Blog #2: Narrative Writing
In Linda Christensen's second chapter of Teaching for Joy and Justice, she discusses the importance of narrative writing and provides numerous strategies in implementing this type of writing into a secondary level classroom. The beginning of this chapter, “Teaching Narrative Writing: Why It Matters,” spoke to me, because narrative writing was something I was deprived of in high school.
Christensen narrates the opinions many high school English teachers have towards narrative writing, almost viewing it as “self-indulgent, like recess” (Christensen 60) in the curriculum where analytical and essay writing are more valued. As an elementary school student years ago, narrative writing was my favorite part of learning. I looked forward to the hour I had every afternoon to write in my journal and share what I had produced with my teacher and peers. My love for writing was often reinforced in the classroom when my teacher would use my work as an example, which made me confident in my writing abilities. When I got to middle school and high school, I was rarely granted the opportunities for narrative writing, and I missed that. The priority for my high school was to enforce writing that solely focused on responding to literature. While analyzing literature is all well and good, Christensen argues that there are many reasons as to why teaching writing can be more diverse than this.
A theme Christensen describes in her teaching strategies that is seen in this chapter is how writing and sharing narratives build community in the classroom. Most importantly, when a class enforces and celebrates themes of social justice, students’ stories and their connections as participants in society help them build crucial relationships with one another. Through writing these narratives, not only do students form these bonds with their peers, but they’re also learning to implement elements of fiction into their writing, which can later be analyzed in the literature they read (Christen 60).
According to Christensen, this is where a teacher can become creative in selecting meaningful prompts for narrative writing in units to help connect the students to the literature. For example, when reading To Kill A Mockingbird, instead of solely analyzing how the character Scout’s point of view affects the narrative of the story, a teacher could pose the question, “Have you ever experienced and/or witnessed oppression in your lifetime?” This opportunity allows students to not only share their stories, but also a way where they can connect to literature on a deeper level. Because of this, Christensen argues that writing narratives in a high school classroom is essential because it’s enjoyable for students and encourages them to create meaningful connections with the text and their community.
Christensen narrates the opinions many high school English teachers have towards narrative writing, almost viewing it as “self-indulgent, like recess” (Christensen 60) in the curriculum where analytical and essay writing are more valued. As an elementary school student years ago, narrative writing was my favorite part of learning. I looked forward to the hour I had every afternoon to write in my journal and share what I had produced with my teacher and peers. My love for writing was often reinforced in the classroom when my teacher would use my work as an example, which made me confident in my writing abilities. When I got to middle school and high school, I was rarely granted the opportunities for narrative writing, and I missed that. The priority for my high school was to enforce writing that solely focused on responding to literature. While analyzing literature is all well and good, Christensen argues that there are many reasons as to why teaching writing can be more diverse than this.
A theme Christensen describes in her teaching strategies that is seen in this chapter is how writing and sharing narratives build community in the classroom. Most importantly, when a class enforces and celebrates themes of social justice, students’ stories and their connections as participants in society help them build crucial relationships with one another. Through writing these narratives, not only do students form these bonds with their peers, but they’re also learning to implement elements of fiction into their writing, which can later be analyzed in the literature they read (Christen 60).
According to Christensen, this is where a teacher can become creative in selecting meaningful prompts for narrative writing in units to help connect the students to the literature. For example, when reading To Kill A Mockingbird, instead of solely analyzing how the character Scout’s point of view affects the narrative of the story, a teacher could pose the question, “Have you ever experienced and/or witnessed oppression in your lifetime?” This opportunity allows students to not only share their stories, but also a way where they can connect to literature on a deeper level. Because of this, Christensen argues that writing narratives in a high school classroom is essential because it’s enjoyable for students and encourages them to create meaningful connections with the text and their community.
Amy, I think your outlook on this reading is super insightful. I like how you identified that a lot of times teachers often go the default route to just analyzing the text instead of connecting to the student, connecting the text to the student, and connecting the text to the world. I agree, narrative writing can connect the student to the text on a deeper level. It allows the student to get more involved with what has been written instead of just letting the words become text on a page.
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteI think this post is super relatable because you and tons of other students all over have been deprived of narrative writing. I like the point you brought up from Christensen's text about narrative writing being like recess, and how when you left elementary school, narrative writing wasn't as prominent anymore. This made me think that maybe the system is trying to reinforce the fact that they believe narrative writing is for children. Overall, I think you reinforce Christensen's points really well here.
I had a similar experience in high school with regards to not typically getting to explore more creative writing in my English classes at the time. You make a great point by saying that narrative writing is not just a solid supplement to literary response writing. It feeds students what they need to enhance the connection that they get to texts.
ReplyDeleteSharing your own experience (the very same one that Christensen is arguing for) with the joys you felt for narrative writing was very insightful and crucial here, as it gives weight to both you and Linda's message that narrative writing isn't wasteful within the school setting, but instead can serve as that very crucial first step to prying kids into the realm of writing by appealing to them directly (since what's more appealing to someone than something focused around them?). On a side note, I love the creative liberties you took here with your post in inter-splicing multiple photos between your paragraphs; a very good way to keep it flowing for your reader in order to keep them from getting bored. Bravo. I might have to steal this technique.
ReplyDelete