QCQ for REMIX
Quotation (with page number or parag number or time stamp if video/audio)
More specifically, between ninth grade and college, why do we waste time on essays on Shakespeare or Hemingway or Proust? What do we expect to gain? Because, as an academic, I can tell you the vast majority of this writing is just crap. So why do we force kids to suffer, and why do we force their professors to suffer this “creativity”? Pg 157 Para 2.
Comment (250-500 words)
I agree that learning from the great masters is important in any art form. Music, dance, theater, art, fine art, or writing. However, especially in this age of social media, I feel that, what is assigned should at least be inspiring. Writing about boring stuff is not only mind blocking but stunting in writing abilities. There are teachers and professors who just know how to put the right spin on a writing assignment or any assignment to get the best results. I mean pretty creative people.
I once read an article about an art teacher who wanted to teach about Michelangelo. He thought out of the box and decided to tape drawing paper on the underside of student’s desks. He then had student’s lie down under the desks, look up at the paper, and paint as though they were Michelangelo lying on his back painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. This is the kind of inspiration I am talking about.
For instance, if I were to teach about Hemingway, I would mention that he is a distant cousin of mine since we both descend from the Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. As well as other famous writers like Laura Ingalls Wilder, Helen Keller, and Robert Frost. Just a little bit of meat to sustain interest. Longfellow had a hard time writing poetry for some time after his second wife’s death after she sustained severe burns when her dress caught on fire. To make this personable, I would add that my own grandmother sustained severe burns when her dress caught on fire at a bon fire when she was just nine years old. Find a hook. Everything assigned should have a good inspiring hook to it! Just my opinion.
Social media hooks us many times over. It is baffling how easily social media can hook a person. Almost like a drug or gambling addiction. People can never get enough. That’s why they are entranced staring at their cell phones all the time. No one wants to read or write about boring stuff when they have been sensitized to social media since they held their first cell phone in their hands. Identify the hook of a reading assignment before handing it out. Instead of just handing it out and telling students to read it. Make the plot thicken, or give a little synopsis with your own creative spin on it. Assignments are competing with social media, be savvy, research, hook.
Question: What type of social media do you think inspires people to write most creatively?
