Return to Top
"I said it because I felt like it!"
Since teaching demands judgemental conclusions, this common expression demonstrates teachers' freedom earned because they are the teacher. Whether responding to the writing or to the student, the nature of teachers' work requires endless numbers of inner responses. Such an encounter is usually short, abrupt, and may even include a student who feels shortchanged because the teacher evades the desired explanation--withholding comment fearing accusal of being narrow-minded, over-opinionated, or unnecessarily emotional. Researchers claim that senses are responsible for the words we use in such responses because we attach meaning to words according to our emotional experience--inner senses. This claim supports that each individual has a personality built into the inner senses. Furthermore, those who experience the responses springing forth impulsively from inner senses allege that whole concepts can be attached to a one-word stimulus whose oral expression can trigger positively or negatively. It behooves instructors to build strong inner senses in preparation for the numerous times they will experience such encounters. Whether for good or bad, words do attach to this inner set of values; thus, reponses to individual words leap out upon stimulus reflecting stored inner senses, occasionally, even to a degree of personal surprise. Consider the surprising effect of a one word response in the following story.
Journal Entry #1: "My lesson had been presented smoothly. I now faced the pile of compositions submitted post hoc of my carefully constructed lesson with the task of choosing to read who had applied the idea of pulling the reader into the writing with a cleverly worded title or well worded opening statement. Two comps caught my attention. The first, titled "The Sprite I Once Knew", triggered a response of entertaining expectation. "Hummm . . . clever! I bet that will be a fun one to read." The second, with the opening sentence claiming the author loved his wife's sister as much as his wife, triggered a response of judgmental curiosity. "Un . . . wow! What is going on here." Curiosity won over entertainment. I settled myself into the latter. I was not disappointed, for the author's story showed me that he did, in fact, love his wife's sister as much as his wife, and that his claim that it is possible to love one woman just as much as the other was valid. As the comp unfolded, I learned the author had incurred a terrible brain injury during an automobile accident which resulted in a partial lobe removal of his brain. Upon learning of his condition, his desire to live vanished completely since he could envision nothing more than living the remainder of his life barely above the status of a vegetable. Literally, the author determined it was his duty to die. Responding to his personal decision, his body refused to begin healing though no other reason existed why it shouldn't, and his strength was meandering downward daily with no other explanation. Then subconsciously the patient responded to the pleadings of a nurse who somehow rescued him from the valley of death by inspiring him that the power of giving up life belonged to someone else--not him. The author called this married nurse his 'angel of light'. The nurse cared for him through the entire recovery process, and later introduced him to her sister whom the author later married. It was a sweet story--totally convincing that the author loved his wife's sister as much as his wife. I felt rewarded for the reading.
I then turned to "The Sprite I Once Knew" with the same reward expectations but in a lighter more entertaining way. After reading the first paragraph, I completely lost interest. I felt deceived. I became so unreceptive of what the author had to say, I jotted a reminder to proofread more carefully and then placed the comp on the bottom of the pile to be finished later. The word Sprite had been only a typo for the word Spirit. "The spirit I Once Knew" was simply the belief in a pre-existance--common knowledge. Instead of being clever, the author had simply made an error. My expectation plummeted. I was disappointed in the author, and I was surprised at myself. I couldn't believe I had reacted so stronly to a one word error."
This story recorded a complete mood swing from sweet fulfillment of curiosity to complete dissatisfaction with the author. Only one word had triggered such a disgusted response, but that one word aroused a complete reversal of mood. Mood encounters such as these are not restricted to the correction of compositions. Sometimes a visit at the office can be just as impulsive and just as subject to mood reversals. Consider this story about a visit from a student who had survived a suicide attempt and returned saying she wanted her cause/effect essay to record the experience.
