Occasional Paper

Five weeks ago I sat down at a potter's wheel for the first time, preparing to throw a bowl. My first task was to center the clay on the wheel. This isn't a simple matter of slamming the clay onto the bat (the spinning disc that sits on the wheel)--that isn't sufficient. After doing that, you have to rinse the clay thoroughly to make it more maneuverable, turn the wheel on high, and with steady hands move the clay to the center. There are a couple of techniques to help, but someone with a lot of practice can center the clay in a few moments using the steadiness that they have developed.

With the clay in the center, you need a shape in mind. The instructor demonstrated many ways to achieve different shapes, but watching him only gave me a vague idea of what should be done. By trying it out for myself, getting the feel for it, and seeing the result, only then did I really understand how to shape the clay.

When I had made the bowl I wanted, the clay had to dry for several days. After this, it became what they call “leather-hard” and I was able to remove imperfections and make minor shape changes as necessary. After a few more stages of refinement, the bowl would be finished. What a sense of achievement, to have made something beautiful and useful with my own hands!

Considering this achievement, the pottery process reminded me of the craft of writing. Focus is the first step, and having a goal in mind for what you want to communicate. Imagining the shape, or the structure of writing is made possible through reading, which shows examples of communicating ideas. Similarly, it would be difficult to make a pot if you had never seen one. To help achieve the desired form of writing, a teacher can give you techniques. However, the most effective way to develop good writing skills is to do the writing yourself, just as understanding how to shape the clay required me to use my own hands. Then, for a truly polished piece of writing I find it essential to leave the work, to “sleep on it” for a while before returning and removing imperfections. And finally, the end result is very similar—a beautiful and useful work produced through one's own hard labor and dedication. My question is, can I guide my students through these steps and help them find real satisfaction in their writing?

Language as a Window to the World

Some of the best moments in language learning happen through discovery of a strange idiom or etymology. Last year I came across a strange Japanese word: 矛盾 (mujyun). The two characters that make up the word are spear (矛) and shield (盾). Naturally, I thought this must refer to some kind of fighting or warrior, but to make sure I looked it up. The meaning was completely different! So I checked the etymological dictionary. According to this Japanese etymology website, the word originated from a street vendor who sold spears and shields. The vendor would walk up and down the street yelling, “this spear is so sharp that it can pierce any shield” but then also yelling “this shield is so hard that no spear can pierce it.” And thus putting the two together as a word came to mean “contradiction.”

In searching for ways to practice listening to Japanese, I discovered a podcast in which a Japanese researcher of fairy tales recounts a story every week. These stories can be fairy tales or folk tales, with a fairly even balance between European and Japanese origins. The Japanese ones are always quite foreign to me and always introduce me to new aspects of the culture.

By exposing students to other cultures, they will be more understanding of other people and times. In my classes literature and language produce a plethora of ways to introduce different cultures to the students, whether through participating in a tradition like “poisson d'avril” (April fool's day for the French) or researching places relevant to the topics of study. For me both of these experiences introduced a unique sensation of wonder into my life, a sensation which may be the primary drive in my own learning experiences. And hopefully my students too will experience this sensation of wonder.

Attached is a podcast about three boys who loved water candy. I had no knowledge of water candy (mizuame) until I heard this.

http://fmfukuoka.co.jp/mukashi/podcast/20091030_mukashi.mp3

French Frustration

“Pardon?” I said to the subway attendant for the third time already in our conversation. She was clearly annoyed, and repeated the instructions again. After my first month in France it was clear that my language abilities were not up to par. As a French major, I had made all As in my language courses, yet my struggle to communicate showed that this classroom learning was not sufficient. So I began immersing myself in French. In my tiny student's room, I spent hours listening to a French recording of Crime and Punishment (my favorite novel) while following along with a book. When I heard a word I didn't know, I waited until the end of the sentence to see if I could understand it. If not, I paused the recording, looked it up on the internet, and made a flashcard. Five months after starting this regime, I was able to carry on a slow but steady conversation in French. My success led me to study other languages in a similar fashion, and I've since read novels in two other foreign languages.

