30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 12

I apologize in advance if you’re reading this. Today’s thoughts go in different directions  because of different work inspiring varied thinking. But the overall theme may be Avoid Attempts at Perfection. Anyway, here goes.

Today’s 30-DC exercise is to write a piece of no more than 4 pages using 10 random words. You can use the random word generator at http:/www.textfixer.com/tools/random-words.php to get your list. 

My random list included gutsy, innocent, headphones, bet, bitter, honeybee, boar, stallion, heretic and ghoulish. 

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The gutsy reporter covered the Trial of the Century. 

It ended. 

Innocent, the jury said.

In his headphones, he heard recordings of people betting on the outcome. 

Some bitter more for losing their bets than for the loss of justice. 

As he looks out the stairwell windows, he notes the Honeybees buzz around the courthouse courtyard garden. 

The Boar Hunt hangs still in the court lobby, with the man-topped stallions chasing down the wild creature. 

Always chasing, never catching it. 

To think the natural order was upset by one story is a heretical thought. 

To think the appetite of the ghoulish readers would be sated, ust as unnatural. 

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Not my best piece of writing. But one thing this 30-Day Writing Challenge is making me understand and accept is that all writing need not be perfect. Perfection, the most elusive of goals. I remember my mentor, Tim, telling me as I was finishing graduate school and student teaching, “You know the best thing that could happen to you, Gaboury? A ‘B’.” He knew that my unending quest for perfect grades was an obstacle to overcome. Do your best. Learn. Those are the goals. Not perfect grades. 

So I’m learning to accept the imperfect, and to be okay with it. Maybe it will make my writing even better. 

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I began doing curriculum writing under a Culturally Relevant Education model today. It was a similar experience of trying to learn and grow. One activity was to read an article or watch a 14-minute video and write something in response. I watched the video, 

”Calibrating Ideas About Culturally Responsive Teaching with Zaretta Hammond” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nMK1nepwvk). 

I ended up writing a poem. I share it here. It’s not perfect. But perfection is the great Danger: Turn Back sign on the road of creativity. 

The Incident

I remember seeing two students standing, staring across the room at each other.

I remember the uncomfortable feeling of the staring

The stillness

The unspoken tension.

I remember that the tension was not specifically tied to racism

But it definitely seemed that way.

One student was from the Dominican Republic,

The other was not.

I don’t remember the conversation or trigger for this standoff.

I remember not knowing how to handle it.

I remember making sure it didn’t erupt into anything physical,

That the two didn’t  move toward each other.

I don’t remember what I said.

I remember the bell ringing,

Signalling a welcome change of classes.

I remember being alone in the classroom after all the students left.

I remember fighting not tearing up,

Hard to control the tears perching at the periphery,

Awaiting permission to fall freely.

I remember dreading the arrival of the next set of students.

I remember a friend walking by or walking in.

I remember them asking what was wrong.

I remember controlling myself enough to ask them for help,

To watch my next class.

I remember feeling that I couldn’t face them,

The raw feelings held in check,

but not as tightly as usual.

I remember walking down the hall to be alone.

I remember walking down another hall to talk to one of our school psychologists.

I remember him offering me a mini candy bar

And listening.

I remember talking to him for more than a half hour,

Letting many feelings pour out.

I remember him being understanding.

I remember him telling me I should go home for the day.

I remember him calling me later to check on me.

I remember feeling that this, for me, really had nothing to do with race,

That it had more to do with the lack of rapport that I was seeing.

That it had more to do with the lack of camaraderie that I was feeling 

in the school environment,

In the classroom environment 

That I was trying to create.

I remember the feeling of helplessness

Not having the vocabulary to address this,

But only the tears and frustration that it happened

That it happens every day

And feeling that I could do nothing about it.

I remember a couple years later,

Teaching the younger brother of my Dominican student,

And mentioning this incident.

I remember him telling me that it was just a joke,

That his brother and the other student were just goofing around.

I remember feeling stupid

Because I didn't have the vocabulary

Or the experience to handle this

In the classroom

Or within myself.

I realize that teachers cannot know everything,

Even though I never pretend to.

About our curriculum

About our students

About ourselves.

But not knowing can lead to welcome surprises

If you are open to them.

I realize that humans can’t control the world,

And solve all the problems,

Even though we want to.

