I cannot believe our first week of SI has come to a close and that we only have one left. The thinking we have done is really pushing me, and I am pushing back in order to make meaning.
This morning, Jessie's poetry demo really got me thinking. There are some things that I've never identified with in the field of English, and poetry is one of these things. I enjoy poetry. I read it and it is beautiful. But I don't write it.
I guess part of this is that I am still uncovering pieces of my writer identity. I don't really remember writing poetry in school ever except for in the 6th grade. I won a poetry contest and that was cool. But for some reason, poetry is difficult for me. Maybe it's because it is so personal. Maybe it's because there's not necessarily a formula (although I suppose you could argue that some forms can feel like such).
As I finished up my digital project today, I realized just how interested I am in composing beyond the written word. The literacy and rhetoric of performance fascinates me. And based on my experiences, it really is something I would like to continue researching. I feel like in terms of acting, it's often talked about as "tapping into" this person/character that's already out there existing beyond yourself. However, from a rhetorical standpoint, it is clear that an actor makes choices about how to portray a specific character and how to construct their personalities, their actions, and even the way they decide those things. Performance is a way of composing as clearly as writing is.
I really enjoyed Sally's workshop on the Socratic Seminar. Sally, Aileen, Rashid and I really got into a great discussion about The Declaration of Independence. Sally gave us questions that really caused us to think, but were open-ended, inspiring discussion. It was great to see how the class atmosphere we have established enabled me to really speak my mind (such as saying that I probably wouldn't have signed the declaration if I was a person in 1776). This classroom culture is vital, and I've been reflecting on what has made our classroom successful over the past few days. I'm sure I"ll blog about that more later.
This afternoon was awesome. The E-Gallery crawl was amazing. It was fascinating to see what technologies each person had chosen to implement, but it was also very eye-opening to read each other's stories and understanding how we make meaning based on our histories as writers. I am already thinking of ways to expand and revise my Prezi.
So, thinking ahead toward my demo next week. Super excited about it. I'm waffling between two ideas before finalizing, but I am excited about both. We shall see.
I hope you get a chance to share your work here, too. I'd be interested in seeing what you are up to.
ReplyDeleteKevin
I am noticing a bit of a theme in your blogs, particularly when it comes to things that shock you about your writing identity and the things you believe(d) about writing: how personal writing is. I see it in your little self's desire to keep the "writing" she did sealed off in her private space. I see it in the way you talked about your honesty in Mustnotshouldbewriter. And I see it again in your admitting that poetry may be difficult because it's personal. I wonder if you are more comfortable with academic writing because it is often seen as impersonal, objective and partly removed from the writer. (I am thinking a bit about the conversation we all had yesterday about how the word "creative" is usually not associated with school writing.) I don't really have a point here... just some observations.
ReplyDeleteI love love this idea of considering acting as a form of literacy! I did theater until my first year of college but I never made that connection until hearing you this week :)
ReplyDeleteCarrie--this is my third attempt at trying to respond to your post. My first response was awesome--but I lost it in a infinite regress to google log-in. My second was almost as good, but lost in the same way. So now I'm writing to you to say that this doesn't work, I'm emailing you. Here is what I want to say about your blog. I'm thrilled that you are interested in the intersection of writing and performance. I am too, and I need you as a thinking partner to explore the complexity. I wonder,too, about why poetry feels "personal" and academic writing feels like something else. Poetry can be just as prescriptive as a badly taught academic essay, but still feel personal. Yet even the free floating academic essay feels to many as alienating--non-personal. So how can we reclaim the performative and the creative for the essay?
ReplyDelete