Creative Writing: The Patrick Method (Rough Draft)

If I was to teach Creative Writing in 2013 to a group of non-cooperative obstreperous students, there are a few keys things that I would do. According to Beth Sunny and Vera Marbles, uncooperative students tend to have two traits, the ‘I’m smarter than you’ and the ‘I don’t see the value in this’ attitude. These kids need special treatment for them to cooperate. In order to meet everyone’s individual needs and to take on the class as a new teacher, my class will have minimal hands on material, lots of visual stimulus around the classroom, deep conversations with engaging topics, along with my character as a random, humorous, relatable, and respected instructor. As their instructor, I will look for changes in how conversational, inspired, and motivated my students are.

Very much like Mr. Keating, my classroom won’t have distracting hands on material like props and projectors, it’ll be pure verbal and written work instead. This suggests that the main focus be the subject at hand. If students are allowed to have their cell phones or play with their fancy pencils that take video and glow in the dark, then the students and teacher both will be distracted. Having engaging material that challenges and demands attention from students is key to motivated students.
To be an engaging Creative Writing teacher, my assignments “must be meaningful to them,” says Kevin Bibo of ‘How to Be an Engaging Teacher’. “Once you do [learn who your kids are], you can begin to tailor the work you give to fit the interests and experiences of the kids.” Class conversations and assignments can be about their own experiences, family life, friends, interests, and goals but also aren’t limited to things that the students are quite familiar with. For example, a conversation or assignment could be outlined by the subject ‘unicorns’, and the objective of the pupil is to write a myth on how they first were brought into this world. The student may not be familiar with the original legend, but will creatively create their own version. The task given isn’t a personal experience, but is fun and refreshingly different.
An atmosphere with posters, paintings, drawings, and a hint of color changes the way students come up with ideas. Those who work hard at coming up with their own ideas may take the items into consideration. If a student should say that they can’t think of anything, I’ll tell them to look around the room and write about something that catches their eye and why. This leaves no excuse for work not completed and also promotes motivated active learning.
Why do kids do what one teacher asks but not another? They may even ask the same thing of the same students but one teacher may not get any result. As an instructor, I will be stern, relatable, and humorous when appropriate much like Keating in Dead Poets Society. Just like Mr. Keating said, “We're not laughing at you - we're laughing near you,” is very much how I’d approach my class; with authority but also lightheartedness. With that, however, comes the most difficult task; respect.
How will I make my students respect me? Well as Edna Sackson said in ‘10 Ways To Get Your Students’ Respect’, “Respect your students. Don’t talk down to students. Model mutual respect.  Don’t have double standards. Give what you’d like to get back. Know every child’s story and treat each as an individual. Cater for different learning preferences, strengths and weaknesses.” Essentially saying that if I, as the instructor, don’t acknowledge my own students as individuals, then I shouldn’t expect that in return. This might even mean tailoring my assignments and learning style to fit the needs of the class as a whole and individually. So if I have an assignment that is called ‘Coffee Shop Name Poem’ and the goal is to go around your hometown and create a poem based on the coffee shop names and a student lives on a 40 acre farm, then as the teacher I could ask him to look up names online or in a phone book. These step by step customer service for my students enables them to be challenged no matter what circumstance they’re in.
I will ask for two things in the entirety of the class. The first attributes to the participation grade, that each student grew in their conversation involvement and quality of discussions. That means if a student joins into a classroom discussion and adds something constructive or meaningful on a regular basis, they receive full participation points. The second thing I ask for is quality pieces of writing, which with each student put effort into, and development of ideas throughout their pieces so that they may reflect broad or narrow topics and describe them in ways that are comprehensible to others. I will not ask for a ‘standard of learning’ that each student must cross or meet just as Freire states, “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor... This is the ‘banking’ concept of education” (99). Just as Freire is opposed to teacher telling the students what is truth and they must comply, I ask that my students find their own truth through their papers. As Keating expands, “Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go.” The only form of assessments I will give are paper assignments, usually short story or poem. This is to build off of the notion that grammar and punctuation are important, but in a Creative Writing class not the absolute focus relative to idea development. With these things defined clearly on the first day of class, I will expect it from each student.
Creative Writing is quite possibly the most lenient type of class out of the basic core classes like English, Math, and Science. To have a coherent method of instruction and vigilant pupils working toward development of their own written and verbal material means that as a teacher I have to be scrutinizing late or low quality work, but helping them achieve their full potential in the same way I might ask for it. Less distraction, deep conversation, visual aid around the classroom to stimulate original thought, a light humorous atmosphere, and looking out for each and every student are just some of the ways I will conduct my class.

Works Cited

Bibo, Kevin. “How To Be An Engaging Teacher.” Teaching.Monster.com. Where Teachers Meet and Learn. Web.

Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke. Touchstone Pictures, 1989. DVD

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2007. Print.

Sackson, Edna. “10 Ways To Get Your Students’ Respect.” WhatEdSaid.com. What Ed Said. Web. 28 August, 2010.

Sunny, Beth. “Encouraging the Uncooperative Student to Be Cooperative.” IgnitePoint.com. Showing How To Ignite Your WOW!, 2001. Web.