I realize that all we can control is OUR part of the world,

And how we interact with others,

And how we can avoid causing problems

Intentionally or not.

Racism is not new,

And it’s not going away.

I am not new,

And I’m not going away.

Racism cannot “learn,”

But I can.

I don’t need to remain ignorant 

About ignorance.

I can learn vocabulary.

I can learn strategies.

I can listen to others.

I can listen to my students,

Regardless of where they are from,

And value their identity

And individual genius.

And cry again,

But this time with united tears of joy.

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30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 11

 Today’s exercise is to take one of the plot structures (standard or Hero’s Journey) and create an outline for a story based on that structure. You may use this in the future, and you may not. The point in this exercise is to focus on structuring a story and creating an outline that sticks to one of these plot structures.

Find the Hero’s Journey Structure at https://www.shortform.com/blog/heros-journey-steps/

Find the Three-Act Plot Structure at https://thenovelsmithy.com/intro-the-three-act-structure/

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I have already mentioned practicing the Three-Act Plot Structure with my latest attempt at a 1-act play. So for today’s exercise, I’m going to combine the ideas of curriculum writing that I begin tomorrow with my love of heroes and the Hero’s Journey.

I will focus on the Capstone Project that I assigned my 12th graders at the end of the year and use examples for how it is “Cultivating Genius” - the theme of our curriculum - and show several students’ Hero’s Journey in the process this spring.

The theme of the project this year was #ProjectBeenHere. A good friend and colleague had suggested adapting the name to an attendance initiative the school was doing called #ProjectBeHere. The difference here was that the project is meant to be left behind for other students to see as part of a legacy, something that shows you were there. 

The project is simple: choose a topic that interests you and share it in your choice of media. The only catch is that it needs to include one of the English Language Arts standards - reading, writing, speaking and/or listening. In essence, students can do anything because anything can be tied into one or more of those standards. I have received good children’s books, quote posters, short stories, scenes for a TV screenplay, standup comedy acts, and more than one public service project on issues like animal protection, anti-bullying and suicide prevention.

Here’s a breakdown of how Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey applies to this project.

Step 1: The Call to Adventure

I allude to this assignment from the very beginning of the year. I am the herald for their final project of the year. The call to adventure is supposed to “introduce the hero to a hidden world of possibility, guided by mysterious forces which the hero will come to understand through the course of the journey.”

It’s the beginning of the year, though, so students don’t quite see me as a herald of possibility. (More like a harbinger of doom through hard work.) 

As they come to realize who I am, they can start to see me a little more familiarly and not so mysterious. One of the things I found from the Freedom Writers and their teacher, Erin Gruwell, as I studied with them in Summer 2014, was that Erin got her students to: 1) believe in her, 2) believe when she said how great they were, and 3) believe in themselves. It’s another Hero’s Journey that I could try to outline, now that I mention it, but I will stick with my first idea for now.

Step 2: Refusing the Call

It might comfort students to know that even some of the greatest heroes frowned on their big-defining moments at the beginning. 

In this step, heroes are reluctant to take that first step on their path to greatness. In folk tales and myths, this is usually a refusal “to give up one’s narrow, immediate interests in the pursuit of spiritual awakening or even the salvation of the universe.” It’s always safer to stay within one’s comfort zone, but it is the educator’s task to help students take those steps until they can accomplish it on their own.

Step 3: Supernatural Aid

Many heroes are helped on their journey by some “supernatural” type force. “This helper is the personification of destiny. Often, this figure takes the form of an old man or old woman, like the fairy godmother, wizard, shepherd, smith, or woodsman figures of European fairy tales.” That’s a teacher, even if I’m not necessarily an OLD man. (Not old; just more experienced.)

Step 4: Crossing the Threshold

It wouldn’t be as interesting a journey if it was a straight path from point A to point B. Even less so, if the journey was refused and never begun.

At some point in our Capstone Project process, early on or much later, students realize that this project is their defining moment, or rather the project that will help them get the passing grade so they can graduate. It is at this point where they are more receptive to help in brainstorming ideas, or structuring their project.

Knowing the outcome of the Hero’s Journey model, as well as many years of experience in facilitating students’ journeys in the Capstone project, this is an exciting moment because I know they have begun their journey to greatness.

