letterbus. Paragraph 40.
Creative Writing is the best class at Century
High School, sorry/not sorry, Algebra. (If you’re in my Philosophy class, I’m
going to say the same thing, but they can both be the best.) I am excited to
have you here. There are probably a number of reasons you signed up for this
class—you wrote a story one time, you thought you wouldn’t have to read
anything, somebody told you my classroom is amazing (it is, even though someone
stole the typewriter), you want an outlet for expression, you heard that a
bunch of my past students have published stuff and won prizes, you simply want to be a wicked-brilliant
writer. Before I have you read our course description, I need you to keep in
mind that we work under the workshop
model, which means you have to share
your work with your peers. You’ll always get to choose the subject and won’t
have to share work you don’t feel comfortable sharing, but you’ll have to share
something. The point is discussion
and growth. If that detail just made you faint or wee your pants, we need to
chat. Course description:
This
writing-intensive course serves to help you grow your writing skills in poetry,
creative nonfiction, and fiction, all while encouraging you to push your
boundaries and find your voice. Starting with the foundation of what
constitutes a good image, you will craft and revise multiple drafts of your
work. Our model is workshop-based: you will read the work of your peers and
contribute to a large-group discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of
their work. The goal is to: extinguish any misconceptions you have about
creative writing, gain a critical eye, learn the importance of taking your work
through many, many revisions (“murdering your darlings”), go beyond cliché and
your “go-to” techniques, find your voice and style, and to surprise yourself.
I love creative writing, I am a creative writer,
I dedicated my first Master’s degree to the entire art of it, and I am
absolutely stoked to read your work. I hope you learn something important about
yourself this semester. I hope you have moments of whoa—that come from the material, a classmate, our discussion, and
your beautiful self. You have no idea what you can do. One minute you’ll be
starting a story, the next two lost hours you’ll be all in, then you’ll read it
and think where the heck did this
lovely-lovely come from.
I’ll talk about this as the semester progresses, but I’ll share some thoughts on my goals/philosophy as a teacher:
- grades don’t matter, learning and growth matters (if I could get rid of letter grades I would! there is absolutely no reason this class should have grades. everyone has an A. who cares. just write something that matters).
- students should think about characters and stories and creative techniques when those stories and characters and techniques are not in front of them; students should become writers in the waking and walking world. sometimes this means you narrate to yourself, sometimes this means everything you see is a metaphor, sometimes this means you mentally write descriptions in polysyndeton in your sleep.
- students should read the work of contemporary writers (and their peers) and feel the immediate need to start writing themselves.
- students should feel motivated to actively seek contemporary writing that speaks to and inspires them every dang day.
- students should be in charge and let their teacher know what she can do to pull them in.
- students should develop voice in their writing, should write creatively as means of expression and understanding—for themselves and for others. duh.
- students can redo assignments as they need to for proficiency in the skill. I have poems from 2006 that I’m still revising. were you ever born then.
This is the part of the
letterbus where I’d outline what we’re doing this term, but truthfully, with
the distance learning model, I’m not sure how we will need to pace our class.
All I can do is promise you that my motto is SFC (the C means chill,
you can hypothesize the rest 😊). My method follows the
intro to creative writing classes I taught at MSU Mankato: start with poetry
(quarter one), move on to fiction (qtr. 2). I use this model (students think
poetry is harder sometimes, spoiler
it’s not) because I want you to understand that you can accomplish conflict with even one image. Images
strung together are conflict, images on top of images on top of images are
complex conflict. Once you can achieve this in the space of a poem, you can
achieve it in an essay or a story. I hope that makes sense! We can talk about bricks as we continue to write,
such as The Great Wall of China is made of 3.8 million bricks, and that bricks
hold sunlight throughout the day and release their energy at night, and if
that’s not a metaphor, I don’t know what is. I literally might go write a poem
about that right now.
Regarding technology, aren’t you excited to see when
and how and where it will be an absolute and total disaster?! It will be, at
some point. I’ll take it as it goes, and I’m hoping you will as well. Failed
technology will never be a hindrance on an assignment. We’ll roll with the
punches. I’m going in with few expectations for technology. For example, you
might not even be reading this letter right now because the district didn’t
think about 1400 kids at Century High School all logging into the server at the
same time.
All I’m asking is this: when and if it fails, let me know. If the assignment didn’t
show up, let me know. If you weren’t
able to connect with your group, let me
know. I have learned a lot of new tech in the past few months, and I am no
expert. Also let me know if you think my set-up on Google classroom is a
cluster of confusion. You’ll be taking a short survey after you read this that
will help me consider structuring, but you can email, too. Ms. P., your Google Classroom is the biggest dumpster fire I’ve
ever seen is what you’re thinking. But you’ll say it in a poetic way.
