What I've learned in Creative Writing.

[icarus]

I would be a much better creative writing teacher than my professor. God, I just have my head in my hands watching him.

I'm learning a lot in his class. I've learned nothing about writing, but a great deal on how to teach (and how not to).

First, the attitude towards the students. Yes, yes, beginning stories suck. But when we try something new we're always terrible at it. I'm a decent writer now and my friends laugh at my original Lord of the Rings fics. Everyone goes through phases where their writing sucks royale. When you first rode a bike, how did you do? You fell off, of course!

People need to learn how to fail. We need to be comfortable with falling flat on our faces as adults, so we can continue growing and learning. Writing automatically takes you out of your safe zone and students can sense if your attitude is negative.

Second, professionalism. You can be friendly with students in the same polite way you're friendly with business clients: there are certain subjects that are off-limits. You don't discuss your faults. You don't discuss how "wow, we did badly on your company's project, heh, heh." You don't slam other clients -- i.e., other students. You remain pleasant and recall that you're representing your profession even when off the clock.

Third, feedback. It's good to be able to say "I don't know," but you don't leave it there. A good teacher says, "Let me think about that" and revisits a question they don't know the answer to. It's a sign they care about the subject.

Creative writing feedback is aimed at mining the gold out of a story. Since the source of the story is the student, the focus needs to be on open-ended questions. You need to be honest, but since 90% of beginning students are unsure of themselves, most of the feedback has to be focused on the positive, developing the students' skills as they are.

The goal isn't great stories. The goal is improved writers. There's a difference.

Fourth, flexibility vs. toughness. How do you deal with a student's irresponsibility? That's a tough one. I think the student's learning comes first but leeway for lateness et al should be doled out with a moment's pause, a sigh, and then, "Okay, I'll do it this time. But please be on time for the next." One quarter isn't long enough for the student to figure out you always say yes. ;)

Though it depends on the subject. Creative writing I'd give more leeway. History, I might bump the grade down .5 points for every day an assignment's late.

The most important aspect of discipline is to lay the rules out in advance and follow them. The person who gets any leeway is the student, not you. Don't break your own rules. If you've said that mid-terms are going to be graded, don't change your mind and say, "I've decided not to give grades for the mid-terms." (Oh yes, my creative writing teacher did just that.) You also don't start out soft and then later come down hard.

If you need to be late on something, be honest. The teachers I respect most have been honest with me: "I'm still grading those papers, but I'll get them done as soon as possible."

Build into due dates extra time for students to be late. It's a reality that someone's going to be late, so make your life easy. It's like my old babysitting job: I set the kids' bedtime for 8:30, with the full intention of actually sending them to bed at 9. At 8:10 and 8:15 I gave them warning that it's time to get ready for bed. They complained and begged and pleaded, and I (grudgingly) moved the deadline to 9. I do this at the office, too.

Fifth, preparation. This is where I probably would struggle myself. But never try something new without a good game plan. If I'm short on time to prepare, it's time to bring out the lesson plans that have worked in the past. (Yes, my creative writing professor tried something new when he was running behind. Midway through the quarter he threw in mis-matched materials that had nothing to do with what he taught earlier.)

The teachers that have impressed me most have had Powerpoint presentations with photos, art, diagrams and maps to back themselves up. The Powerpoint presentation with just bullet points might as well not be used.

Workshops should have a hand-out that describes what points a student should cover in workshopping stories, so the conversation doesn't go in circles or focus on "I like, I don't like."

Writing exercises should be 50% in-class exercises, 50% take-home exercises. Some students need the spark of in-class writing. Others don't do well with it. I would require a writing journal, absolutely, and require 10 photocopied pages from it for the final portfolio (counted towards class participation). I would have a few minutes of journal time in the first few weeks of class, just to give people a sense of it. I'll keep copies of the in-class writing exercises partially to check handwriting on those journals. ;)

Sixth, grading. If I've been consistent and reliable, the students should feel that I'm going to be a fair grader. I think giving a quiz early, or some other form of graded work early in the first 2-3 weeks should give the students a feel for how I grade so they can adjust their efforts accordingly.

I think that a creative writing class should largely be based on a final portfolio of writing, but students should be collecting check-marks for assignments handed in.

I think a mid-quarter quiz on aspects of lecture and readings is important so that students who aren't talented writers can earn points for their hard work.

I would want all final stories to be handed in with a copy of the first draft and attached with all the feedback sheets. Students who didn't edit, who ignored all the feedback, would be dinged for that.

Oh. wildernessguru wants a shot at the computer, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Comments

[ngaio]

And are you copy and pasting this into a letter to your college to point out why the man needs to have his teaching looked at?

It sucks that you're going through this, 'cause you could have got so much out of a decently run course.

Which is better the easy-but-useless of this or the omg-brain-strain! of the Sanskrit?!

