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writingcommunicationdiversity · 3 years ago

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I find myself in words over and over again.

My identity had always been a concept I struggled with. Growing up I found I was consistently someone that fell in between categories of societal norms, I will leave that up for interpretation. Because of this I found the best way to express myself was through writing. In my writing I was afforded whatever creative freedoms I could think of and found a way to express myself. I could use any form of communication I wanted, formal or informal. Being from a multilingual background I could use whatever language I personally believed fit my writing best, I had the ability and the freedom to communicate freely. In my writing I could communicate to the world that I felt didn't understand me, that didn’t know me yet. I would find myself again and again through my writing, and today I still find myself, in times of distress going back to it.This was outside of the classroom, this was where I could take writing when I was allowed freedom of expression and no time limits or due dates. This is my personal experience, that I find is often relatable when discussed. When asked, students will discuss and communicate this personal aspect that is missing in the classroom. That this key component of communication and writing lacks in all graded assignments even when teachers want you to make ‘personal connections’ they often don’t mean it in a way that allows students the freedom to grow and understand themselves better as writers. It's not about expression, in the classroom it is about grades. Today while this is still a foriegn concept there are some people who see that writing can be so much more, “Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach unfinished writing and glory in its unfinishedness. We work with language in action,” (Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product)

Because of my deep love of writing in college I went into English on a Writing and Rhetoric track. This opened up doors to further my connection with writing, but on the other hand I was a political science major, and informal writing, or personal connections were not allowed. However, my need for deeper writing and creativity was appeased by my classes that actively taught me writing as a form of expression and communication. I was seeing writing in the classroom as new. However, I was now in college. I had had over 12 years of public education and indoctrination that had taught me how to write formally for a broad and general audience, how to remove feelings, diversity, and style from writing, instead of using it as a tool. I had been taught that the state tests wanted this exact formula of essay and if you gave them that, relinquishing all identity and expression you could pass their tests. I remember I went to a very diverse high school where the percentage of hispanic identifying students was over 50% of the school population, and we were not allowed to speak Spanish in the classroom casually. Students would try to communicate to their peers in a language they both understood and we were told that we have to speak English in the classroom the way we would have to in the workplace. I knew how many of my classmates' first language, the language they knew best that came off their tongue and out of their pen most naturally, was Spanish, and how many of them must have felt oppressed by these rules, by this standard. I wondered how many of them would be doing better in classes if that language was integrated into their studies or at least allowed in the space they were supposed to be learning in.

This is why upon my first time reading the CCC (Conference on College Composition and Communication) document, “Students' Right to Their Own Language”, I was in shock but beyond that I vehemently agreed. Their statement, “The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers, and immoral advice for humans. A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable

them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language,” (Special Issue of CCC, Fall, 1974, Vol. XXV). I was floored at the understanding, at the perspective, especially from a document written in 1974. This was the understanding that the teachers of my high school lacked for their students especially in a diverse area like South Florida. Fast forward again to college, now living in Miami and going to an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution), where not only most students spoke Spanish but professors as well, I found at this level there was space and understanding for diversity. For some. For spanish speaking students in the english department there was loads, but for students of other dialects in any other department it was non-existent, even more than in high school because it wasn’t even a discussion it wasn’t explicitly stated no other languages but it was so out there it didn’t even have to be.

This is something that I and other educators of today are looking to change, “I promised myself that I would try too—try to connect with my students and to establish a classroom space guided by love and not fear, a space where “being good at English” is not the determining factor of success or the metric for measuring effort and intellect. Because of my students, I am still trying,” (Sites Of Translation). This promise stuck out to me as I recently decided teaching could be a viable career path for me and that my love of educating, and learning could culminate to a rewarding career of working with students of the future generations. That I could create for them the spaces I so desperately had wished to see as a student. It was also through writing this piece that I realized this, that I wanted change and with my degree in English in hand I could be that change I would like to see for the future of writing in the classroom. I guess you could say I found myself through writing—again.

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