Everything Old...

As I prepare myself to make the transition from teacher to student for the last time in the foreseeable future, I consider how different my outlook on my final course will be in light of my recent teaching experiences. The course I am taking (as some of you know) is WRITE 298, the Intro. to Creative Nonfiction. The subject matter of this course holds a great deal of potential for me, not as a student but as a teacher; in recent years, Alberta Education has put an increasingly strong focus on personal responses to texts, to the point that I have found myself struggling as a teacher. I greatly look forward to having a collegiate relationship with my instructor, as well as a teacher/student one; I relish the thought of learning, not only how to write, but how to teach writing to others. The craft of writing, as I learned during the course of my practicum, is currently in a bewildering state of paradox; many of my students struggled with stylistic elements, grammar, and puctuation; and yet (perhaps becuase of the newfound focus on personal writing) many of their pieces moved me nigh to tears. Often during the past two months, the hour of midnight has found me hunched over the kitchen table, coffee cup in hand, laughing aloud or wincing in pain as I experienced the joys and tribulations that my students shared with me. I am passionate about good writing, but have only the barest glimmer of how to accomplish it, much less teach it; and so, I approach this final course with great anticipation.

{On that note, though, I will likely be posting my assignments up here after handing them in, and would dearly love feedback for them!)