Making Connections 2 Essays (493 words) - Writing, Free Essays

Making Connections 2 Essays (493 words) - Writing, Free Essays Kennedy Sims @02839811 March 21st, 2019 Making Connections Two Assignment After reading the multiple articles regarding writing and literacy today, it made me realize how much I actually was not taught or taught incorrectly in high school. I always wondered why it felt like I was constantly writing the same essay over and over again. This was because the outline for writing in high school was very mundane and general. Majority of the topics were never interesting, and we were always told as students to stay in a certain sentence structure or outline. One of the main articles that I strongly related to in "Visons and Cyphers" was "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamott. In her article she states how it is okay and often normal to have a "incoherent" or "hideous" first draft. She explains how most notable writers have three or even four rough drafts in order to have an interesting and effective piece of writing. I found this especially intriguing because in high school we were often told to have one rough draft and immediately after that our final draft had to be written. I believe this method may have limited the creative thinking space needed in order to mess up and fix those mistakes ourselves, or even add ideas. This is the change that I believe should be made in teaching English, or any subject, around the globe. We should drop the boxes and frames we try to put children in in order to meet societal or even our personal standards. Doing this will allow for free creative space and unique ideas that make way for more interesting writing. Another article that caught my attention in "Visions and Cyphers" was the essay by Geneva Smitherman called "English Teacher: Why You Be Doing the Thangs You Don't Do?". In this essay Smitherman discusses the criticism toward African American Vernacular in writing in the classroom. She expresses her concerns toward this by saying that students should be able to openly express how they feel through their writing. She feels sad that many African-American students have to change the way they write and often speak to be accepted into the professional world. The last article in Visions and Cyphers that I found very interesting regarding teaching methods in today's English world is "Literacy, Identity, Imagination, Flight" by Keith Gilyard. In this essay one topic that Keith discussed which I found very interesting was the example of sloppy handwriting being frowned upon if you are someone of lower status, but it is a "mark of status" if you were to be a doctor or celebrity. I believe, once again, this circles around to how things are taught in society today. These things are often carried over into the classrooms. In the long run, the switch in the mindset that everything has to be taught the same way is what is really holding students back in the classroom.