Step 5: Trials and Tribulations

Just because a hero has begun a journey toward greatness doesn’t mean they face smooth sailing. Far from it. There are many obstacles that a hero faces on the road to becoming a hero. Just as with students with this final Capstone Project.

It’s not the number or size of the obstacles that determines a successful outcome, but rather the hero’s/the student’s willingness to overcome those obstacles.

Step 6: The Defining Trial/Battle

Every hero needs a defining battle, a Big Bad that seems impossible to overcome until they persevere and win the day. Every student faces a moment in their Capstone Project when they lose confidence in being able to accomplish it. Many want to give up, but their “supernatural mentor” - if given the chance - helps them through these rough spots. In the end, however, it is up to the hero/student to overcome this final obstacle.

Once they accomplish this, they can reach

Step 7: Crossing the Threshold

Unlike the first threshold, this final threshold brings them back to the “Ordinary World.” However, like any good resolution, the hero/student finds him/herself in a new spot that they hadn’t anticipated at the beginning.

In the best cases, the heroes find something unexpected in themselves. In the best Capstone Project journeys, the students discover something new about themselves - maybe a feeling of accomplishment, or a new skill, or a newfound confidence.

In the Hero’s Journey, the Ordinary World is distinguished from the journey through what Joseph Campbell calls the “Extraordinary World.” However, at the end of the journey is a new normal, or a New Ordinary.

Example #1:  Caila’s “Pass on the Kindness” project from 2014. VIDEO LINK. I share the story of Caila’s hero’s journey on her project to inspire other students.

Caila received the same Call to Adventure that I give my seniors every year. In that particular year, our theme was Fighting Ignorance. The task was to teach people about something that the student cares about and have them look at that topic in a new way.

When Caila began, she had responded to a prompt of her pet peeves saying she wished people would be kind to each other. The idea sprang from a video I had shared called “The Kindness Boomerang,” in which a worker in a brightly-colored vest helps a kid, who then performs a random act of kindness for another person, and so on and so on in a chain reaction of events that occur up one side of the street and back down the other until it cycles back to the vested worker at the end.

As we brainstormed ideas for her project, we discussed the video and the possibility of her creating her own Kindness Boomerang that cycled around our school hallway.

“But I don’t know how to do a video. And I don’t know anyone to be part of a video …” Her Refusing the Call was commonplace for any student for any big project. I suggested, as the Mysterious Mentor, that she start by jotting down a list of 10-12 acts of kindness she would like to see. I told her about some websites she could use if she had trouble.

She hemmed and hawed for a few days. Finally, she Crossed the Threshold and created her list. Her first hurdle? Getting people for her video. Since she was in the final class for the day, I took her to a popular after-school room and asked if anyone wanted to help and be part of her video. A handful of kids jumped up to help create her first couple of scenes. 

The next class she questioned whether she could overcome a big hurdle: putting the whole thing together. “Let’s just get the rest of your scenes shot first,” I suggested. We went down to the same after-school room. There were even more kids there that day and they eagerly helped her out. At the end of the shooting, after she had shot the scenes all around the circle of the hallway, her biggest hurdle magically resolved itself. “Hey, do you need any help editing that video? I can help you out,” one of the helpers volunteered.

The next day, Caila came into my classroom early and told me excitedly that she had finished and posted her video on YouTube and had already garnered more than 40 views. (The assignment required them to show it to at least 50 people.) She had Crossed the Final Threshold and returned to her new Ordinary World. I would like to think that she learned a lot from the process, about herself, about others, about the power of kindness, and that she came out better for it. (I did have them write Project Reflections but I don’t have a copy of that anymore to check.)

EXAMPLE #2:  T’monie’s interview with her favorite band.

T’monie had sought help for her project from the beginning. Her idea began as “something to do with dance or photography.” I thought we had brainstormed doing a photo album of how people in her graduating Class of 2021 had dealt with the COVID-19 quarantine, virtual learning, and sometimes being afflicted - or having someone they know become sick - due to the coronavirus. Using Caila’s example, I advised T’monie that she didn’t need to rely just on her own photos but could put out a call for other classmates to share photos that she could put together in some form to share.

