“Such a move suggests the fluid nature of structure. Structure may be perceived as a kind of textual space (Nystrand, 1986) created by both readers and writers, not simply a “characteristic of a text that exists apart from the people involved in producing and comprehending them” (Shallert, 1987, p.73). (p11)
One of the things I would like my students to leave my class with in regards to writing is that essays are not formulaic, but that does not mean they do not have a structure. The structure is part of the meaning and as a reader one should look at how the writer put the piece together, what was being attempted when this part of an essay comes before another, or refers back to something that had come previously. As well as to become aware of what they bring to a text as a reader, and how that can play into the creation of a meaning that might possibly go beyond what the writer had in mind; and that it is ok to be an active participant in the creation of meaning. As a part of this process I hope the students come to see their own essays as a creative act where they are an agent in the creation of the work, not simply filling in the blanks of pattern handed to them by the teacher, society, or some other authority. That it is ok to take a risk and say what they wish to say, or to discover what they wish to say as they are saying it. That structure can be and often is an organic outgrowth of the thinking of the student.
Next school year I want to open up the writing and reading more in my class while at the same time laying in a bit more control and direction. Inside of this paradox lives what I am taking from this week. I want to specifically use the texts, poetry and essays I present in class in a conscious interconnected manner to try to teach the students to look at a text as a writer. Off the top of my head I think I can use essays as a macro focus and poetry as a micro focus for what a writer is doing inside of the text. Part of the overarching connection will be Andrea Lundsford’s phrase “everything is an argument” and have the students look at what purpose is being served by what the writer did, either in a structural or stylistic manner. I want them to think beyond: “oh that was just to keep the reader’s interest,” which I don’t think is ever the case. I want them to be able to explain why they think the writer did what she did. And explain why they did what they did in their own writing beyond they wanted a grade. What was the purpose? The reason for using a technique, story, sentence, or structure and how that reason helped create a meaning.
subtext 