Before You Get Angry About Writing, Read This!

Every year it’s the same: I give a writing assignment, and immediately the groans begin.

“I hate writing!”

“I’m not any good at it; I always make mistakes.”

“You’re a fat loser and you have body odor.”

Ironically, the same students who hate doing the assignment are the ones who, in the first writing activity of the year, claimed they wanted to become better writers. News flash: you can’t get better at something unless you do it.

 A lot.

Not only is writing part of every English class, it is a skill with remarkable value outside the classroom. Every job requires some form of writing, even if only filling out forms. The better a person excels at writing, the better they express themselves to others, improving their communication skills, not just on the page, but verbally, too.

So, here are three basic writing tips to help you enormously in (and out) of class.

1.       Know your stuff!

Once we start a writing assignment, there are always a few kids who turn in nothing and say, “I didn’t know how to start.” It’s easy to reply, “Well, see that pencil there? Yeah, that one: pick it up and put the pointy end – you do know which is the pointy end? Put the pointy end against the paper and just start making letters…” It’s easy being sarcastic, but it does no one any favors.

Chances are likely a person can’t figure out where to start because he or she doesn’t have enough information about the topic. There’s an old saying one should write what they know; it’s impossible to write when you know nothing.

So, do your homework: research the topic. Writing a paper comparing the universal themes in two short stories?  Know both stories backwards and forwards. Read articles about both stories and see what others are saying. Pick your classmates’ brains. Then scribble your ideas down – it’s amazing how easy the words come when you have a whole bunch of ideas bouncing around upstairs.

2.       Write in paragraphs!

When you go to the bank and ask for a thousand dollars from your account, would you expect the teller to hand you a thousand dollar bill? If the teller handed you a single bill, what would you say? No doubt you’d tell her to break the bill.

Just like the thousand dollar bill, an essay needs to be broken into smaller denominations, i.e. paragraphs. Writing a paragraph is not difficult. Each should have a basic idea, and every sentence should work towards making that idea clearer and stronger. Depending on the type of essay, each paragraph should feature details and specific evidence to support the main idea. It’s not exactly rocket science: if you say something, you need to back it up.

As for paragraph length, it shouldn’t matter. Look at the paragraphs in this article. Are they all the same length? Some are shorter than others. This is because I wrote on the topic of each paragraph until I had nothing else to say, or until I figured I had clearly said enough. Try not to get tangled in the trap of making every paragraph the same length. This is the design of teachers who most likely believe they must set a sentence minimum to ensure student effort; while it may work, and may even have its benefits, writing is not a mathematical formula.

3.       Don’t sweat the errors (well, maybe a little…)

When I ask a student about what they believe makes good writing, the first thing I usually hear has nothing to do with quality ideas, meaningful word choice, beautiful style, or effective organization. No, usually it has to do with the mechanics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

If you were asked about what makes a good car, would you talk about the muffler, the sparkplugs, or the oil filter? The windshield wipers? The lugnuts? Of course not! No one denies they are important elements to a car – after all, they hold the machine together – but they are not going to open your checkbook at the dealership.

The same is true for writing in any genre. The grammar, spelling, and punctuation – known as the conventions of writing – are essential to ensuring a reader understands what you are saying. At the same time, they are not the decisive factor in whether or not a work is quality.

The reason for this is that the conventions are easy fixings. It’s not hard to open a dictionary, or pull up a dictionary app on your cell phone, to check spelling. There’s not much challenge in going online and searching for “grammar rules” to see if you’re punctuating correctly or using appropriate subject-verb agreement. These are grunt tasks, like tightening the lugnuts, or changing the oil filter – necessary, but ultimately invisible.

So, don’t worry about making mistakes as you write. If you think you misspelled something, circle it and come back later. If you aren’t sure about a comma, semi-colon, or whether a specific word should be capitalized, note it and look it up later. Writing is meant to be done in multiple drafts, so you will have plenty of opportunities to tighten all the bolts in your work.

These three writing tips are a good start, provided you have figured out where to begin. If not, revisit tip number one.

Evaluating Odysseus as an Archetypal Hero

Today, in Honors English I, we took a look at a writing prompt requiring a college level response. What follows is my response to the prompt as an example of the complexity we are looking for.

Prompt

Taking into consideration the archetype of the “hero,” evaluate Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey. Does Odysseus fit the mold of the “traditional” hero? How does he compare to more modern heroes in the films and literature to which you have been exposed?

Response

Not only is Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, a traditional hero, he is the template from which the modern hero is cut.

