Tuesday, December 4, 2012

NaNoWriMo

I got to substitute in a Creative Writing class today.  I know, this is like super far from the mathematics realm, but it was kind of nice to experience because almost everything about a writing class is different from a math class.  In writing classes, there are rubrics, there is the cooperation of creative and linguistic endeavors, and students spend long classes working independently.  In math classes, there are example problems, practice, reviews, formulas, theories, application of vocabulary in a numerical context, and problem solving.

The students in this class were instructed to write a 10 minute play about anything they desired.  The only cavet?  They needed to use at least three forms of persuasion (bribery, flattery, praise, threats, blackmail, pleading/begging, positive/negative emotional appeal).  While I was walking around, convincing students to keep on task and to work on their assignment, I realized how much I really missed writing creatively.  I mean, that's what draws me to having a blog.  I started getting into the concept of having a blog when I was working on math assignments non-stop, and all I wrote about all day were proofs.  I grew tired of that very specialized form of creativity; writing proofs takes thought and cleverness, but it's reason and logic, not emotion and dramatization.  I missed it.  

Since I no longer have math assignments or teaching assignments to do, I really want to spend some time this month writing creatively.  When I was brainstorming today, I found out what NaNoWriMo is and now one of my friends' facebook statuses make a ton of sense.  NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  I thought my friend was talking baby-talk or something crazy like that.  I really should ask more questions when I think absurd things.  Anyway, I think NaNoWriMo is in November, so I missed it this year.  But maybe I can do some work and get my future students involved in this concept in 2013, despite being a math teacher?

1 comment:

  1. The whole academic world is abuzz with interdisciplinary studies. The whole idea is when two seeming unrelated fields are brought together, some new is found. Being good at writing and hating math is no better than being good at sports and nothing else (like money management). I would challenge High School teachers to find ways to bring interdisciplinary subjects into their classroom as a way to show that math needs poets and historians as much as they need math! You are the ultimate interdisciplinarian (what don't you like to do?) so pick up the challenge.

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