Devloping The Person

I wonder if writing is anything except expressing self. Today's readings highlight young climate activists whose passions have necessitated written communication. They are social media giants, vibrant public speakers, and rhetorical warriors, those who are worlds from classrooms, college tracts, and ACT prep courses. These are not the A+ plus students, rather the desperately committed individuals who've managed to embody intrinsic motivation, rigor, grit, and every other educational concept we pursue so desperately. 

These writers write because they must. They create for progress. 

It's an interesting model, then, which teaches writing as merely a collection of words: essays, paragraphs, or poems. It's an even more interesting model that develops writers for graded assignments within the classroom. No one forced Greta Thunberg to use a convincing hook before introducing evidence...yet she does, because she must.

One summer I watched the entire Crash Course Psychology catalog on Youtube -- taking diligent notes -- because I wanted to be a psychologist. 

The other day, I learned that three men in my church were meeting at 5:00 a.m. to study Greek.

Apparently, a young Kobe Bryant woke up at 4:00 a.m. to practice his craft.

Fully-formed learning is devoted, joyful, rewarding and sprinkled with insanity. 

Developing a writer, then, might actually look like developing the person. Writers are assembly lines and word count codes...in the person we find ample analysis, detailed evidence, and passionate rhetoric, all generated from a passion that makes it necessary. After all, we want this more than we want three pages, double-spaced. 

When writing coaches give feedback, we stimulate their passions, question their motives, push on opinions, and search for the person writing the piece. A person can write anything -- and we'd be smart to give them the space to do it.

These persons do not need standard peer reviews...the angsty circles of vague feedback, misplaced praise, and shameful sharing. What if passionate persons declared their ideas and peers gave critical edits? Until peers are taught that respectful, gentle (emphasis on these two words) criticality is much better for their peers, we might benefit from sending them to Reddit, to mock debates, or to community boards. This is, after all, where revolutionaries find themselves becoming linguistic tacticians. They must as they pursue their cause.

Teachers and writing coaches are still responsible for teaching distinct changes. "I notice that you don't use quotation marks consistently, let's take a look at that." "I wonder if you could place this paragprah before the other...we need the background you provide first." There's going to be glaring errors in writing that peers cannot correct...and a teacher is responsible for dealing in specificity. However, all members of the class can share in 1. honest questioning and 2. adding ideas. Questions foster the critical thinking that persons need to refine and strengthen their own perspective, while ideas bring new information to a developing idea.

Living Multimodally

I guess I've dabbled in the realm of multimodal composition.

In my junior semester at UWM, I worked on the social media team at the University Recreation Department. We worked with CapCut, a video editing software meant for videos on scroll-friendly platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. The purpose was PSA-related marketing for campus events. 

Once, I did contribute to a music video...content that I am intentionally forgetting to hyperlink. A friend in the film program lured me and my former roommate to Lakeshore Park in Milwaukee. We jammed to "the zone" by Lil Yachty, hoping the repetition and vibes would produce some metaphysical revelations for the project. I'm not sure it did. But, we had a fun three hours on the water, trying to sync the nature, beat, props, and actors into a refined product. 

I'd argue that, however ridiculous my examples are, this is absolutely a form of literacy. Writing is much more effective when it leaves the classroom...rain isn't rain until it leaves a cloud and smacks you in the face. Chisholm and Trent remind us that learning requires an active audiences...and common core standards don't really qualify. Writing shines as a critical, engaging, authentic practice. Though writing a script for a marketing reel involves about forty words, those words are presented before a valued market...they better be concise, pointed, and persuasive!

Some have wondered: is this a crutch for the tech-savvy, endlessly tricky social media addicts in our high schools? No...probably not. Are we worried that working with social media -- the same content they already favor -- is a little too applicable? Shouldn't we see this as particularly relevant and practical? Could we benefit from a more asset-minded approach? Additionally, Chisholm and Trent tell us that weaving messages through the constraints, assets, environments, and audiences of a different modalities (music and video, for example) actually extends our comprehension and widens our perspective.  

Civic engagement is also a fruit of curriculum that seeks an authentic, applicable environment. To connect one last time to our course readings, we see Zines as a worthy demonstration of this. Video, images, social media, and artistry are the tools of freedom fighters...free tools for change! Zines are mini novels, made from home, sources of creativity and modern literacy; they are meant for going forth and sharing voices.