When I start to think about all the writing I have done over the years my mind flickers to and fro; it wanders to many topics and papers. It is simply to hard to hit the hammer on the head, to find one literature example that exceeds all others, instead my minds eye targets a specific English class that deeply changed the way I compose my thoughts, and therefore my writing.
It was in 6th grade when I unlocked the door to knowledge. The knowledge of knowing, of having answers. The knowledge of literature. Anything could come alive in that classroom, all you had to do was write it down. The teacher looked no different than others, yet as soon as he opened his mouth an unheard language came out. What was that you said? You want us to be unimaginably creative, to go beyond all reason and come out with something so fantastic, so out-of-the-box, so awe-inspiring that it can amount to anything? This teachers rules were incredible. As long as we gave 100% effort our creativity was free to expand and fill the room. We had a project titled "Points" and for one month of the school year, every day was free write day. Our teacher got books, papers, art supplies, magazines, he said "explore your own devices all I want is for you to write, write, write!" Every literature project you created you got points for, the longer and more detailed it was, the more points you got. At the end of the month their were projects galore, it wasn't just writing, you could make art as long as it had something to do with literature. One student, made a monologue that was over 6o pages and someone else made a forest, imagery come to life!
Another aspect that made this teacher glow in my eyes, was his favorite quote, "Expect more get more!" He raised the bar high, he gave us projects that stretched our mind farther and wider than you would ever imagine of a 6th grader, and it felt good! It's like working out, you can only do 10 push ups, but you push, and you do that extra 5, and when your done you can feel that buzz of energy, that adrenaline bursting into your brain, and you feel ecstatic.
Most teachers teach the curriculum, it's easy...but it's also dreadfully boring, because it's not what you are interested in, or at least it's not what you think you are interested in. Teaching the regular curriculum is like saying your shirt is the color brown; can you say unappealing and BLAH. But when you mix it with fun and excitement, a sprinkle of originality, and perhaps a wad of interest, it becomes a dark, silky, dove-chocolate caramel, that would make anyone eager to learn. My teacher said anything you do this year that you are proud of, bring it in and show it off; you might even get some extra credit points. When teaching us about bovine landscape features my teacher said, "You are going to make a map of an island, with any theme you want, that have all these geographical figures on them. Go all out!" Kids came up with all sorts of inventive idea's, one person did a 3d map of "Tarzan Land", another person made their island a snake shape, someone even did Hogwarts. Imagine if my teacher had of said, "Today I am going to spend 50 minutes telling you about geographical features!" Do you think that would have gotten the same response? No, it would not because it is a dull, pasty brown!
And lastly, I felt completely comfortable in that classroom. I don't know how that teacher did it, maybe it was the hundreds of toy figurines, or the colorful artwork, or maybe it was his unassuming presence; but somehow that atmosphere was made for writing, sharing, critiquing, and reading. Everyday at the beginning of class anyone who had something to share was allowed to go up to the front of the room and get the good vibe rolling around the room. The vibe picked up energy as warm, critiques spritzed the air. The ball just kept rolling, gathering energy like an avalanche gathers snow; in that classroom it was okay to be a little nerdy, to get your geek on. In the intensity of writing anything could happen, and atmosphere greatly improves writing. If the atmosphere is warm, and fuzzy then you can be loose and supple, but if the atmosphere is cold and prickly you tense up and your mind, you canvas, is blank.
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