Since I’ve never had some of you as students
before, I’ll include a paragraph with some stuff about me. I’ll be asking you
stuff about you and that’s only fair: I’ve been teaching high school/college
for about fifteen years, and this is my 8th year (I think? maybe 7th)
at Century. I have a Master’s of Science in Education (sometimes I teach new
teachers with Winona State), and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing/Poetry
(meaning I write poetry because poetry is literally the best). I’ve spent the
summer publishing quite a bit of work, and
I think it’s only fair I share (a little of) my writing since I ask you
to share yours. (It’s okay if you don’t love it, I had a student last year say
he hated this poem and then—ha, ha—I
was like…Nick, this is my poem! And
I’ve never seen anyone so red in my life.) In early 2021, I have a chapbook of
poems coming out (don’t tell anyone, it hasn’t been officially announced), and
I’m currently polishing a full collection of poems that I’ve been sending to publishers. I’m telling you
this to gain ethos—this isn’t a class I got stuck with is what I mean. Writing
is how I spend my time. Otherwise, I guess I’ll tell you that I have a husband
and two dogs, a brindle Dachshund named Beaker (like the mee-mee-mee Muppet),
and a Labrador named Pepper. And here’s what I look like, too, just in case
someone hacks my Google classroom and
you’re wondering why you haven’t learned anything yet.
The district, as the district does, has created
parameters/expectations for secondary students during our DL model. I’ve
included those at the end of the letterbus, but here are mine specifically:
- students have to wear clothes during our Meets—shirts, please! generally, you should wear what you’d wear to school, and if you came to school topless you’d definitely end up in an embarrassing video on the internet (and also suspended).
- I would very much prefer it if you had your video on (talk to me for exceptions, the district has noted it is optional) during our full class and small group discussion; I know this might feel a little awkward at the beginning, but you’ll get used to it; it’ll help me pick up nonverbals about your understanding, and I don’t think I’d love speaking into 30 empty voids. (you will mute yourself unless you are asking a question/participating in discussion at the moment).
- my dears, this is a workshop-based class and of course relies on feedback to be successful—please talk! this means in large and small groups. I will also teach you how to talk to each other about your work.
- please do your best to keep pets and distracting siblings (or even nosy parents!) away during our Meets and small group sessions. maybe I’ll let us have a pet day, but dogs and cats and hamsters are so cute I won’t be able to do my work if I can see them.
- I don’t mind if you snack—heck yes ‘smores Pop Tarts—but avoid eating or doing something messy that will make everyone stare at you, such as carving a ham or scraping the empty yogurt container for five minutes like moms do.
- we can use the chat to ask questions, but we should mostly keep it clear for academic stuff and only a few jokes and puns.
- please do not have “side chats” (like on your own via texting with friends) during our class. that’s the tech version of note passing.
- I’m
planning on meeting in small groups with you, if not one on one conferences.
our section size is really big, so please work with me on this part.
- and
be on time—late to signing in is a tardy.
Finally, I’m going to include notes about
character and empathy, because they matter to me more than anything else.
· Character includes: attitude, engagement, leadership, work ethic, intellectual curiosity, investment in classroom community, timeliness, responsibility and respect regarding electronics, and those little things like having your poem submitted before workshop. If I’m worried about you, we’ll chat.
· This is where I say dude, don’t cheat, but I cannot fathom any reason why you would when you elected to take a writing class. I guess…don’t look up poems on the internet and pretend you wrote them. What would be the actual point of that. If you’re struggling with deadlines, let me know.
· Sometimes students in this class choose to write personal poetry or nonfiction (and sometimes poems are fiction or speculative, everything is everything). If students share personal experience in their writing, it is absolutely imperative that we talk about their work respectfully. It takes guts to share personal work—whether it’s “true” or not—so practice empathy and congratulate each other for taking risks. from each other! We will learn how to listen as much and as well as we speak. We read literature because we learn about humanity, ourselves, and others, and I hope to give you the chance to see multiple perspectives in order to find your voice.
· You may not share a peer’s writing with anyone outside the class without their permission. Even if you’re like oh my God, look at this amazing story Sarah just wrote. Ask Sarah if you can share, first, and if she says no, respect that. It’s tough for me to monitor such things—normally I say you can’t talk about each other’s work in the hallway and we have a strong community to make that clear. Our community just looks a little different this time.
· I take pride in having a classroom that is a Safe Space. Always, we are a place of equality regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, national origin or citizenship status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, family history, physical appearance, disability, personal or political ideology, and religion.
Please, please see me with any questions, concerns, or needed accommodations. Synchronous learning might not be possible for all of you, and I need to make sure we have clear ways to check in, access videos, and find materials. No worries if this is you—just let me know! Never, ever be in the dark.
Cheers
to a great year ahead!
Ms. P.
p.s. your next task is to complete the survey.
p.p.s. lolol did you watch the full video about
the letters on the bus? that was a joke, but it’s always good to revisit your
alphabet.
p.p.p.s. if you hate everything about this letter
you will probably also hate me and this class.