Several days later, she was still looking for help. By that time, I had thought about her longtime love of K-pop music and the boy band BTS - an interest I could relate to because my 8th grade daughter was schooling me every day in Jimin, Jin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, V and Jungkook.

 

“What would you ask them if you could? And could you find the answers?” I asked.

“I could do that. I know a lot about them,” she said, excited about the possibility.

“And I want you to do a great job on this because it’s your passion and because I would like you to send it to BTS when you finish. I mean, the worst thing that could happen is nothing. And that’s not bad. The best thing would be if you got a response.”

She seemed even more excited about the project at that point.

Her final project showed off her knowledge of the group, her research skills to find specific answers to each of her questions, and her obvious passion for this project. It was a brilliant and colorful display with a single Question and Answer (with pictures) on each page.

We ran out of time to send it to the band, but we had looked up how to contact them in South Korea and it didn’t look easy. But I’d like to think that she might send it to them on her own initiative.

In this project, I saw how excited she was to develop this wonderful project and show off one part of her “genius” that was outside the standard ELA curriculum but did incorporate ELA standards.

EXAMPLE #3: Aiman’s “10 Arabic Phrases You Should Know”

Aiman had a lot of difficulty with this project. A wonderfully polite ESL student from Yemen, he had obvious difficulty with the English language. In some moments when he was unmuted and I was helping him, I could hear him using the Text to Voice option so he could hear the readings that I was giving him.

We had brainstormed a few preliminary ideas, but nothing was coming together. Finally, I was conferring with Sara Telban, my co-teacher, and struck on the idea of using Aiman’s natural language to teach to others.

Talking to him, I discovered that he spoke Arabic, a language of growing importance on the world stage. I had seen and shown him videos on “5 Phrases You Need to Know in French,” “20 Phrases You Need to Know to Get By in Spain,” and the like. Could he do that for Arabic? Yes, he said.

With the help of Ms. Telban, Aiman developed a Google slide deck that broke down 10 basic Arabic phrases like “Good Morning” (Sabbah alkhayr), “Yes” (Naaam) and “I don’t understand” (Anaa laa afham`). Each slide had the word in Arabic, its English translation, its pronunciation and a link to a YouTube video that allowed you to hear the word.

“That’s really good, Aiman,” I said. “But I’d really like to hear YOUR voice.” (In the virtual learning world, we did not see or hear students very often. The muted icon was about it. Although Aiman unmuted to say “Good morning” every day.) 

And here, I have to thank my co-teacher for setting up a video Meet with Aiman that allowed him to teach her the Arabic phrases. It was a beautiful video and one I will always cherish. Skhrana, Aiman!

30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 10

Today’s exercise is to go to a new place that is not somewhere you usually go to write. If you are able to go to another physical place—like a coffee shop or café you have never been—go there. You could also try writing in Laundromats, libraries, public parks, museums, the lobby of a movie theatre, the post office, a church, the bar, or the mall. Get creative. I’m sure there are tons of places where you have never written.

If you cannot go to another location, try writing in a different room or part of living space. Do you ever write in the bath tub? Do you ever write in the kitchen? Do you ever write on your front porch or in the fitness center of your apartment building? Go to some place that is an “unusual” writing place.

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I decided for today’s exercise to return to a place I haven’t been in a long time. My hometown of Jerome, Idaho. I haven’t been there since 1986 or 1987. But even moreso, my memories haven’t returned to that place, outside of a spare dream every now and then that uses that setting.

After seeing a wonderful reading of memoir pieces from a group of adults taught by Val Kavanaugh, I decided to return to that place in a piece of writing. Here’s what came of it:

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The Paper Bag Lunch

My lunch “box” in junior high was the color of a toilet paper tube. Sure, my lunches in the past were decorated by the now-collectable square tin lunchboxes with my favorite heroes or celebrities in them. But that was elementary school, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Once I got to the “big leagues” of seventh grade; however, it was time to get serious and show a more grownup version of myself. And thus, the ubiquitous brown lunch bags. 

I don’t really know how I came to be a purveyor of plain lunch containers, and I’m afraid to ask. The last time I asked my mother why she made me wear those god-awful printed shirts and wide bottom jeans that liked more like a denim dress, she told me, “We wanted to get you the more popular attire (which at that time included button-up Levi 501 jeans), but you insisted on the other ones.” Argh! Those unfortunate “style” choices couldn’t be blamed on my parents, just me?

