As a teacher, I still have to write by hand for my Grade 3 students. I write their notes or information on my whiteboard or Loft TV and also have handwritten comments for their work. For this assignment, I found it challenging to simply write my ideas without a clear direction of what I wanted to write. It’s been a long time since I’ve freely written my thoughts in a reflective piece!
One thing I quickly noticed while completing this assignment was when I made a mistake while writing and editing my work; I couldn’t push ‘delete’ or use a whiteboard eraser to change my wording. Instead, I had to cross out (I couldn’t find my whiteout) the words I wanted to change. The messiness of the mistakes/crossing out bothers me, but because I chose to use a pen, I didn’t have many other options – unless I wanted to rewrite the piece entirely.
In the podcast, “From the Vault: Invention of the Book”, I appreciated how Robert and Joe highlighted when a person writes or documents something by hand, the written memory is very different from the memory you have in your brain (From the Vault: Invention of the Book, 2021). This thought resonated with me as when I was documenting my story and re-reading what I had written by hand, I felt the emotional context I was attempting to portray was lacking – the recollections and memories were challenging to put into words. One of the most significant differences I noticed in writing my ideas versus typing my thoughts is that I often read aloud what I’ve written and delete/edit accordingly. As a teacher, I love writing in my classroom and watching my students write, for University assignments, I strongly prefer typing. When writing by hand, I couldn’t simply move sentences around or have my spelling automatically corrected – I became very conscious of what I was writing. With typing, I’d have more of an opportunity to edit and change my work because of the ease of deleting, moving and adding additional thoughts. I feel I can better portray what I’d like to say with more concise thoughts and clarity while I’m typing.
I have attached below my written work – I included in my reflection one of my favourite poems I’ve received as a Teacher.
References:
Lamb, R and McCormick, J. May 26, 2020. The Invention of the Book (Part 1) [Audio podcast episode]. In From the Vault. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-to-blow-your-mind-21123915/episode/the-invention-of-the-book-part-63031174/
Thank you for sharing that lovely poem Katherine. It has been such a challenging few years, particularly this one and this really helped me take a step back after a stressful day and reframe my thinking about our profession. It is amazing how a simple card, letter or kind words from students and parents can make such a huge difference, immediately change our mood, and give us that extra push to get through the day/week/month/year.
You have beautiful penmanship!
Katherine, your written manuscript is so wonderful. As a teacher myself, I have also come to realize how you mentioned, is important to keep our awareness of the influence and impact we have at the forefront of our minds, when coming in to work. How special it is when our students and their families recognize the care, dedication and compassion that we have by acknowledging us in some way. That is such a good feeling, and so motivating. I considered your testament while writing, that you wanted to erase some of your work, but because you were handwriting, you had to really think about the words, before you even wrote them down. This made me connect when selecting between texting or a phone call, I may choose texting/email if the conversation is difficult, or I really need to be mindful of the words I am using. I think the most vulnerable communication method is oral communication because you cannot take back what you say, as the person you are talking with processes what you say as soon as you release your words. The next would be hand-writing a card or a formal letter because again you have to commit to the words you choose or need to use white-out or throw out the paper entirely. Lastly would be text or email, because you can pace when you respond, and revise your work without the recipient being aware of your edits or mistakes in writing. Interesting how the pressure to be correct in our communication impacts our choice of media used when communicating with another person or group.