The characteristics of a hero are pretty basic. The archetype is defined by 1) being born, or from royalty, 2) having special weapons, 3) suffering a traumatic event, and 4) requiring some sort of supernatural help on his/her quest. Odysseus fulfills all of these elements:

He is royal. Son of Laertes, he is King of Ithaca. His identity as king plays a prime role in The Odyssey. In the story of the Cyclops, it is Odysseus’s decision to share his identity after blinding and humiliating the Cyclops that puts our hero in the predicament keeping him separated from home for an extra 10 years after the Trojan War. In addition, Odysseus’s lineage is of great import in the epic’s climax, as the revelation of his identity shocks and frightens the suitors vying for Penelope’s hand in marriage. Revealing his identity to the interlopers looking to take his throne is quite the parallel to the story of the Cyclops. Odysseus is humbled by his trials and ordeal, making his role as King all the more powerful and mighty.

Perhaps having his remarkable bow with him on the high seas would have eased Odysseus's “deep heart,” but unfortunately he did not. This makes his bow seem all the more special. In the climatic moments of The Odyssey, Odysseus and the suitors are challenged by Penelope to test their strength by being able to bend Odysseus’s great bow and launch an arrow through 12 ax handles. Every suitor tries the bow and cannot bend it, until Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, picks up the weapon, examines it thoroughly, and then proceeds to bend the bow and launch an arrow cleanly through the ax handles. This moment reveals the truth of his identity, and also turns the bow and arrow into symbols of truth and justice in Odysseus’s world.

Suffering trauma is essential to a hero. For a character to be royal and not suffer seems a bit unfair, right? Regardless, Odysseus’s trauma is the crux of his journey: he’s trapped at sea, separated from both his family and homeland. No matter how hard he works to return, he is forced by the gods to endure heartbreak, loss, and the deaths of his trusty men while facing some of literature’s most frightening creatures. The prologue informs us early on that he weathered many bleak days in his deep heart. Now, ironically, Odysseus is also the cause of his own suffering. His weakness – another essential heroic trait – manifests itself in the story of the Cyclops. Odysseus is too proud to allow himself victory over the giant one-eyed monster without having to announce to the Cyclops, the gods, and the world who he is. This need to “rub it in” is why Odysseus must suffer, so that he may learn humility.

Lastly, Odysseus is defined by his supernatural helpers. He is aided at various times by Athena, goddess of wisdom, who inspires him both in the Cyclops cave, but also in the Land of the Dead, and again back home against the suitors. But he is also provided help by the sorceress, Circe, who shows him the way to the Land of the Dead, and later by Calypso, another goddess whose help leads him to Aeolus and the Phaecians, who provide him with the tools necessary to finally make his way home. These helpers reveal that even a true hero cannot do everything alone, and need a support structure to completely fulfill their potential and destiny.

The hero archetype exists because, regardless of the time period or culture from which the hero emerges, the traits are universal. Odysseus is the nth degree great great grandfather to the likes of Harry Potter, Neo, Spiderman, Daniel LaRusso, and Clark Kent. While eras have changed and society’s needs evolved, the hero has remained constant, a central figure reminding us of our potential for individual greatness; a symbol of order in the midst of chaos, showing us that we have the ability to overcome any of life’s challenges, tests, and ordeals. Like Odysseus and his kin, we all must die to ourselves and be resurrected as a more powerful force, able to return to our ordinary worlds and bring about the changes necessary to make our lives – and the lives of those we love – better than they were before.

Works Cited

Homer. "The Odyssey." Prentice Hall Literature. Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. 981-1046. Print.

Schwab, Gustav. Odysseus Slays the Suitors. Digital image. NBC News. NBC, 23 June 2008. Web. 27 Aug. 2013.

Use the Bathroom Wisely and Other Study Tips

Everyone knows what homework is, even those who refuse to do it. It’s those neat little activities or week long projects your teachers give you at the end of class you have to take home, slave over, and turn in the next day.

Homework is work. But it should not only be reduced to worksheets, projects, and things that must be turned in.

Teachers often tell students to study. Yet, without a specific thing that must be turned in, students often don’t know where to begin, or even the first clue as to what study actually means. No doubt you know the dictionary definition of study, but the practical definition? That’s a different set of notes.

Study means carving out time in your schedule every single day to review anything you covered in class, not just for the current day, but for the previous weeks, too. This includes notes, handouts, returned assignments, class readings from the textbook, and your personal annotations.

Study means getting a group of friends together to talk about the material in your shared classes. With social networking sites like Facebook, Skype, and Google +, you have a large array of options that don’t necessarily require you to meet up at the public library or the Denny’s down the block.

Studying this way probably sounds alien, especially since you live in a culture that constantly tells you that “school stays at school” and “home stays at home.” But talking about what you’re learning with anyone may make the difference between the grade you have and the grade you want.

So, studying is different than homework, and definitely has benefits, but how do you do it? Here are some tips:

1.       Make time.

If you do not make time to study, you will not study.