In retrospect, I think I may know how I switched to the brown bag crowd. In 5th and 6th grade, whenever my mom sent me off to school with lunch money, I would skip lunch and use that money at the Circle K or the local drug store, perusing the comic racks for the latest 20-cent adventures of Superman, Batman, or, my favorite, the Justice League of America. I recall selling old comics to classmates to save up for the must-have crossover DC-Marvel event, Superman vs. Spiderman. It was a whopping $2, which was a hefty sum for me at the time. And I was happy when I got that oversized comic. (I still have it.)

So maybe that was the secret origin of Paper Bag Lunch Man. Or maybe it was just because my mom made great lunches. With love packed into each one like a toy prize in a box of Cracker Jacks. (One of those big ones from the big boxes; not the little stickers or wash-on tattoos in the little boxes that I always got.)

I remember one traumatic day when my best friend Mark and I were walking to school and I was swinging my lunch bag as I walked with overexaggerated strides and arm raises. Somehow - I never knew how - I lost my grip on my lunch bag. It flew in slow-motion in a weird arc from my right hand, slicing like a badly hit tee shot, and into the stream that lined the road.

My lunch!

We followed the bag bobbing down the stream, looking for a spot where one of us could reach it. (I don’t know what Mark was thinking. I would imagine a grownup laughing his head off, but I think he was too nice for that.)

After a couple of blocks, and reaching the park by the hospital, we caught up to the bag. I picked it up and saw the water dripping from it. Drenched. No chance of saving it. The worst part was when I got home and told mom. She had packed TWO brownies in my lunch that day!

Anyway, I remember my lunch USUALLY included a bagged sandwich (PBJ and bologna were among my favorites), some cut veggies, a desert and a small can of apple juice. Not a little paper container or those plastic Juicy Juices like today, but one of those sturdy cans. 

A few days, I would have my lunch out and a classmate would come over and have fun by smashing my bag. Whether there was something in it or not, it seemed to make him happy. But then, one day, he came over before I could take my lunch out. Smash. What he didn’t take into consideration was that my apple juice can was still in the bag. Remember, the sturdy old cans? If it was a cartoon, his hand would have turned purple, shook, and grew a couple sizes bigger as smoke blew out of his ears. As it was, I recall him grabbing his hand and walking off. 

I don’t think I had to worry about him flattening my paper bag lunch after that day.

30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 9

Today’s exercise is to go for a walk for ten minutes. If you cannot do this, find a window and look outside for ten. Do not write anything down. Just look, observe, and see what comes up in you.

After the ten minutes have passed, pull out your journal and free write for ten to 20 minutes about the experience. What did you see? Describe your surroundings in detail. Describe everything that happened. Did you get any ideas? What is your relationship to this place? How does this place make you feel?

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I had more trouble than I thought with taking a walk, especially with consecutive days of rain and heavy rain. Therefore, I will use my first solo kayak trip from 3 days ago. 

I usually get my best ideas while mowing. I just start thinking about something, then fire up the mower and let the ideas wash over me like fresh grass clippings on the lawn. (Except that I use a grass catcher and the image of taking a shower of fresh grass clippings makes me itch. But I digress.) I like to call it Zen Mowing. 

A couple years ago, I had just finished the school year and was faced with a 5-day deadline to submit a one-act play, my first attempt at writing for the stage. I had the general idea to tease out a thought that I had long ago after learning about my youngest daughter, Kath, being diagnosed as having cerebral palsy from an in utero stroke. (A doctor nixed that idea a few years ago. It was brain malformations that caused the CP, but not a stroke. But the thought was still there.) What if James Redfield was correct in his Celestine Prophecy books with the thought that we begin as disembodied souls seeking to perfect ourselves through multiple lifetimes and we choose our parents as the people who will help get us to perfect ourselves? And what if that disembodied soul could choose to take on a health condition, like a stroke, that was otherwise destined for one of their parents? And what if Kath’s stroke was actually destined for me? I started wondering if I was acting as grateful toward her as I should for someone who may have saved my life.

So that was the initial idea that I knew I wanted to develop. Fire up the mower, there’s only days to go.

