I'll be honest--when I first began to read the chapter "Motivation" from Boice's How Writers Journey to Comfort and Fluency, I wasn't sure I had gotten much out of it. After all, I have written papers and gotten stuck in them knee-deep so many times before; I felt less like Boice was informing me of anything than that he was just reaffirming what I already knew about how ambivalence, waiting for "inspiration," becoming disenchanted about the process and benefits of writing, and excuse-making can be damaging to writing. At least, I thought, there are others who suffer these pangs as regularly as I do, and it's always comforting to hear a scientist mention that the problems oneself has are common to others, as well.
As I read Boice's discussion on popular methods to gain motivation, I began to notice how much he mentioned the group he was leading and the role he took on there. For the first time, I realized I was reading a text on writing, not as a writer, but as a (soon-to-be) teacher. It didn't matter that I had heard it all before, that I had faced problems with motivation or that I had myself tested various ways of getting motivated.
I headed up a Creative Writing club at my old school. Usually we played games where we constructed stories shaped around characters or plots pulled from a hat, but occasionally we brought works in to be read and workshopped by other members. Why did we do this so infrequently? Because I, as the president, found it nearly impossible to motivate my members to write for themselves on top of their course work. Creative Writing students would usually bring in things they had written in class, and students from other majors brought in old works, written during break, or else skipped meetings where they were expected to contribute. As a teacher, I'm certain it will be helpful to keep in mind Boice's advice about motivation in order to make others write. Sure, I've written myself into corners, taken a few shots of espresso, and charged right out again, but is that advice I can honestly see myself giving to a student who comes to me saying he or she is having trouble with an assignment? It would be much easier and far more helpful to work some of Boice's tactics, such as daily writing, into my own class's work, and hope that this empowers students to find the proper words when reaching for them.
As I read Boice's discussion on popular methods to gain motivation, I began to notice how much he mentioned the group he was leading and the role he took on there. For the first time, I realized I was reading a text on writing, not as a writer, but as a (soon-to-be) teacher. It didn't matter that I had heard it all before, that I had faced problems with motivation or that I had myself tested various ways of getting motivated.
I headed up a Creative Writing club at my old school. Usually we played games where we constructed stories shaped around characters or plots pulled from a hat, but occasionally we brought works in to be read and workshopped by other members. Why did we do this so infrequently? Because I, as the president, found it nearly impossible to motivate my members to write for themselves on top of their course work. Creative Writing students would usually bring in things they had written in class, and students from other majors brought in old works, written during break, or else skipped meetings where they were expected to contribute. As a teacher, I'm certain it will be helpful to keep in mind Boice's advice about motivation in order to make others write. Sure, I've written myself into corners, taken a few shots of espresso, and charged right out again, but is that advice I can honestly see myself giving to a student who comes to me saying he or she is having trouble with an assignment? It would be much easier and far more helpful to work some of Boice's tactics, such as daily writing, into my own class's work, and hope that this empowers students to find the proper words when reaching for them.
I think that Rachel brings up an excellent point here - Boice's tactics for writing are not just for us as writers, but for us to pass on to our students. I find it hard to imagine telling a doe-eyed freshman in my English 1000 class to just wait for inspiration and, when it comes, stay up all night until the paper is finished. Passing Boice's advice onto future writers is exactly what he had in mind, I think. Rachel's post made me think about this text as a tool for my future students, and not just myself.
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