Lightning just struck my brain
Aren't epiphanies the greatest things in the world?
For the longest time, I thought I would write my bibliographic essay about tutoring in hostile situations. The long session I had with the incredibly rude, cell phone answering, eye rolling student drove me to see if I could find more about such situations. I had some ridiculous idea that if I could find enough literature about tutoring in hostile situations, I would know exactly why that student had been hostile. And let's be honest -- I wanted to write my bibliographic essay on that topic for my own cathartic purposes. Even after a couple of months, the incident still bothered me worse than having my prosthetic eye in upside down (and trust me, that is not a comfortable situation). Nothing like a good, old fashioned "purging of emotion" to get rid of all my feelings of worry and guilt. Yes -- oddly enough, I feel I am as much to blame for the situation as the student was. Maybe I needed to be a little more involved. Maybe I needed more understanding. Maybe I needed to open my eyes a little wider.
On Thursday, after a few days of searching the database for articles on just such situations, I still had not found anything. I talked to Claire about my difficulties in searching, and she suggested using the key words "reluctant writers" instead of the word "hostile." What's not to love about euphemism? Reluctant still seems like such a kind word to use when describing that student. The search turned up more results and I started to look at them. And then I realized: the best way for me to put that session behind me is to put it behind me and write something new. Besides, I wasn't too fond of most of the articles I found.
Then I opened our textbook for what seemed the umpty-trillionth time and started to thumb through it. Nothing stood out, probably because I thumbed through it in much the same way I thumb through flip books: the idea is to look occupied and engaged even if you are staring past the magically moving pictures. On a whim, I decided to glance through the table of contents. I found this title: "Is There a Creative Writer in the House? Tutoring to Enhance Creativity and Engagement."
My thought process ran something like this: Hmm. Good title. I like creativity. I am a creative person. Creative writing is my favorite thing to do. Creative writing is my major. (This is where the epiphany came in.) Hey, creative writing is my major! (Before you mock me, please note -- not all epiphanies involve highly intelligent thinking. Obviously.) So my bibliographic essay will be about tutoring creative writing/tutoring creatively in the writing center. I'm excited! And this is already proving to be cathartic because involving myself in research I enjoy has been far more emotionally cleansing than stewing over that one nasty session as I researched hostility (sorry, "reluctant writing") in the writing center.
For the longest time, I thought I would write my bibliographic essay about tutoring in hostile situations. The long session I had with the incredibly rude, cell phone answering, eye rolling student drove me to see if I could find more about such situations. I had some ridiculous idea that if I could find enough literature about tutoring in hostile situations, I would know exactly why that student had been hostile. And let's be honest -- I wanted to write my bibliographic essay on that topic for my own cathartic purposes. Even after a couple of months, the incident still bothered me worse than having my prosthetic eye in upside down (and trust me, that is not a comfortable situation). Nothing like a good, old fashioned "purging of emotion" to get rid of all my feelings of worry and guilt. Yes -- oddly enough, I feel I am as much to blame for the situation as the student was. Maybe I needed to be a little more involved. Maybe I needed more understanding. Maybe I needed to open my eyes a little wider.
On Thursday, after a few days of searching the database for articles on just such situations, I still had not found anything. I talked to Claire about my difficulties in searching, and she suggested using the key words "reluctant writers" instead of the word "hostile." What's not to love about euphemism? Reluctant still seems like such a kind word to use when describing that student. The search turned up more results and I started to look at them. And then I realized: the best way for me to put that session behind me is to put it behind me and write something new. Besides, I wasn't too fond of most of the articles I found.
Then I opened our textbook for what seemed the umpty-trillionth time and started to thumb through it. Nothing stood out, probably because I thumbed through it in much the same way I thumb through flip books: the idea is to look occupied and engaged even if you are staring past the magically moving pictures. On a whim, I decided to glance through the table of contents. I found this title: "Is There a Creative Writer in the House? Tutoring to Enhance Creativity and Engagement."
My thought process ran something like this: Hmm. Good title. I like creativity. I am a creative person. Creative writing is my favorite thing to do. Creative writing is my major. (This is where the epiphany came in.) Hey, creative writing is my major! (Before you mock me, please note -- not all epiphanies involve highly intelligent thinking. Obviously.) So my bibliographic essay will be about tutoring creative writing/tutoring creatively in the writing center. I'm excited! And this is already proving to be cathartic because involving myself in research I enjoy has been far more emotionally cleansing than stewing over that one nasty session as I researched hostility (sorry, "reluctant writing") in the writing center.
posted by Anonymous at 8:00 PM
2 Comments:
I have a confession. I was reading your blog over at my sister's house and when I read the part of your blog where you evaluate your thinking process... (the "hmm...creative writing is my major" part)... I laughed out loud. I thought how much this sounds so like you, Katie. My brother-in-law probably thought I was crazy for laughing out loud. But I think that you are wonderful, and you make me smile... and obviously, laugh.
:)
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