What came out of that was 3 days of writing a play called “The Waiting Room.” In it, the middle-aged actor was waiting an indeterminate amount of time in a medical waiting room before a female doctor comes to see him. Through their conversation, he comes to find out that he is dead and that his doctor is actually a grown-up version of his disabled daughter.

That was not the original idea, but the mowing led to another path that led me to The Waiting Room.

It’s time for a new one act play now. I had a 30-minute spurt of writing the play, entitled “The Audition,” and dozens of lawn days. Unfortunately, the mowing is not doing it any longer. But in my recent kayak ride, I was only a little way out on the lake before I realized a resolution for my story. I had the first two parts of the one-act (I always make my stories 3 “acts” regardless of the length) outlined, but not how to end it. Then it hit me to add a new character and make it a metaplay, or a play within a play. I don’t know how it will work out but the lake ride gave me at least a resolution that had escaped me.

Now it’s time to write. The deadline awaits.

30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 8

For today’s exercise, Sara E. Crawford wants us to see some visual art. Find a local art gallery that has an exhibit, go to your local college or community center and see if they have anything on display, and/or Google art events in your area. If the event is happening later, write it down on your calendar and complete this exercise by observing a random piece of art on a website like deviantART or flickr.

Look at the piece of visual art and study it for a moment. What does this piece make you feel? What does it remind you of? In your opinion, what did the artist intend to express?

Free write in your journal for at least 1-2 pages about the piece of art. Jot down any characters or storylines it inspires you to imagine.

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I use a lot of visual images in my teaching. I think an image has the power to convey so much and spark discussion. In good years, I even teach lessons from Robert DiYanni and Pat C Hoy’s book Frames of Mind: A Rhetorical Reader with Occasions for Writing (2005) to teach visual analysis. The idea, as the authors write in their introduction, is to “(provide) approaches to analyzing and interpreting many kinds of texts, both visual and verbal, and to (consider) aHS of thinking as well as ways of writing.” 

Put more simply, I use images to get students into the mindset and habit of thinking critically. This is something that many students do without realizing it. 

I recall one student a few years ago who argued that he did not have the ability to do a literary analysis, that he couldn’t analyze what he read:

“What if I walked down your street …,” I started to ask. 

“Oh, you don’t want to walk down my street. You’d get jumped,” he said. (For the record, I have run, bikes or walked safely down many streets in the city.)

“Okay, if you we with me walking down your street and you saw people walking toward us, could you tell me if they were dangerous?”

“Yeah. It depends on how many here are, what they’re wearing, how they’re walking.”

“So you would be able to read them and analyze what you saw?”

I then fed on the subtle aha moment that all yea he rs live for. 

So as I looked at this exercise and my goal of directing my free writes toward something I can use later, I landed on the image above. This ambiguous image shows a man who is either looking straight ahead in half-face or looking to the right in a side profile. The profile looks straight at the text, “Life is all about how we see things.”

Students love the image, as well as other optical illusions that I share. It looks cool. Yes, but what else?

• What does it make you see?

• What thoughts singin have when you look at it? 

• What questions do you have as you look at it?

As I was researching the origins of the image, I came across a TEDtalk by neuroscientist Beau Lotto entitled “Optical Illusions Show How We See” (https://youtu.be/mf5otGNbkuc). He also is the author of Deviate: The  Creative Power of Transforming Your Perception. In his talk, he shows examples of how our brain sees and how it can trick us. “(T)he light that falls onto your eye, sensory information, is meaningless, because it could mean literally anything. And what's true for sensory information is true for information generally. There's no inherent meaning in information. It's what we do with that information that matters.”

Like the image above, information is malleable. It can be seen in different ways. There is something to be said for having a strong single-minded focus, but being able to see more than one side of an issue gives you more flexibility in describing, arguing or manipulating information. “So, how do we see?“ Beau Lotto asks. “Well, we see by learning to see.”

And learning to see things differently. Because being able to see things in many different ways is

like having different perspectives on the same information, 

So life really is all about how we see things, Mr. G?

In my mindset, not really. To me, Life is all about how we CHOOSE TO see things. 

That’s what I try to teach. With images and optical illusions. 

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As I write this, I realize I am not satisfied that it is in its final publishable format yet. And that’s okay. It’s a start. And it’s something I can return to later. That’s the writing process.