| As an instructor of writing classes for freshman | | | | enlightening-study that revealed much about my |
| university students, I have found that when we | | | | students-and teachers. |
| write about topics that interest us, we are less | | | | I expected that I would discover that the |
| prone to procrastinate and to experience writers | | | | students who spent their time playing video |
| block. Teaching a class that is a degree | | | | games and watching television would be the ones |
| requirement rather than a chosen elective | | | | whose lives were a blur. This was not the case. |
| sometimes results in a situation where student | | | | Too easy. But what I did discover was that there |
| are--shall we say--a little less than enthusiastic. So, | | | | are 4 essential ingredients in a life experience that |
| I try to create assignments that students might | | | | enable us to recall it. The more ingredients, the |
| find interesting. One such assignment is a "Then | | | | more likely we are able to retrieve the memory. |
| and Now" compare/contrast essay where | | | | Here they are: |
| students divide their lives in half and compare key | | | | 1. The activity is self-created, using our imagination |
| issues, such as spirituality, sexuality, identity, | | | | and creativity. These are the games of hide and |
| education, siblings, friends, career goals, music, art, | | | | seek and pretend. These are the sports played in |
| politics, etc. How did they feel about these things | | | | vacant lots rather than astro-turf. They are the |
| at age 10? Age 20? Do they feel the same way | | | | ones that belong to us because we were essential |
| or have they changed? | | | | in their creation. |
| When I first explain the task, students will often | | | | 2. The activity is shared. If we are hiding; |
| ask questions about essay structure and length, | | | | someone has to find us. If we throw a ball, |
| and investigate the issues that are important to | | | | someone has to catch it. If we write, someone |
| them. Some resist altogether. All of this is | | | | has to read it. |
| expected. However, what I did not expect were | | | | 3. The activity is intermittent, not routine. It's the |
| the students who said that they could not | | | | time when things went unexpectedly right or |
| remember anything from that period in past lives. | | | | wrong. It was not scheduled, but a spur of the |
| I probed by asking about their friends, sports, | | | | moment; it was unique. This is the time when you |
| school, vacations, etc, and gradually some were | | | | lost your fishing pole to the biggest fish you will |
| able to revive some memories, but they still | | | | never get to see. It was the family vacation |
| struggled. This puzzled me, for this was more | | | | camping, it was the basketball pick-up game, it |
| than the normal resistance to assignments. This | | | | was the spontaneous music jam; it was the time |
| was genuinely a blank time for them. | | | | you won or lost. |
| At first, I silently blamed the video games, | | | | 4. The activity is outdoors. Weather is |
| television, and the internet as the source that | | | | ever-shifting. Seasons change. Your entire body is |
| numbed their minds. But that was too easy. The | | | | engaged: the elements are constantly pressing on |
| real answer is always more complicated. So over | | | | you, cold, hot, windy, clear, the change of light. It |
| the next five years, I gave the students a | | | | is not controlled by a thermostat; it is |
| questionnaire at the beginning of the semester | | | | unpredictable. |
| that asked them a series of questions: I asked | | | | After several years, gradually I was able to see |
| them about the things that they did when they | | | | the patterns, and while I cannot revive students |
| were kids. The series included sports, schools, | | | | memories for them-there is no rewind button |
| teachers, reading, art, music, nature, church, | | | | here-- I can learn from this and become a better |
| family, friends, vacations, parents, television, | | | | teacher for it. I have learned that the classroom |
| games, internet, etc. Each year I collected the | | | | should incorporate these 4 elements, too: The |
| data and charted the results, connecting their | | | | learning process should be surprising, unpredictable, |
| answers to trends: the students who could easily | | | | unique, shared, and self-created; whenever |
| access their childhood memories and those who | | | | possible, it should extend past the four fluorescent |
| could not. At this point, I must insert that I am no | | | | walls. And as teachers, we should practice what |
| psychologist; I am a teacher who cares about | | | | we preach, and fill our lives with the same bounty |
| students, and my study did not intend to | | | | of life memories that we wish for our students, |
| incorporate a vast body of research into the | | | | with a sense of adventure and possibilities, rich |
| influences on our ability to retain information and | | | | with recollection. |
| the vagaries of memory. Mine was a simple-yet | | | | |