I know you have heard it before, life is messy, life is funny, life just aient fair. Yes, aient. We do not live in a world of perfection, where our families match those on tv with the group hugs and cliche sappy music whenever a lesson is learned. Life happens, its painful, and tragic and beautiful all rolled into one wild and crazy adventure.
One concept that I really felt connected to in Christensen's writing was her passion towards having her students be empowered to use their voices. Whether this be through stories, poems, essay, her intention was to allow their stories to fill the room , their emotions to spilled across the pages. "Students learn to sing their lives through writing. They use writing to take the power of their pain."
One of the most powerful tools that I felt Christensen used was the Forgiveness poem exercise which she felt personally convicted to use. Upon my initial reading, and skimming of the student examples I was tossed face first into my own life story, my own tale of forgiveness. As a teenager, one can often feel disconnected from their loved ones, and as stated it is typical for their to be some resentment, or bitterness just brewing within. By using writing, and specifically poetry as an outlet, a student that is hiding and dealing with this pain on a daily basis has an escape. At least for that moment, for that time, a moment away..to release the burdens from their chest.
From a personal stand point, throughout much of my adolescence I dealt with resentment and bitterness towards my father for my parents divorce. I was not able to personally forgive him for various things that occurred over the course of my life, and while I had the occasional conversation with a close friend, I just carried that pain along with me, and never thought about writing, and particualrly not in the form of poetry. As i got older I found journaling, and loved the freedom that I was able to derive from writing my thoughts and feelings. However as I read through the Forgiveness poem excercise I thought that this would have been a wonderful creative writing approach to use in a high school class. I recognize that this may be personal, forgiveness is not easy, its intimate and confusing, and hard as hell. However, I feel that by giving students the option to face their inner demons, the chains that are being held on their heart, that perhaps they would find that sense of freedom. In this situation I think that writing a forgiveness poem in the form of a journal entry in a class would be most appropriate rather than doing a read around, however after the course of the class if students felt comfortable sharing their stories it may be a good approach to learning empathy 'and walking a mile in someone elses shoes.'
As someone that loves to write, I wish that I had this knowledge, this freedom long before I discovered it. I wish that I had teachers in my life that encouraged me to write the contents of my heart, to not be afraid to face what ever I was running away from. Life is not perfect, and it never will be, and I do feel that writing can heal, that it can mend broken hearts, and help create insight and reflections that may haver never come together otherwise. I may be cheesy and silly and completely naieve, but I feel that these excercises like the forgiveness poems, or the praise ones discussed an entry or two below, could make a difference in someones life. Not necsesarily life changing for all, but maybe an ounce of good insight for someone who needs it.
"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."
William Wordsworth
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