Literacy History Coffin Week 3

7/24/2019 Literacy History Coffin Week 3

1/5

Running Head: LITERACY HISTORY ESSAY 1

Literacy History Essay

Daniel Coffin

Concordia University, Nebraska

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for EDUC !!

November ""th, !#"$


2/5

WRITING INSTRUCTION: LITERACY HISTORY 2

%rom a youn& a&e, ' have loved to read, ' have been fascinated by (ords, and '

have been a patholo&ical liar) 't (as inevitable that (ritin& (ould come to take an

important place in my life) %rom middle school, throu&h colle&e, and into my

professional life as a teacher, my history as a (riter has taken a fe( interestin& turns,

but the throu&h line remains the same* (ritin& has been for me a means of self+

actualiation, a creative act in defiance of po(erlessness, a (ay to reach out to people

around me for attention)

' (asn-t kiddin& about bein& a liar) '-m not proud of it, but ' look back on my

preadolescent behavior (ith a bemused detachment) ' lied as easily as some breathed)

' (as cau&ht in my lies more than once, but ' &ot a(ay (ith it more often than that) 'n

my defense, ' lied not to seek unfair &ain, but to entertain) .hat (as the harm in

embellishin& a story if it amused the audience/ 0it by bit, ' learned not to strain the

limits of credulity) .hy did ' ever think that my second &rade teacher (ould believe my

dad and ' found dinosaur bones in my backyard/ 'n this informal storytellin& laboratory, '

learned the value of makin& my tales believable) ' learned 1ust ho( far ' could stretch

the circumstances ' (as recountin& so they (ould be po(erful (ithout bein&

preposterous)

' had a really a(k(ard adolescence) ' didn-t feel like ' fit in any(here) 0y the time

' hit middle school, ' realied that ' had to cultivate some means of appealin& to people

around me) ' (asn-t athletic, ' (asn-t attractive, my parents (eren-t (ealthy, and (hile '

(asn-t a dolt, neither (as ' particularly bri&ht) .hat (ould be my an&le/ 't (as around

this time ' discovered Dungeons & Dragons, (hich ' (ould play (ith my friends) %or a

lonely kid cravin& e2citement, adventure, and a social pastime, it (as a revelation) 3y


3/5


friends thou&ht ' (as funny and creative) ' be&an to take over the 4Dun&eon 3aster5

responsibilities, and ' (ould spend hours fillin& notebooks (ith stran&e places, fabulous

treasures, terrible monsters, and (icked villains for my friends to e2plore throu&h

fantasy role+play) 'n those notebooks, ' could create entire (orlds out of (ords)

3y friends reacted to my creations so favorably, ' started (ritin& stories + the

kinds of stories ' (ishes (e could read in school but never did, full of darin& heroes,

fantastic locales, and epic adventure) 't (as around this time my parents bou&ht a

personal computer (ith a (ord+processin& pro&ram, (hich ' could use to type up and

print my stories, (hich my friends (ould pass around) 6hese copies (ould eventually

make their (ay back to me (ith comments from my friends + this part (orked, this part

not so much) ' learned from this e2perience to appeal to my audience) 6he friends of

mine (ho read my stories kne( (hat they liked + more scares, more &ore, more humor +

and ' kne( that if ' &ave them (hat they (anted, they (ould keep readin&, and ' (ould

&et the positive attention ' so desperately craved) 6his attention to audience (ould

serve me (ell as a (riter later in life)

0y the time ' reached colle&e, ' had quit (ritin& stories) 't (as a &oof, a &ame,

not somethin& to take seriously) ' had the skill to (rite passably (ell, but ' didn-t really

have anythin& (orth sayin&, and so ' let it &o) 7s part of my ma1or, ' (as required to take

a (ritin& course, and the only one that fit my schedule (as creative nonfiction) .e read

The Color of WaterandAngelas Ashesand The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake

Streamline Babyand started draftin& some of our o(n (ork, talkin& about our o(n lives)

' (as surprised to find that even (ith my relatively sheltered life, ' mi&ht have had

somethin& (orth (ritin& about) 3y second surprise of the class came (hen ' &ot my


4/5


second piece of &raded (ork back from our instructor (ho told me succinctly, 48ou-re

talented, but you-re lay) .ritin& doesn-t 1ust happen) 8ou have to (ork at this if you

(ant to create somethin& (orth readin&)5 ' had never had an instructor be so blunt (ith

me, but the criticism (as (ell+deserved) ' had become complacent and self+satisfied,

and ' (as not serious about the craft of (ritin&) 3r) 7llen sho(ed me that ' could be a

(riter if ' chose, but that choice (ould entail real discipline and (ork in order to perfect

the craft)

't (as not to be) 3oney problems and a &eneral lack of direction in life led me to

drop out of school not lon& after, and my conflictin& feelin&s about school and (ritin& led

me to put do(n my pen for the better part of a decade) ' eventually (ent back to school,

finished my de&ree, &ot my teachin& certificate, and settled into the life of a middle

school En&lish teacher, (hich kept me busy enou&h (ith lesson plannin& and paper

&radin& that ' had little time for pleasure readin& or (ritin&)

't (as earlier this year that my collea&ue and ' started our students (ritin& daily

in (riter-s notebooks as part of our (ritin& curriculum) 6o model (hat ' (anted them to

do, ' sat do(n at my desk for our fifteen+minute free(rite and started (ritin& in my

notebook) 6o my surprise, ' (rote (ithout stoppin& until my timer (ent off) 't felt &reat) '

had a fe( hundred (ords on the paper that ' didn-t realie ' had in me) ' took my

notebook home that ni&ht and continued fillin& out that piece into three or four pa&e

narrative) 6he ne2t (eek, ' (rote a short story in a lull bet(een classes, after the baby

had been fed her last bottle and put to bed, but before ' (as tired enou&h to &o to sleep)

' posted it in %acebook because ' (as proud of it, and ' received a fairly positive


5/5


response from friends) 't (as the first piece of creative (ritin& ' had done in over a

decade)

't (as only then that ' realied (hy ' should have been (ritin& + to e2plore my

thou&hts, to fi&ure out ho( ' felt about events in my life, to make sense of my ne( role

as a father) ' didn-t need to be a famous published author) Even thou&h ' (ould never

publish, there (as still value in puttin& pencil to paper to &ather and shape my thou&hts)

7s ' &ro( older and 9hopefully: (iser, ' look for(ard to sharin& my e2periences

(ith (ritin& (ith my students and my dau&hter, so that they can come to find the

practice of (ritin& as entertainin&, empo(erin&, and enli&htenin& as ' have) 'f nothin&

else, maybe someday ' can sit do(n to a &ame of Dungeons & Dragons(ith my

dau&hter and be daled by the (orld she has con1ured up from her ima&ination)

Documents

Literacy History Coffin Week 3