Words in a Mirror

Right now, as I’m writing this blog, I’m not just writing for my audience. I am also writing for myself. In a way, I am part of the audience. I’ll proofread it before publishing, maybe make a few corrections or change some words. I might even change whole sentences. And sure, this will be posted on a website where everyone with internet access can read it. But writing is not written wholly for the audience, even when it is made public.

While reading the book Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, I made it to section 3.1 which focuses on identity as a writer. More specifically, the authors focus on how writing develops our identity progressively. The statement that stood out to me is as follows, “The act of writing, then, is not so much about using a particular set of skills as it is about becoming a particular kind of person, about developing a sense of who we are” (51). This is something that I completely agree with, and yet, the authors does not fully meet my needs in regards to this statement. For the rest of this section, they focus on how our writing to OTHERS, and not OURSELVES. They discuss how writing can reflect our identities, but not how writing can be reflective for us as the writer. 

Personally, I write more to myself than I do to others. By that, I mean that I type out my feelings in a Word Document and read it over hours later. Most of the time, exit without saving, to let go of whatever problems that may have been spelled out in those pixels. Writing can be whatever we want it to be, including therapeutic. Strangely, the weight of my problems is lifted, sometimes significantly, after having that conversation with myself. Many teachers attempt to make their students complete journals, and while I’m sure many of them are successful, I think giving students prompts to complete within those journals takes the individuality out of the reflective writing. I hope that in my future classroom, I can let my students write to help themselves mentally and emotionally, as I have. I might try giving them an empty binder in the beginning of the year. They can decorate it however they see fit. Whenever they feel as though they need to let out some feelings, they can write it down and stick it in the binder. At this point, every piece of writing, drawing, etc., should be saved. Near the end of the year, they will reread the whole binder in class. Perhaps we could even do this as a class in a restorative circle. They may share to their hearts’ content. Whatever they feel they must get rid of, they throw away (Recycle. Go green). Anything they wanna keep, they keep. Not only will this (hopefully) lower their stress and help them through problems, but will also keep them writing. It will develop their identity as a writer to themselves, so that they will be comfortable sharing their other work with the world.