Cross Cultural Reading Part III: Independent Writing Assignment

When I began this course, I knew that I really wanted to explore my student's writing.  I had them for Oral English the year before, and in the very limited writing that that course allowed for, I knew that I had some very expressive and creative minds; I wanted to give some of my more quiet students a chance to explore their English writing, and I wanted to get to know my students better through their writing.  I have previously discussed my use of journals in this course in a previous blog, but I wanted to provide an opportunity in the class for creative writing. 

(For details on the journals, see here: http://travelingedukator.blogspot.com/2013/04/cross-cultural-reading-part-ii-journals.html)

What originally interested me in their creative writing was actually in their performance during the Oral English class the previous semester.  We'd asked them to re-write one act of Romeo and Juliet in a different genre (either action, horror, or science fiction).  They did such a wonderful and creative job with these scripts, I wanted to see what would happen if they were given the opportunity to write creatively in a course designed around writing. 

The first two short stories that I had my students read were Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl and Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway.  If you you have not read either of these stories, a simple Google search will provide you with websites where you can read the full text.  My students really enjoyed the surprise ending of the first story, and the struggle to figure out the topic of discussion between the two main characters in the second story.   After amply discussing both of these short stories in class and exploring some of their themes through journal and group work, I decided to make their first independent writing assignment based on these books.  Below is a copy of the assignment I gave them; we discussed the requirements in detail before ending our class that day. I gave them two weeks to complete the assignment, and we did not really discuss this assignment or the two texts after the assignment was distributed; I asked each class if they had questions, but they never really had any questions...

This lack of questions really started to ratchet up my anxiety over this assignment.  Was it because they really were completely fine with the assignment-- 100% understood what I was asking of them?  Was it because they were too shy or nervous to ask about it?  And why were they nervous, we had been working with the building trust for over a year now?! Or was it so confusing that they just had no idea where to even begin asking for clarification?  Or did they completely misunderstand the assignment and were currently writing who-knows-what?!?! Being a beginning teacher is fraught with such second guessing and self doubt as the aforementioned thoughts that plagued me for the next two weeks. 

As it turns out, I had very little to worry about. I received emails from a few of them about a week before the deadline, asking me to read through their papers, and the ones who emailed me seemed to understand the assignment completely.  They came into class, each of them with these neatly stapled packets of paper, which they promptly took out of their folders and books and laid on their desks.  Instead of discussing their journals this week, I had them discuss their stories, and pass their stories around.  We spent an hour reading and appreciating each other's work.  I joined in with several groups, bringing my own creation with me (never ask your students to do something you haven't done--so I wrote a story too) and we read and gave feedback (written and verbal) on each other's work.  Before we dismissed class that week, I asked them if any of them had any trouble or if they had any overall comments.  Many of them talked about how much they enjoyed the project, and many of them commented on how much longer their stories wound up being that what they had anticipated.  

An excerpt of student writing of Option 2, adapted from Lamb to the Slaughter.

After hearing snippets of their stories and only reading a few completely through during class and via email, I was itching to get them home to read them; I don't think I have ever been more excited to grade something in my life.  Again, I was not disappointed.  The majority of the students chose to write about Option 2 (myself included) and either chose Patrick from Lamb to the Slaughter or the man from Hills Like White Elephants.  A few of them chose to give Jig (the female character from Hills) an inner monologue and therefore give more depth to her character.  The second most popular option was Option 3, and it was split between continuing the story in Hills and talking about what happened to Mary after the end of Lamb. Only one student chose to interview one of the characters. 

An excerpt from a student' writing, adapted from Hills Like White Elephants, also Option 2. 

There were only a handful of students, perhaps 4 out of the 25 students in the class, who needed to make some additions and corrections to their stories.  Most needed to add more detail.  For example, the girl who chose to give the inner thoughts of one of the characters was only giving 1-2 word thoughts at a time, so I asked her to elaborate.  Another girl was simply not focused enough; she had too many directions to take her story in, resulting in a somewhat chaotic narrative. I was extremely pleased with the level of creativity of my students and with the quality of their writing. I did some grammar/syntax corrections on the papers, gave them feedback on additions they needed (if they needed them), and gave them lots of positive feedback on their stories as a whole. 

This assignment was spectacularly effective.  It allowed them a certain creative freedom, which they seldom get in their classes.  It allowed them to practice a more authentic writing style, as it could not depend on those canned phrases they were taught to use for academic writing.  It allowed them to explore the issue of identity and the creation of identity by giving more depth and identity to these characters, and then discussing how and why they chose such identities.  What caused them to write Patrick off as a man who simply fell-out of love with his wife?  Why did they decide to make Mary insane?  Why did they decide the man at the train station was actually married to Jig?  Why did they write what they wrote?  Additionally, the assignment was wonderfully entertaining, not only for my students (because I really did believe they enjoyed writing it), but also for me; I got to know the creative, dramatic, and occasionally humorous side to their writing and to their personalities.