The first time I heard a poem by Langston Hughes I was in fourth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Marks pulled out a large book filled with poems and had us sit around her as she read. I do not remember what the poem was called, but I know how it made me feel. It actually made me feel like crying. I really did not understand the words that Mrs. Marks was saying but I knew they were beautiful and by the looks on everyone’s face I could tell they felt it too. I felt like Tim Robbins in the Shawshank Redemption, listening to a gorgeous Opera in a language he could not understand. It was that day that when I found out what I wanted to do. I wanted to write. I wanted to make people feel the way Langston Hughes made me feel. I told my teacher later that day and she said “Then write,” and I did. I wrote poems, little stories, and I read. In fourth grade my eyes were opened to the wonderful and creative world of writing and I have been living in that world since I was nine.
Langston Hughes did not teach me how to write and Jane Austen did not teach me either. It is something that comes from deep within me. I write words that feel and words that I want to feel. How can anyone teach a person how to do that? There is no way to teach someone how to write beauty. Of course teachers can teach someone how to spell and how to form complete sentences. Teachers can also teach how to read. Reading to me, is something that can be taught. When you are in Elementary school they teach you how to read and when you get to high school and college, they teach you how to annotate and understand themes in things you read. It is different with writing. You can teach a person how to write an essay or a summary but can you ask that same person to sit down and write a story like Steven King or J.K. Rowling would. Neither can a person think that they can teach another person to write. To learn how to write I simply did what everyone told me to do. They told me to write and read. The more I read the better I get at not only reading but also writing. I learn different styles of writing from authors. Sometimes just reading another author’s work inspires me to try something new. This is pretty much how I learned how to write and how I hear a lot of writers learned how to write. Also I carry around a notebook with me everywhere I go and in this notebook I write down things that I see. I have been doing this since I was eleven and this too has actually helped with my writings because I would have to describe things and people I saw and this gave me practice on being descriptive when I wrote.
Some little fourth grader is going to be reading an article or a poem by me someday and I hope that I can inspire them to write just as I was inspired. Creative writing is something that can never be taught. Reading enables a person to see the beauty of writing and with that comes the inspiration to be creative and write. That is all writing and reading does, it simply inspires and there is no one who can teach that.
Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/376536_my-experiences-with-learning-out-to-read-and-write#ixzz16WcJysmC
Langston Hughes did not teach me how to write and Jane Austen did not teach me either. It is something that comes from deep within me. I write words that feel and words that I want to feel. How can anyone teach a person how to do that? There is no way to teach someone how to write beauty. Of course teachers can teach someone how to spell and how to form complete sentences. Teachers can also teach how to read. Reading to me, is something that can be taught. When you are in Elementary school they teach you how to read and when you get to high school and college, they teach you how to annotate and understand themes in things you read. It is different with writing. You can teach a person how to write an essay or a summary but can you ask that same person to sit down and write a story like Steven King or J.K. Rowling would. Neither can a person think that they can teach another person to write. To learn how to write I simply did what everyone told me to do. They told me to write and read. The more I read the better I get at not only reading but also writing. I learn different styles of writing from authors. Sometimes just reading another author’s work inspires me to try something new. This is pretty much how I learned how to write and how I hear a lot of writers learned how to write. Also I carry around a notebook with me everywhere I go and in this notebook I write down things that I see. I have been doing this since I was eleven and this too has actually helped with my writings because I would have to describe things and people I saw and this gave me practice on being descriptive when I wrote.
Some little fourth grader is going to be reading an article or a poem by me someday and I hope that I can inspire them to write just as I was inspired. Creative writing is something that can never be taught. Reading enables a person to see the beauty of writing and with that comes the inspiration to be creative and write. That is all writing and reading does, it simply inspires and there is no one who can teach that.
Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/376536_my-experiences-with-learning-out-to-read-and-write#ixzz16WcJysmC
No comments:
Post a Comment