Yay! Elbow's Back!

I can’t even begin to describe the joy I felt when I realized we were back to Elbow this week!

I agree with Amber in that it would be difficult to find six or seven people dedicated to improving their writing and willing to make such a commitment, but as I read this chapter, I found myself wondering about the ways that the teacherless writing class could be adapted for use in the middle or high school classroom. I think I liked this chapter so much because of the experience we recently had when we peer edited each other Literacy Narratives. Reading my own writing out loud for two of my classmates gave me the opportunity to hear what my words actually were saying. Elbow says, “When you read your writing out loud, you often see things in it that you don’t see any other way. Hearing your own words out loud gives you the vicarious experience of being someone else.” (82) I could immediately tell what worked and what didn’t in my narrative when I read it out loud; things that I would have never seen otherwise.

I also loved the page and a half of writing ideas he gives us. There is nothing so hard as trying to write when you can’t think of a topic AND you’re uninspired to boot. His ideas (pgs 80-81) are creative and thought provoking. Topics such as describing a favorite place as if you are blind or deaf and can only know it through your other senses. I know I’m going to use that idea!

Finally I like that Elbow gives us advice on reacting to another’s writing, but more importantly, he advises us on how to hear what others say about our own writing. Nothing makes me crazier than, when someone is about to read something they’ve written, they begin to make excuses or they tell me they’re not happy with it. If that is the case, then why have me read it? By making excuses for our writing we are telling the reader how to feel instead of letting them determine that for themselves. It is highly personal and often hard to hear honest responses to our writing, but as Elbow says, we really can’t improve our writing any other way.