Writing the Word and the World
Christensen Chapter #3

Wow, what a chapter. Now there were three parts to the chapter, there was a section on the read around method of class discussion, forgiveness poems, and then essay writing. Out of the three i really enjoyed the essay writing section. Which is strange to a certain extent, because i love poetry so I assumed that that section would hold my interests, however on the other hand, i am a history major so essay writing should be my forte.
The possible reason of why i enjoyed reading about how to teach essay writing the most, was because i love persuasive writing. I am a very stubborn, opinionated individual that loves to write about what makes me tick, and essay writing allows me to express this socially awkward quality. How I would start the class is finding out what each student is passionate about, what things make them tick. I believe the best way to get a student excited and motivated to write is to allow them to express their beliefs effectively. I would have them pick their own topic but I would provide examples, in case there are some students who believe they are not passionate about anything. Politics, social issues, famous people, a movie, a song, cars, make up, sports, etc... the list can go on and on, but there is always that one thing that someone can just stand up and rant and rave about something, and in this exercises students would be able to research this topic and learn how to express it in effective writing.
I did enjoy the poetry section of the chapter as well. I enjoyed reading the poems for one, they were very interesting to learn so much about the author with not so many words. I think it is important to give different strategies of how to write one kind of poem, this way the students have multiple ways to choose to structure their poem. Every teenager has at least one problem on their mind, at least one problem. Either it is a friend or family member a teacher or teammate or school or jobs there has to be someone in one of those categories that may need to be forgiven or just written about. This is also another tool for students to express themselves effectively, and frankly, that is one of the main reasons of why i love English. There are so many tools that can be used to express your thoughts and emotions so that others can read more into who you really are, it is an amazing thing!