I'm taking another class this semester. It is a graduate education course designed to give teachers strategies on how to teach reading and writing to secondary education classes. Last week we were having an interesting discussion about writing and I think it would be relevant to this class as well.
My professor began to talk about all the attributes of writing and how most people feel that writing is only a way to demonstrate what we know and most of the class agreed. She then went on to discuss an overlooked attribute of writing, which is writing to create new ideas. My textbook: Teaching Content Reading and Writing describes it as "a way of working through confusion or fuzzy ideas, a way of moving toward clarification and articulation of knowledge".
I have to admit that when I thought of writing before I didn't realize how important this type of writing was. Writing was linked to school assignments or the occasional poem or journal entry. It wasn't until last week's discussion that I realized how important writing to find that "Eureka" moment was to me. I always start off a paper by writing down my thoughts on any given topic in order to figure out what I really want to say. If you find yourself staring at a blank page on your computer screen the day before an assignment is due, try writing down ideas and hopefully they will turn into something brilliant.
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Your entry reminds me of Emerson's philosophy on education. He thought education should not be so much about transferring facts, but "to set hearts of young aflame", that is, inspiration. He stressed creativity and activity, moving forward, not just going along with tradition. I would venture to say that much of current education does not emphasize these aspects, and that is why it is often so damn boring.
And I'm reminded of the countless times I've sat down to write an essay with no real direction or thesis, but the writing process led me to ideas I had no inkling of before I started.
Writing is a dialogue with your own self. In writing then, you become both teacher and student.
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