Hodges and Invention: The Free Write

I think most students can agree that sharing (their own) ideas with the class is intimidating. Regurgitating facts is a skill we have all learned, but providing quick insights into your own understanding of a concept is much more demanding.  It's not until you take on the role of teacher or professor that you really can feel the weight of your own thinking in a classroom environment because every student feels as though he/she has to speak "up" to the professor. Communicating carefully crafted ideas is one thing, but exposing raw material, like that which comes out of a 'free write' makes the speaker/writer vulnerable and is often times weakened by this state and not empowered.

Hodges tells us that good writing starts from a topic of interest to the writer. That the best writing and invention comes from something close to home. She then tells us that we should talk through our topics and this is where a lot of students stray from her course. Talking about your writing is like explaining your thought process. Which can be demure, childish, or any number of things in the eyes of a classmate. Talking out an assignment, as in, talking about it's requirements, the grading curve, the style is one thing, but actually telling another person what you think, why you think that and how you arrived at that conclusion is not something so readily shared.