The Fence
I have been gifted this quarter with students who argue with me. Try writing every day, I suggest. “I can’t do that,” they say. Try using a little dialogue, let us hear this character’s voice, I suggest. “I never remember what people say.” I felt confused by this sentence, I tell them in workshop. “I meant for it to be confusing,” they patiently explain. I don’t think that’s a word, I point out. “It is now,” they say.
Rather than spending any additional energy today trying to get these students to let down their defenses, I wonder if maybe they’re here to remind me to let down my defenses? What am I resisting? What am I afraid to learn?
I want to remember today not merely to think outside the box, but to remember that there is no box.
Thanks. I needed that!
It sounds to me like the students are the ones unwilling to learn, not you. Call me an old lady, but sometimes, I wonder what’s wrong with today’s young people.
Of course there are also students who LOVE being there and grab every new thing and run with it. That’s what fuels me.