Journal Entry #2: "I couldn't do it," the student said as she placed one page of what was supposed to be a three page cause/effect essay in front of me. "I couldn't go any farther. I just couldn't." I looked Amy in the eye and said, "That's okay. If it were destroying you to continue, it is best you stopped, but tell me--did you learn anything about yourself by trying?" Amy's eyes lowered slightly, but they remained focused on me rather than the paper as she said, "I learned I need to change myself." A cold chill ran down my back. I had heard these words before from the three suicide-attempt teens that had shared my home some years earlier. "What did you say?" I probed. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean." "Well, I learned that I need to make changes in the way I feel about things. I need to change the way I fit into things. You know . . . I just need to change me." "Ouch!" I replied. "Don't you ever say that again in my presence--ever. Amy, I want you to make me a promise. Promise me you won't ever say in my presence again that you have to change yourself. What you do other places is your business, but when you talk to me, use the word cope--not change. What you need to do is learn to cope, not change. You are a wonderful person as you are. You do not need to change you. You need to learn coping skills for the lifestyle that faces you." Amy withdrew. I could see I had hit a sensitive spot. Amy had sincerely shared what she thought was her answer, and I had just atom-bombed her thinking. I knew I must go on. "Think about that word, Amy. Change has a negative connotation. Saying you have to change yourself is implying you are not pleasing the way you are. That is not true. You have just experienced an attempted suicide. Going through that experience is similar to that of an unwed first time mother. When a child is born, the mother puts herself on the threshold of death--by choice. She could have aborted early in the pregnancy. Instead, she chose to suffer excruciating pain from both the delivery itself and the emotional aspect of having an illegitimate child which would change her environment. But, out of the experience comes a greater, richer understanding of life. Certainly her life will never be the same. There is just something there that wasn't before. The mom is not a different person than she was when she made her choice, but she will have to learn to cope with the new situation. She is no different than she ever was except new information, emotions, judgement, and pain have been experienced. No--she is not less, but more than she ever has been. She is actually richer in the meaning of life than ever before. Now she will need to develop coping skills for her new challenges. You, too, have made a choice to endure changes in your life. From death's door you, too, have gained a greater, richer meaning in life, but there will be pain with the changes. You are the same as you were, but with more knowledge. You will need to cope in the new situation. Cope--not change. Can you see what I mean." "I never thought of it that way before. Change does have sort of a negative meaning doesn't it." "Maybe only to me. I am a writer. I dwell on the double meanings of individual words. This meaning might not occur to another, but it does to me. So what I'm saying only refers to communication between us unless you choose otherwise. Okay?" "No, I want to think of it that way permanently--with everyone. Somehow that one word makes life seem easier. Somehow it makes me seem more valuable. From now on I will work to cope, not change," Amy promised. I remember watching Amy leave my office with a new countenance. The somberness had disappeared.
This story illustrates how a one word response can lift a person to a better life, even a desire for life. Similarly, one word can pull an image down. This too, can trigger and inner reflection of senses. Consider the example of this letter to John written after scoring his comp3 assignment.
Journal Entry #3: "I am writing concerning the word Sucks. This is a slang word, but slang is acceptable in a title. The issue here is not that you have chosen a slang word, but that the word has a double meaning one of which is vulgar. We have just come through an era where the word meaning changed from being used to describe certain acts preformed by prisoners on cell mates to teens using it to describe anything and everything distasteful. A professional audience may be offended by the word or not be offended by the word depending on the age and background of the reader. My question is, should you be using a questionably offensive word in a title at all? If the word is in poor taste to any one of your readers, is it a good choice on any essay anytime on any campus? Now add to this two more factors. The first is that Ricks does reach for a higher level of living in dress, action, and language, and you are missionary material (either coming or going). Should you be polluting your language publicly or personally? The second is the fact that part of the responsibility of the author is to bond to the reader for the success of the comp. I am your reader. The vulgarity inferred by one of the meanings of this term is a turn-off to me. Does this seem narrow to you? In the past I have taught students who challenge this narrowness. I had one that really came down on me because I told him to replace the word Damn in his sentence. I simply asked him, "Did the word Damn improve the sentence?" He conceded it did not. In fact, it weakened the power of the sentence because it inferred a weakness of the author to use a better, more powerful and interesting term. The sentence was definitely better without the street term in it. I don't think the word Sucks improves your title. In fact, it weakens it because it paints the picture of the average guy who is whining instead of a bright young man who is moving up in academia with a legitiment opinion. Opinions can and should be expressed in the terms that equate to the caliber of the author. Please note that I did not penalize you for the use of this term on this comp. I do, however, encourage you to replace it at the end of the semester before you bind the comp into your booklet for a permanent record. Then I would encourage you to get the term out of your written language, so it won't misrepresent you in the educated circles in the future."
Whatever the language buried deeply inside an individual, it ferments with favoritism or prejudice according to what sensual things are growing there. Without claiming that a return letter to John was wise or unwise, the message stands that a single word triggered a response connected to the author's inner senses. Chomsky talked of deeper meanings years ago. Modern researchers verify the concept. These three journal entries of Sprite, Amy, and John exemplify why one can neither disregard the power of an individual word nor the development of inner senses. A wise teacher carefully cultivates knowledge in both in preparation for the time a student will triggers an eruption. Truly, words reflect upon our senses.