An Opportunity to Teach, in Review

Last evening I submitted final grades on behalf of the seven writing students I had the pleasure of working with in Intermediate Fiction at Grace College this Fall. On August 25^th I wrote six “guiding principles” I wanted them to take away from the class’ways I hoped they would come to think about their creative work.

As I look back over these past weeks we were successful in discussing these, often hitting on them multiple times. We were also able to form a creative community and workshop their writing——a diverse mix of realism, fantasy, thriller, young adult, and children’s literature.

In that August post I also said I’d remember what I learned from them. The first step in remembering is to record, so here are a few of my take-aways.

• There are many books I need to read in order to diversify my perspective on the craft and be tuned into what is influencing these students. I am severely under-read in fantasy and young adult fiction.
• Confidence is an essential element. Youth often appears to be over-confident (whether in writing or life); however, it is this trait that allows them to dive headlong into a life and a world that might otherwise frighten them into inaction.
• Grading creative work is a skill unto itself. A skill which, to the benefit of these seven students, is one I’m only beginning to acquire. I imagine a balance of objective measure and creative playground that could somehow be codified and reflected in percentages. I fear this will be not  unlike the imagined aesthetic I have for my own creative work——one for which I’ll strive and more closely fail to meet at each outing.

But above all such musings, I’ll remember each of these young writers——AS, RM, HK, BW, MB, JS, and RH. And I’ll be here should they reach out. This was only the start of the support I hope to offer them.