Below is a description of the workshop on mindful writing I'll be presenting at the New England Association of Teachers of English Conference, October 19, 2018.
For
more information on this conference, go to
Their Ability to Write is Always Present: Mindful Writing in the
Classroom
Workshop Description
A Buddhist mindfulness perspective can change how we think and
feel about writing, reducing the anxiousness experienced around writing that
comes from future-oriented thinking, and building a sense of wellness and
balance. Much is lost with a misplaced present moment because students forfeit
rewarding writing experience for stress, frustration, boredom, fear, and
shortchanged creativity. In college
writing courses, mindful writing highlights the present during writing and
casts a new light on conventional notions of audience, invention, and revision
while bringing forth overlooked parts of writing experience like internal talk,
the nonverbal, and preconception. Every moment can become a prolific moment.
In this presentation, I first explain why people can become stuck
in their writing by failing to notice their actual location in the present and
instead mindlessly think of the future. I explain the causes of students’
struggle with writing from a mindfulness perspective: what mindfulness reveals
about the causes of difficulty and disengagement. I provide participants with a
five-minute hands-on activity that demonstrates the difference mindful
perception can bring to their writing.
Next, I discuss the benefits of sticking with the present moment
while writing and how a present-focused model can increase writing ease,
enjoyment, calm, and well-being. Mindful awareness not only casts new light on
conventional notions, chief among them audience, but it also brings forward the
usually overlooked resources of internal talk and impermanence. I show examples of practical
approaches to mindful writing that dovetail into traditional college writing
curricula about the writing process and rhetoric.
Mindfulness in writing instruction need not be overly complex:
teaching students a few simple ways to observe the moment during writing can
make an immediate difference.