[amalthia]

i'm convinced you'd be a good teacher. :)

[leftsockarchive.livejournal.com]

Great analysis--you should definitely share it with the school and this professor. You're so astute and observant about so many things, and your entries are always a pleasure to read.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

you should definitely share it with the school and this professor

He's not very amenable to advice. In fact, when he decided (arbitrarily, at the last minute) not to grade our first stories, I suggested that he give students in their conferences an idea of where they stood. Otherwise, if they're suprised, they're more likely to challenge their grades. Also, he was leaving a lot of grading for the end of the quarter. (In the same email I mentioned an assignment I turned in was still sitting in his box.)

His reply:

"Which box? The one upstairs or in the CW office? I checked both of them recently. Didn't I tell you you didn't need to turn it in anyway?"

Oh, he's not defensive or anything. And since we were being graded on those assignments not turning it in seems like a bad idea.

"Anyway, about the grading thing, I don't think it'll be as big of an issue as you would imagine. In 131, teachers were not allowed to give grades before the end of the quarter and it seemed to have work out okay."

The difference between this class and 131 is that in 131 that was the game plan from the start. Students were told the first day they wouldn't receive grades until the end of the quarter. In this class, he changed his tune mid-stream so students were expecting grades and were disappointed.

"Most of the writing workshops I've been in did not have grades either."

Again, announcing on the day the grades were due "I've decided not to grade your stories and here's why..." is a far cry from having planned it in the first place.

"Yes, I was worried about not giving grades, but hopefully thorough criticism is better."

Actually, I would expect both. I received his critique. It was not thorough. I'm under the impression that he just ran out of time for grading, or didn't have the courage to grade, one or the other.

"Plus, quantitative evidence has shown that people don't return to work when they get a grade."

Which begs the question why he didn't set the class up this way in the first place.

"Most of my peers are doing the same "portfolio" style grading, so it shouldn't be an issue."

Obviously, it is an issue if I'm mentioning it. I fully intend to challenge my grades if I'm surprised by them.

"This will be my fifteenth college course that I've taught and I know pretty well what my time limits are for grading at the end of the quarter."

More defensiveness. Fifteenth college course? That's... why, that's two years of experience, all of it as a T.A.

"I've had students challenge grades before, and it's not the end of the world."

Funny, I'm not surprised by that. And he's only taught 15 classes (as a T.A. leading discussion groups).

"Anyway, thanks for your concern, but I'm okay with how things are going so far."

He's okay with how things are going?

He has no clue. Three students have decided not to apply to the creative writing program based on how bad this class is. I just ran into somebody who's in the class who feels the same way I do, quote, "I've learned nothing in this class." She also is already typing up her professor review and is going to bring in a printed sheet. I've only spoken to four students, and this is bad, this is very bad.

Icarus

[theemdash]

I would want all final stories to be handed in with a copy of the first draft and attached with all the feedback sheets. Students who didn't edit, who ignored all the feedback, would be dinged for that.

I'm not sure how your class is being handled for feedback, but I'm seeing a paper nightmare at this (our feedback was always written on the manuscript). Our final portfolio (which usually consisted of 1 or 2 pieces we workshopped in the class) had to be handed in with the first draft the professor read. We also usually had to turn in a statement of "how I revised the piece." I always liked writing that because I could give credit to other successful students for giving me a good idea or leading me in the right direction.

Overall, I love the sound of your class. When can I sign up? (I miss school.)

[ethlinda.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

[blackletter]

1. Yes. I figure, if the students already knew the subject, and were brilliant at it, they wouldn't be taking the class. They're there to learn; that means that they'll presumably be at least somewhat ignorant. And that's OK. (On the other hand, if a student does poorly because they've been skipping class, ignoring homework assignments, and just generally not trying, then I have no mercy.)

2. You remain pleasant and recall that you're representing your profession even when off the clock.

That part of it terrifies me, actually. Right now I'm TAing for two giant lecture classes in Greek Myth, and I've already had at least three students recognize me off campus. (Who knows how many recognize me but don't say anything? I certainly wouldn't be able to recognize them--I've got 750 of them this semester.) It's daunting to think that I have to act like a professional *all the time* on the off chance that a student might be watching.


3. I learned very quickly the art of dithering when a student asks a question I don't know the answer to. ("That's an excellent question. It's not really my area of expertise, but I'll look into it and get back to you...") It's a skill that I'm told will really came in handy when I present more at academic conferences and get cross-examined by established scholars. ("That's an excellent question. It goes a bit beyond the scope of my current research, but I'll keep it in mind for future work.")

4. This is a tough issue. On the one hand, shit happens. And it's cruel to students when shit happens to them and the teacher won't give them any slack. On the other hand, I've TAed for profs who pretty much let students turn in late work at *any* time, so we (the TAs) got buried in late papers at the end of the semester just when we're trying to get our own essays written. And it sucked. So my general take is that I'll be accommodating when it's reasonable to do so, but I'll not bend over backwards or rearrange my schedule to give a student a make-up exam because they "forgot" to come to class the day of the midterm. (This has happened.)

