Zigzag

I finished Tom Romano’s memoir Zigzag: A Life of Reading and Writing, Teaching and Learning on Sunday.

I first came across Romano’s work while in grad school at Bemidji State. I can’t remember exactly how I came across his work. I know it was when I was doing a paper attacking the thesis-support/five paragraph theme format (which proved to be the basis for “The McEssay: Choking the Voice out of Student Writing" (see the link -- http://teacherscribe.blogspot.com/2008/05/mcessay.html).

Mike Morgan, my rhetoric professor, steered me toward the works of Ken Macrorie, William Coles, William Zeiger, and Peter Elbow. They radically changed how I viewed teaching writing.

The next semester Mark Christensen, my thesis advisor and colleague with whom I team taught two methods classes, recommended Donald Murray’s A Writer Teaches Writing. I think it was probably there that I came across Romano’s name.

I quickly ordered his book, Clearing the Way. But I filed it away while I worked on finish grad school.

It was not until I went back to teaching high school a year later that I actually got around to reading it.

Clearing the Way reinforced all of the theories I had learned in grad school: emphasize voice, introduce students to free writing, teach writing as a process, which Romano referred to percolating, de-emphasize the formal teaching of grammar, focus on narrative as well as expository formats, teachers must write with their students and model the same strategies they are advocating to students, and the importance of publishing student work – even if it’s producing a class anthology or just hanging essay on the board or sharing them at the end of a unit . . .

Even now when I take it off the shelf and open it, I see my notes and comments filling the margins. Good stuff.

Years later, I would see another of his books, Crafting Authentic Voice. This was one of the first teaching textbooks that I read all the way through. I didn’t skip any chapters or get bogged down in research and analysis. Romano was practicing what he was preaching.

What I liked about the book was that it looked at the writing process as a craft. Which, of course, it is. That is why I maintain there is no outline or formula that will help you produce real writing.

I’m not talking about fake writing: five paragraph themes and stuff like that (Romano has a great chapter entitled “The Five Paragraph You Know What” ).

I’m talking about writing that is full of voice and personality. Teachers need to get students to view writing as a craft, an art. The way real writers do.

The second thing about Crafting Authentic Voice that I loved was that last word in the title: voice. That is what we all read for (whether we realize it or not).

Now you might claim, I read the news, and there’s little voice in there. Oh, there’s voice. It’s just that of an unbiased (well, if you don’t listen to Fox news anyway) reporter. But again, I’m talking about real writing.

I know some might argue that some writing may actually be hindered by voice. Take directions, for example. Those have to be completely clear and concise. You can’t have voice or style cluttering that precision.

Give me a break. I’ve put together enough pieces of furniture and what not since we moved into our house and since Kenzie came along, I’ve realized that whoever is able to write directions with voice and style will instantly become a millionaire (in fact, that would make a hell of a blog idea. Take directions for the most complicated things and rewrite them full of voice and style. Then put it to the test. Which way is easier and most effective?).

If you doubt me, then ask yourself why are those Car Talk guys on NPR are so popular? They take complicated information and break it down and repackage it in a way that is full of voice and style so it is easily digestible.

That’s good writing. That’s what Crafting Authentic Voice is all about.

When I saw on amazon that Romano had a new memoir coming along (actually, I think I read an excerpt in English Journal) I looked forward to hearing more of his voice and getting an inside peek into the author’s life.

Here are some of my favorite snippets from Zigzag.

On watching his students make discoveries through writing:

“I liked seeing them discover what they wanted to say – often, in fact, learn what they wanted to say as they actually wrote words on paper, stringing together language in sentences, arriving at deeply felt information they could not have articulated in an outline prior to writing.” (85)

That’s why I love the quote from E.M. Forster, “How do I know that I think until I see what I want to say?”

On his days teaching high school English at Edgewood High School in Ohio where the staff was incredibly passionate and willing to test new ideas:

“We were hungry teachers seeking to learn more about our subject matter. We were committed to finding relevant reading and writing assignments for our students, and we strove to teach them better . . . Learning was an adventure for teachers. We wanted learning to be an adventure for students. There was structure: there was autonomy within the structure. Pedagogical dreams could become reality . . . When we came to new ideas or strategies or literature, we tried them out. Teachers followed their literature passions. In classrooms they enacted their evolving understanding and philosophy of teaching and learning.” (106)

That is one thing I enjoy about the Red River Valley Writing project at UND. For four weeks, English teachers read deeply in their field, discuss what matters most to them (improving how they teach reading and writing), present on our best strategies and practices (the focus being on teachers teaching teachers), and getting plenty of opportunities to write.

Talking about his work at UNH with the legendary Donald Murray, “And always we talked about teaching writing as well as writing writing.” Note the difference. (202).

“Writing writing.” Love that phrase. How much of that actually takes place in a school? Not enough. Students need to write and to explore and discover what they think and have to say. They can’t do that doing ‘canned’ writing.

On the writing process and crafting his first book –

“I lived for revision.”

Romano also talks about a conversation he had with Murray where he states that for a real writing, the grade or outcome of a piece is not the main point. The main point is the process (or as I like to say ‘getting lost in the writing). When I write, I get lost in revision because most of what I do is revision. Even while I’m writing this blog entry, I’m revising. Part of me is pondering what words will come together to form the next sentence while another part is thinking over the previous sentences to make sure I’m on track. Yet another part of me is looking to add asides, jokes, and anecdotes. Revision is what it’s all about.

And finally, this advice he received via a work by either Murray or Donald Graves on how to write a book without a clear end in sight:

“It’s [writing] like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way” (E. L. Doctorow)

What a metaphor for writing. That’s always how I write. Sometimes I have a sharp curve appear suddenly in the headlights and I have to lay off the throttle. Sometimes I find a long straight stretch of pavement ahead and I can press the pedal down and just go. Other times, I never know what will leap across my path. But it is always a journey. And a worthy one at that.