The Teacher Learns Her Lessons

Last fall, I wrote about being invited to teach a creative writing course at our local Red River College campus. On March 30, we began Level 2 and will finish before the May long weekend. One day during her daily check-in call, my mother asked me an interesting question, especially intriguing coming from someone who taught school for at least two decades. “How do you teach writing?”

Darned if I know.

My students are all adults who learned to read and write as children, from trained teachers who actually understood how to teach. They’re avid readers. They generally remember basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure from high school. So what could I bring to the table, really?

Well, it turns out that writing, like many things, is as much about motivation, inspiration, determination, and dedication as about writing. Bringing all those “nations” together has been my goal. In a last-class letter to my Level 1 students, I wrote, “I can’t make you a writer. Your Creator already did that.”

My task involves challenging them to turn on the tap to start and to keep words flowing. Providing creative exercises that push them to new ideas. Assigning an increasing number of words to write every day so they can discern their personal limits and then set their own goals in Level 2. Offering constructive feedback to help them edit their work as well as the work of their classmates. Showing how to carve out time and space, set goals, and plan a project. I’ve caught myself giggling with gleeful anticipation when I dream up a fun writing exercise. I’ve seen that same exercise go swimmingly, only to see it quickly flush itself down the drain with my next group, taking my confidence with it.

You’ve heard about teaching a man to fish and feeding him for a lifetime? In our class, the joke is, “Give someone a book and they’ll read for a day. Teach someone to write a book and they’ll spend a lifetime mired in paralyzing self-doubt.”

There’s truth in that. I’ve shared with my students the ups and downs of the writing world, the process of getting published, living with the agony of rejection, and overcoming writer’s block. We’ve discussed genre, memoir-writing, novel-plotting, character development, and more. Each lesson is truly the tip of the proverbial iceberg as there’s always more to learn.

I know this because I’m learning along with them. I sure can’t provide all the answers. But we’ve laughed a lot, cried a little, and thought some new thoughts—all elements of a good day. I’m learning that I gain more through a humble “Great question, I don’t know,” than by faking my way through a half-baked answer. Disclosing my failures goes as far as sharing my successes. Providing others a chance to share their work, to take that risk and bare their souls even a little can prove incredibly rewarding.

In his 1902 play, Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw wrote, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” This becomes the fear of every artist, that their work won’t be good enough to stand on its own merit. Teaching their craft to others is often seen as a last resort. A consolation prize. I hope to prove Shaw wrong. Maybe, by God’s grace, I can have my writing and my students, too.