5. I'll keep copies of the in-class writing exercises partially to check handwriting on those journals. ;)

But...some of us don't write by hand! Really. I'd keep a journal, but I'd type it. I write *very* non-linearly. As in, I will start a sentence, wander off and write a relative clause in the middle of the sentence, go back to the beginning of the sentence and finish *that* clause, and then write my final clause. I suppose that if required, I would write by hand, but between the non-linear writing, a bit of dyslexia, and the unfortunate habit of accidentally leaving out words (or phrases) I could guarantee that it wouldn't be pretty.

6. Yes. I pretty much assume that the first quiz is a practice quiz so that the students know what they're getting into. And I try to give it early on so that a student can still drop the course if they feel they need to. (This came up in Latin more than Mythology...)

Creative Writing always seemed like it would be an amazingly difficult sort of class to teach. I suppose one could grade primarily on objective definitions of good writing (grammar and style and such) but then it's really just an English Comp class. But the "creative" part of it seems like such a matter of personal taste. I know what *I* think is good writing. But so much of my tastes are a matter of culture and upbringing and education and era--not to mention my plain ol' sense of personal aesthetics--that I wouldn't know where to begin to go about assessing one thing as "good" creative writing and another as "bad" (given that all the basics of English composition are satisfied). It seems like for every creative writing "rule" there's some Great Author who flagrantly breaks it.

(One of my bestest friends is a Creative Writing MA student and TA with ambitions to become a prof someday. I always marvel a bit over what she does.)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

2. You remain pleasant and recall that you're representing your profession even when off the clock.

That part of it terrifies me, actually.

Let's put this in context. My professor (a T.A.) has confided in me that he wasn't prepared for this class (time snuck up on him), has said to me of other students, "they were probably getting high over the weekend," and once when I was late with an assignment said (in front of other students) "and you wanted to do NaNoWriMo...." in a fairly nasty sarcastic tone.

Likewise, if you run into a client on your off hours, you avoid being rude to them and generally saying offensive things about other people. It's fairly simple. If you run into your client or student at your local S&M event then all bets are off (sort of like running into them at a gay bar). I'm not asserting anything other than basic human decency and common sense.

5. I'll keep copies of the in-class writing exercises partially to check handwriting on those journals. ;)

But...some of us don't write by hand! Really. I'd keep a journal, but I'd type it.

Not an important issue, really.

6. Yes. I pretty much assume that the first quiz is a practice quiz so that the students know what they're getting into. And I try to give it early on so that a student can still drop the course if they feel they need to. (This came up in Latin more than Mythology...)

Creative Writing always seemed like it would be an amazingly difficult sort of class to teach. I suppose one could grade primarily on objective definitions of good writing (grammar and style and such) but then it's really just an English Comp class.

Not so difficult. You grade according to theme, plot, characterization, etc., taking each element and rating them on a scale of say 1-10. It's harder than literature but not a matter of pure arbitrary judgement, no.

Unlike my professor, however, I would teach theme, plot, characterization, and so forth before grading on them. This idiot taught writing cinematically and then graded people on things he'd never fucking even mentioned.

What an asshole.

Icarus

[enname.livejournal.com]

In other words, it is the basics of teaching. Good lord we were told all this in our week long induction for tutoring. Repeatedly. Then the department told us. Then the questionaires handed out for feedback at the end covered all of this. It is also known as common sense in a lot of circles. I'm sorry but... wow the man is kinda and idiot.

Glad to see you learnt something though.

[gyutto.livejournal.com]

It's evident that you've thought about this a lot, and I think he really needs to be the one reading this. However, I did note your saying that he doesn't like advice, so I say go one step further and send it to his department head. Whether signed or anonymous, someone would notice the time and effort you put into that. My university had an teacher review form that we had to fill out at the end of semester in every class, the results of which are posted online. After taking classes with awful professors that were misleadingly rated "good", I began to take the review process much more seriously, and giving them more thoroughly critical reviews in the hope that they would shape up or ship out.

also, you say that comments should be 90% on the positive for new writers. How new are these writers in your class? I think that the balance of praise and criticism that is most effective really varies by student. At my univ. we had a lot of kids coming out of high schools where they had been top of their class, and needed to have the wind taken out of their sails a bit (gently, of course)because they weren't as knowledgeable about writing as they thought they were. I was one of them, and it was the best thing my prof. ever did for me. Of course, she also took a lot of extra time to meet with students, explain her criticisms, and help them move forward. I don't know how much it would of helped those of us with residual adolescent writing ego to have 90% praise. but that's just my two cents on pedagogy for the day.

and now i'm going off to ask for an extension on a paper, cuz I so overslept this morning :)

[flamesof-ice.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, this is kind of scary...I'm taking a creative fiction writing class next semester :X I hope my professor knows what he's doing. (And, since I haven't introduced myself before, I'm just a fan of your HP fics who friended your LJ and was searching through my flist :) )

[harveywallbang.livejournal.com]

don't you hate it when you can do it way better than the person in charge, but can't do anything about that? *sigh*
you'd be a good creative writing teacher. wanna come to my college and teach?