{"id":1016,"date":"2017-09-12T15:12:02","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T19:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2017-09-12T15:12:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T19:12:02","slug":"dialogue-a-talk-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=1016","title":{"rendered":"Dialogue – a talk with me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing and Teaching:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>A talk with myself<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As I was cleaning up one of my bookshelves at home, I uncovered an old handwritten writer\u2019s notebook I had kept. In 1979, I participated in the Bay Area Writing Project in my school district. A number of teachers, from throughout the district, met over the summer for three weeks to learn about the writing process. In doing so, we had to do a lot of writing. One of the activities we did was to explore the use of dialogue. We were to create 2 characters (voices) and then free write a dialogue between them. I created two characters both based on myself. HDH and Self. Psychoanalysts might get a good look into my mind by reading such pieces. As I continued keeping journals throughout my teaching career, I would periodically fall back to this technique as part of my writing. It saved me a lot of money on mental health expenses. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here was my first attempt at dialogue in 1979:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

HDH: Hello Self<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Hi HDH<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Well, what should we talk about?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: I guess we should talk about writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: What for, haven\u2019t you had enough of it this week?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: I guess so, but who knows what writing about writing will get us to write?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: That sounds dumb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: I can\u2019t help it. THat\u2019s what I do if you let me free write.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Why not think of some grand epic to write about, using some exquisite vocabulary and lengthy sentences?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: And why not write two sentences as simple as possible and get it over with. Why do you have this obsession with long words?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: It looks impressive and makes me feel educated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: You\u2019re not you know. If you were so educated, you wouldn\u2019t have to make it such an effort to figure out what word to use.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: You mean I could do it without a thesaurus?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: You bet. You\u2019ld know all those words yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Okay. So how do I get educated?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: That\u2019s a tough one. I think you have to be born with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: That\u2019s dumb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: I know, but it was the only thing I could think of.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: There must be a way. Aren\u2019t we taught to be educated in school?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: That\u2019s what they say.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: That\u2019s what who says?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: All the people who think they\u2019re educating us in school?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: I wonder if they\u2019re educated? <\/span><\/p>\n

Self: They must be, they\u2019re teachers aren\u2019t they?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Well, I\u2019m a teacher and you said I\u2019m not educated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: That\u2019s different<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: How?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Well, you\u2019re a teacher because you work with kids well. You work so well that they forgot to find out whether you were educated or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: You mean I lucked out and wasn\u2019t caught?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Pretty scary, huh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: What do you mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Imagine if all the teachers out there actually only worked well with people, but couldn\u2019t teach them anything\u2026 Wait a minute. My kids learn things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Yeah, but that\u2019s from manuals and stuff you\u2018ve stolen from others. None of it\u2019s your knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: But they do learn things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Instinct, all instinct. When they\u2019re ready, they learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: I\u2019ve heard that junk before. I don\u2019t buy it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Why not? You\u2019re living proof of put a manual in your hand and you can teach. Where\u2019s the knowledge?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: The knowledge is in how I relate that information from other sources to the kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: See, then you\u2019re not a teacher, you\u2019re a relaterer. You don\u2019t need to be educated.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Does that save the teaching profession?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: I guess so. You\u2019re either an educated teacher or an uneducated relaterer.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: What if you\u2019re neither?<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Then you\u2019re incompetent and probably an administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: I sure hope an administrator hears you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: Hears you what?<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Oh, nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: Come on, I don\u2019t bite. I can take anything you have to dish out. I\u2019ve been educated enough to know how to take criticism with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Selt: You\u2019ve been educated? <\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: In what?<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: Well, in how to administer.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Can you write with big words? <\/span><\/p>\n

Self: Will you stop that!<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Answer the question.<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: When I need to, I can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: See, I told you that if you\u2019re educated you know the words without thinking of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: You also said administrators are uneducated and incompetent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self: There are exceptions to each rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: Why can\u2019t I be one?<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: Be one what? <\/span><\/p>\n

HDH: An exception to a rule. Why can\u2019t I be a teacher yet not be so educated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Admin: Maybe it\u2019s that you are educated and you just don\u2019t use all your education.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And here is where the dialogue stopped. <\/span><\/p>\n

This was written after I had only been teaching for 6 years. Now that I have been teaching for over 40 years, I\u2019m sure my perspectives on writing, education, and administrators have changed. But that would require another dialogue with myself to flesh out and I\u2019m not sure HDH and Self are ready to spar with each other like they used to. They too are getting older.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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