The blank page as a mine (mind?) field

"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." -- William Faulkner

It's amazing to me how this generation of young people, which likely writes so much more than many previous generations (though in the fragmentary phrases and phonetic inventions of text messaging speech) seems so paralyzed by the blank page.

The academic achievement of the student does not seem to matter; high performing students and low performing students alike will say to me repeatedly: "I don't know how to start."

At first, I presumed their anxiety came from the challenge of writing an introduction. Any conscientious writer knows well the tension inherent in moving quickly from nothingness into an engaging piece of writing. However, even my attempts to have them defer the introduction altogether--just write a thesis and then go into the first point--fail for many writers.

Many years ago, I read a writing instructor refer to some students seeing the blank page as a mine field--a place where their pens or pencils travel gingerly because mistakes and failures lie everywhere. My first go-round of teaching, I saw a few of these students. Now, a large proportion seem to write just waiting for the explosion.

To counter this anxiety, I'm trying hard to have them express their ideas in whatever language seems comfortable. If the tone is informal, actually conversational, or even in text speak, I'll take it on the draft if that's what is required to get their hands and minds to move confidently across the page. "My paper will sound totally ghetto," one student told me today. However, I feel confident we can work to get their diction and tone correct in revision if we can just get them comfortable expressing on paper the great ideas they express so willingly when I ask them to talk about their position.

There are people who would say this is capitulating to the forces breaking down the English language. Maybe it is. But for me this is not a theoretical issue; I have 16- and 18-year-olds showing up each day and I'm paid to make them better readers, writers, and thinkers by the time they leave.

I simply believe that if students come to high school hearing only non-standard English at home, practicing non-standard English through constant text messaging, and lacking the wide reading that might tune one's ear to standard English, Language Arts teachers are forced to get them to express their ideas in whatever way possible.

I just think I can teach proper English employing a draft loaded down with colloquialisms, but I can't teach students how to better express their ideas if those ideas never make it past the pen.