Our topic this go-round is how teaching and mentoring affects our own writing. For the past few years, I've been teaching Children's Writing for Gotham Writer's Workshop. The courses are all online, with lectures, discussions, and assignments, as well as a Booth, where students post work and everyone comments. Though I'm the teacher, I find myself learning so much from the students and what they have to say. And suggesting things for them to do in their own writing really causes me to evaluate those same things in my own writing. It makes me more aware of what I need to focus on in my own work.
I'm always learning more about writing. With each novel I write, I learn more and more about the process, as I hopefully get better at it. Honestly, to me, writing isn't like other subjects. I used to teach high school social studies and that is a subject where you can know all the answers. In subjects like history or economics or psychology, either something is a fact or it isn't. Writing isn't so black and white. I feel I will never know all the answers, and teaching is one way to keep learning...
4 comments:
Stephanie,
You are so right--teaching is a wonderful way to keep learning!
Stephanie,
The visual arts and writing have a lot in common when it comes to "not knowing all the answers". It is a journey together with one's students or as a student with a teacher. Thank you for your post!
Great point about how writing (or any artistic endeavor, for that matter)has no "right" or "wrong" or "facts." As one who bores easily, this never-ending learning aspect of creativity is what keeps me engaged!
I agree that students have much to teach. I have not taught writing, but in my writing classes I learn from other students during workshops.
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