This experience really drove home to me the importance of motivation in learning. My classroom learning was certainly valuable and provided me with a solid foundation for the language. But my real achievements and satisfaction in the knowledge I had gained only came when I had the motivation to strengthen and use them. Finding students' motivations and channeling them into what they learn, therefore, is a key part of my approach to teaching.

Attached is the first chapter of the French recording of Crime and Punishment which I mentioned: http://sd-36232.dedibox.fr/Dostoievski_-_Crime_et_chatiment_Chap01.mp3

The Deadly Paper

In December 2008, I was a junior in college, and I had my life figured out—I was going to be a professor of English. With ease I had attained the highest grade in the reputed most difficult English class in the school. Recently I had been inducted into the literary honors society with a paper acclaimed as “brilliant” by the student monarch of the the English department, and seemed to be in line to be his successor. I had presented at a conference and one of the keynote speakers had praised my paper, saying that it had helped him understand the work better than ever.

Five months later, I hated literature. My semester had been mostly spent on a 40-page paper dedicated to the mystical context of the Faerie Queene.

It still makes me shudder

Every spare moment was spent on it and several all-nighters, but the final product was a hodgepodge of obscure quotations scantily clad with misfitting transitions, all stumbling into a baffling conclusion. I got a B+. The professors who were supposed to be guiding me were unable to discuss it, which I can only suppose is the reason for the high grade. So I wondered—is this all literature is? Discussing questions that no one cares about in ways that no one understands? So it seemed to me. After this experience I stopped taking extra literature classes and even stopped pleasure reading for a year. My unsuccessful application to graduate schools was half-hearted and more for the sake of reputation than out of real desire.

People often see the study of literature as an esoteric discipline of “find the magic symbol”, or worse, as a hoax in which the over-educated pontificate and extrapolate on abstractions. Through this experience, I understand their viewpoint. As a teacher of literature, it will be my constant struggle to fight against this mindset. I must show my students that literature concerns their lives, it speaks to their difficulties, and it shows them new ways to understand the world.

Peer Influence

At the beginning of fifth grade I decided that I needed a new best friend, since my old ones had moved away. I invited a boy named Jordan over and we went for a hike together through my neighborhood with my mom and brother. We became lost and walked a lot further than anticipated. All through the long trek Jordan and I were contentedly discussing good books and writing stories. Through this experience and our shared passion for reading and writing, we became fast friends.

It was partially due to this friendship that in high school I began to branch out in my reading, encountering great literature for the sake of being able to discuss it with him and other friends. This in turn led me to become an English major (and I believe our continued enthusiasm for writing inspired him to study Creative Writing). After college we formed a writing group with the aim of encouraging and inspiring creative writing, a group which exists to this day.

Jordan and other friends have supplied me with a source of motivation for the pursuit of activities in literacy. Peer influence plays a major role in the lives of students, and is a force I wish to harness in my teaching. Through collaborative projects and group discussion, I hope that my students will be influenced for the better by their peers.

(And not like this!)

Squiggles and Loops

I've enjoyed writing for a long time, but my earliest memory of writing is from first grade. I had a cool teacher with frizzy red hair named Ms. Lindley. From her reading James and the Giant Peach to the class, I first became excited about reading. However, my most vivid memory of her class is from a day we were supposed to write in journals. Writing was boring, I thought. We did it all the time. So this time I decided to pretend I was writing in another language. With random squiggles and loops, I began to fill up the page with my invented writing while imagining the meaning of these bizarre words. Then Ms. Lindley walked by and peered over my shoulder.

“What are you writing, Josh?”

“I'm writing in another language, Ms. Lindley.”

“Oh? And what does it say?”

I recounted some trivial events from the day before to her.

“Well, okay then.” And she walked on.

(Maybe if I had saved this journal I could have turned out like this guy)

Another teacher might have reprimanded me and forced me to conform to what seemed boring, ordinary writing. Consequentially, this might have instilled in me a dislike for writing. By giving me an opportunity to express myself in my own way, Ms. Lindley allowed me to think of writing as a creative act with multiple approaches. In teaching, I strive to keep in mind that there are unorthodox approaches to assignments, writing and otherwise, and considering these on their own merits may give me a chance to better encourage learning.