There you are!

I seem to have found the hope I lost this semester. Part in thanks to my loving husband, part to my favorite high school teacher's pep talk...but mostly, I think I found it hiding on the other side of my Intro to Theory class: my last day was on Thursday. I didn't even know that old feeling of excitement had returned until I woke up today. I lay snuggled against my warm hubby, feeling our cat, MoMo crawl on top of my bedside table (attempting to push my Harry Potter book off the side, by the way) when I caught myself thinking about teaching.

I considered the scenario of standing in front of my own class of college students, wondering what the hell I was going to say. I considered my dislike of the typical 'get to know ya' first days, my loathing of text books, and my absolute new-found hatred for literary theory. If this was a research class I was going to teach, I needed to find a way to make it interesting. I figured I'd start off by asking them to tell me their names, what their favorite literary genre was, and what author they loved most. If that isn't a conversation starter in a room of English majors, I don't know what is. Then, I'd hand out the dreaded syllabus and ask them who knew what a multi-genre research paper is. Who says research has to be all five paragraph form, who says it needs to be boring? The multi-genre research paper is my key to all things relatable, exciting, and creative in an otherwise dull class. Maybe by that time, people will know what it is. In my first creative writing class at Bemidji State University, only one other person knew what a braided essay was. I guess it just hasn't caught on yet. Thanks again, favorite high school English teacher!

In a research based class, I'd make the MGRP the final semester (or midterm) goal. The rest of the time I'd spend giving examples and having them write research through different types of methods. The first paper might be interview based. I'd ask them to take a historic topic and write about it through the context of another event. For example, I'd ask my grandmother to tell me about her school experiences as she lived through WW2 in Holland. Or I'd ask my mom what life was like growing up while Richard Nixon was in office (talking about Watergate), and how it may have effected her outlook on life. For something closer to home, they could interview (for example) a teacher about their daily routine, and how they coped with the events of 9/11 (as it was a school day). I would stress the importance to my students of seeing everything in context. One thing I've learned over the last semester is how important it is to make subjects relevant to students. I hated my literary theory class because it seemed so useless (and at times seemed insane or just stupid). Research writing doesn't have to be a tedious, panic-attack inducing thing. If my theory teacher had been open to a little creativity, this semester would have been a lot different. I wouldn't be yelling in my sleep about my theory paper, for one.

I even tried to think if I had read any books that I could use in the class to help people see the creative side of research. I almost laughed when I realized I already have two such books on my bookshelf.

Anyway, it's good to have my excitement for my future career back again. I was so happy this morning, I got up and made my husband breakfast in bed. I know this next semester is probably going to be full of more research papers, full of five paragraph themed essays (I'm taking an advanced Composition class among others), but I'm feeling more relaxed about it. As my teacher said, I just need to give the professors what they need, and escape with my voice and style in tact. I think I'll be able to do that without a nervous break down now.

For old times sake, I wanted to include my first attempt at at MGRP...but Scribd seems to dislike the file, no matter what I turn it into. Ah well, I'll just have to take another crack at it in the future.