Good morning!
I haven't had the opportunity to read the Chapter assigned for today (yet!) therefore I am going to describe and reflect on a formative writing experience that has shaped my beliefs about writing and/or teaching (with) writing.
I attended my undergraduate studies in Osasco, Sao Paulo - Brazil at what could be compared to a community college in USA culture. I was working as a sales person during the day and attending school during night time (7pm to 11pm) everyday plus all day on Saturdays. It was an extreme situation: everyday I would get to class tired and completely drained, but it was the only opportunity I had to continue my education therefore I continued coming to class on a regular basis. After my first semester, I was about to drop out of school when a senior student asked if I had taken classes with Professor Marlei already. I told him that I had only taken the required courses on my first semester and Marlei's class was a requirement for the second semester. He then proceeded to tell me to take her class before dropping out of school, and I am forever grateful to him because her class changed my life. Her class time slot was on Saturdays from 8am to 10am (don't forget that I was at school until 11pm the night before with a two hours commute home). I was always extremely tired on Saturday mornings and the classes on Saturday were one of the main reasons why I was about to give up. Her class, however, was from day one completely different and engaging. On our first class, she asked every single one of us (we were about 60 students) about our writing experience and our reading interests. After this warm up, she asked us to put a sheet of paper in front of us and a pen, and to follow her directions. She started something that would look like a guided meditation, but at that time, I had no idea what she was doing. It was completely new. As she was guiding us, she would ask us "to go" to specific places (you are seeing a bridge - who is at the bridge with you? - what are you feeling as you cross that bridge? - what are your surrounds like?). After this warm up, she would ask us to write freely about our experience. Every single class with her during the first part of the semester was like that. After just few weeks, I had many pieces of writing that had started in her class. On the second part of the semester, we proceeded to learned how to review our writing, how to improve it and how to extract ideas from it for new writings. This class has shaped my beliefs about writing because it has taught me that I can write and it has also taught me that I can help others believe that they are also able to write (which I have done for a long time as a middle and high school teacher).
I haven't had the opportunity to read the Chapter assigned for today (yet!) therefore I am going to describe and reflect on a formative writing experience that has shaped my beliefs about writing and/or teaching (with) writing.
I attended my undergraduate studies in Osasco, Sao Paulo - Brazil at what could be compared to a community college in USA culture. I was working as a sales person during the day and attending school during night time (7pm to 11pm) everyday plus all day on Saturdays. It was an extreme situation: everyday I would get to class tired and completely drained, but it was the only opportunity I had to continue my education therefore I continued coming to class on a regular basis. After my first semester, I was about to drop out of school when a senior student asked if I had taken classes with Professor Marlei already. I told him that I had only taken the required courses on my first semester and Marlei's class was a requirement for the second semester. He then proceeded to tell me to take her class before dropping out of school, and I am forever grateful to him because her class changed my life. Her class time slot was on Saturdays from 8am to 10am (don't forget that I was at school until 11pm the night before with a two hours commute home). I was always extremely tired on Saturday mornings and the classes on Saturday were one of the main reasons why I was about to give up. Her class, however, was from day one completely different and engaging. On our first class, she asked every single one of us (we were about 60 students) about our writing experience and our reading interests. After this warm up, she asked us to put a sheet of paper in front of us and a pen, and to follow her directions. She started something that would look like a guided meditation, but at that time, I had no idea what she was doing. It was completely new. As she was guiding us, she would ask us "to go" to specific places (you are seeing a bridge - who is at the bridge with you? - what are you feeling as you cross that bridge? - what are your surrounds like?). After this warm up, she would ask us to write freely about our experience. Every single class with her during the first part of the semester was like that. After just few weeks, I had many pieces of writing that had started in her class. On the second part of the semester, we proceeded to learned how to review our writing, how to improve it and how to extract ideas from it for new writings. This class has shaped my beliefs about writing because it has taught me that I can write and it has also taught me that I can help others believe that they are also able to write (which I have done for a long time as a middle and high school teacher).
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