Giving students a blog provides an instant audience, and a shift in identity for the blogger. A blogger looks at life with a writer’s eye and awareness of the audience; a blog gives its author a chance to examine, name and reflect on events, and may offer vindication and healing if the blogger is courageous enough to tell the truth. Continue reading
Students’ writing improves when they write for an audience. When you find them an audience that is close to home and a situation that is meaningful, there are many reasons for them to get the writing right. If you make it safe for them to write (e.g., don’t bring out the grammar hatchet), not only will they make art (reflect, express and polish), they will display it for immediate feedback.
In this activity, to honour and thank those who support them in coming back to school, students will consolidate and formalize part of their support system, and supporters will not only strengthen their commitment to supporting their student, but they will forge a connection with the literacy/ABE/GED program itself. Continue reading
The launch is a big day in the life of any book. It is the day when the art made out of life goes out into the world to see what its reception will be.
Mistaken Identity started as a small project to print Sheila’s stories for a small group of friends. barbara had 60 copies printed. (The list had grown from the original 20 we had planned for.) Continue reading
In her comment on The Grammar Hatchet Joyce used the phrase, “a constant reminder to consider people before grammar.” The interesting thing is that when students (or me or you or anybody else) write for an audience, grammar comes to the fore, naturally. Continue reading
Actually me, in front, 70s demonstration, with Nancy Rosenberg
Sorry, can’t remember where this came from.
I had a taste, once, of someone using grammar to do a hatchet job on something that was full of meaning for me. Continue reading
The day the proof copy comes back from the printers is always the big day, and Mistaken Identity was no different. It looked so good. Sheila and I were both excited, and so was everyone else who saw the first copy. And the excitement was even greater when we saw the e-book listed for sale on-line. (See the side panel to get the e-book.)
Sheila is not a literacy student. She is a friend of long standing, someone I have worked with over the years on many projects and feminist actions. And she is no stranger to print—she collaborated with Persimmon Blackbridge on Still Sane, a classic art show and book about a coming out as a lesbian in the grasp of mental health services in the ‘70s. Continue reading
The assignment was to make a graphic representation of the plot development in a novel we were reading together in class. To this end, I had assembled some supplies on a table in front of the room: various kinds of large sheets of paper, felt pens, pencil crayons, glue sticks, stickers and labels of the kind scrapbookers use, some collage materials, etc.
We talked about various possibilities, such as diagrams, time lines, and flow charts, Continue reading