Plan a minimum of 20 minutes of study time per day (even on weekends) for the classes that require the most of you (English, math, history, science). Make an effort to plan your study time around those periods you are tired, or winding down after a long day. Here are the times of the day most students seldom consider using:

• Wake up 30 minutes earlier and study then. You might be groggy at first, but you will adapt. And you won’t be as likely to fall asleep, especially if you’re getting a good night’s sleep (you are, aren’t you?).
• Meal times are helpful because, unless you’re having a family dinner, you are sitting around doing nothing more important than shoveling food into your mouth. The act of eating keeps you awake and, depending on what you’re eating, can even stimulate your mind.
• Use your bathroom time! The bathroom is the place you have privacy for about 15-20 minutes, and seriously, what else are you going to do while squeezing one out? Stare at the walls? Most people read while they’re on the toilet, so why not notes? More productive than that latest Willy Wonka meme on Facebook.

2.       Eliminate distractions

When you study, you need to be studying. It is probably safe to assume that when most students are “studying,” they are also listening to music, keeping track of their smartphones, yelling at their kid brothers and sisters to keep it down, texting friends, and watching TV in the background. If your mind is divided between multiple tasks, it will not be able to do any effectively.

Find a spot where you can study without a lot of distractions. Turn off the cell phone. Avoid the TV. Listen to music that doesn’t have words, or at least music you are familiar with. This might be tough at first, but it gets easier with practice.

3.       Reward yourself

You are not a robot; you are a human being (although, you might want to check). So, take breaks when you study. Read and review those notes and textbooks for 20-30 minutes, then take a break and reward yourself. Turn that cell phone back on and check Twitter. Watch an episode of Breaking Bad. Text a friend. Play a round of Battlefield. Then, if you have more studying to do, shut everything down again, and get back to it.

Studying should not be an activity that kills you, crushes your spirit, or absorbs every ounce of your time. If you plan time every day, you will not only see benefits in the classroom, you will discover yourself enjoying those preferred activities so much more.

So, find a bathroom, take a seat, and get studying!

What Do I Underline? How to Determine What Matters in a Story

Inevitably, once a person starts annotating literature for the first time, the question arises: “How do I know what to underline? How can I tell what’s important?” After all, when the teacher models annotating in the classroom, they make it look so easy, underlining words and sentences and passages with the ease of a magician’s slight of hand.

Don’t worry, though. You, too, can figure out the things that matter from the things that don’t. Here are a few tips.

1)      Everything is a symbol.

A symbol is an object that represents an idea. Anything in a story can have symbolic value. Why? Because the story has an author, and authors don’t usually make a habit of putting objects in their stories for no reason. The real question is what should we consider an “object.” In Guy de Maupassant’s classic, “The Necklace,” the object in the title should immediately trigger your “symbol alert” senses. But what about the invitation that the main character, Mathilde Loisel’s, husband gives her for a swanky rich person party? It’s a symbol, too. The question is, of course, what does the invitation – or the necklace itself – symbolize. That’s for you to decide.

What about people, though? They are objects, too. Authors manipulate their characters just as they manipulate the non living objects of their stories. So, in “The Necklace,” what does Mathilde herself symbolize? Her husband? Her best friend, Mme. Forestier? They all have symbolic value, too. And your ideas about that will shape what you decide to underline in a story.

2)      Look for irony.

Irony occurs when what happens – or is said – does not meet the expectations you were prepared for by the author. Back to “The Necklace,” it is of course ironic that in the end, Mathilde discovers that the necklace she spent ten years slaving over to replace turned out to be a fake. That’s called situational irony. But it is also ironic that Mathilde begins the story thinking about how poor she is, even though she pays for a servant to clean her “shabby” home. It’s even more ironic that this woman, who thought she was poor, eventually becomes poverty stricken because of her pursuit of feeling rich.

When you see things in a story that play against your expectations, that is irony. Notice it, underline it, and enjoy it. Irony is one of the greatest elements of all literature.

3)      Descriptions matter.

Authors love to describe everything: characters, settings, objects…and it is usually because what they describe is important to the story they are trying to tell. On one level, descriptions can tell us what things look like, sound like, etc., and that is useful. But when we look at the words being selected, they tell us things on a completely different level. Take this description from “The Necklace.”

"All at once, in a box lined with black satin, she came upon a superb diamond necklace, and her heart started beating with overwhelming desire. Her hands trembled as she picked it up. She fastened it around her neck over her high-necked dress and stood there gazing at herself ecstatically."

Consider the word choice. The box is “lined with black satin.” The color black is often a symbol of death, so the immediate association with this obviously expensive necklace is death, which we learn later represents a death of sorts to Mathilde. We also see that Mathilde “fastened it around her neck over her high-necked dress”. The word “neck” is used twice, making that the focus. The general impression is that this necklace is a noose, or at least a shackle, even though Mathilde is ecstatic about it.

These tips are a good way to get yourself started annotating with independence and creativity. Of course, it will be difficult at first, because the process of marking up a text for meaning is new to you. But, give it time, work hard, and look for these things, and soon enough you’ll be finding “hidden” meanings you never thought you’d be able to in a million years.