OWP Surprises

By

Michael English

Not being an English teacher and being assigned the responsibility of providing Basic English courses for all the lower level kids at Elmira High was, to say the least, a challenging opportunity last year. I vowed to do a much better this coming year. I also needed to get a couple of more Professional Development Points in order to re-license. This was my mind set for getting into the Oregon Writing Project. "What a deal I thought to myself, nine graduate credits and hopefully some great ideas on how to teach writing; all for only three hundred bucks." What I got for my three hundred dollars was much more than I ever expected. I got surprised.

My first surprise was the realization that I hadn’t done any other than mode of writing than expository writing since my freshman year in college. After Writing 122, all my writing had been in the form of papers on this particular subject or that. Even after college, the majority of my writing, other than grocery lists and thank you cards, had been in response to some need such as a grant or program proposal. It was quite novel to find myself writing a narrative piece about something that happened a long time ago. The experience was liberating and enjoyable. Liberating because I wasn’t dealing with facts, the words could from my mind’s eye and I could use my own voice rather than that of a dispassionate objective expert. Enjoyable because finding the writing skills I had developed, could be utilized in new and refreshing genre. I was finding that it was fun to write. I never thought I’d ever think that.

I never thought I’d be experiencing again what I imagine most high school students experience when they are called upon to participate in class. This was another surprise. The difference was, although I was experiencing the same nervousness and fear of exposure; I was enjoying it. I was appreciating the experience because it reminded me of what my students experience and reminded me to be more sensitive and careful with them.

Another surprise for me was the realization that the participants not just the "Experts" were incredible resources. I found myself being fascinated and intrigued as I watched a kindergarten or second grade lesson being presented and knowing that I could adapt it to my high school classroom. I found some of the ways my fellow teachers found to motivate students to write to be not only extremely creative but effective as well. I sometimes had a negative visceral reaction to some of the lessons, but as I participated, I began to understand how engaging and fun the task could be. These teachers demonstrated how writing could be made to be fun and interesting.

I was also amazed and surprised by the modeling of the "Expert" presenters. Ingrid and Bill not only presented the theory behind their work but demonstrated it as well. I was particularly taken with the ways both provided such positive and genuine reinforcement and the grace with which it was delivered. I can only hope to be able to approximate them.

My final surprise has been to find myself really motivated to spend a lot of time before school start developing lesson plans which I hope will motivate students write and make Basic English at Elmira High School a lot more fun.