Gilmore Chapter 3

Gilmore has a really unique writing style that I really enjoy, i like his personal anecdotes that he throws in for good measure. This whole chapter was chalked up with good content and for the sake of time and rambling I will only touch on a few things. To begin with, I like how the chapter begins with the 'foreign' language that many english teachers develop when responding to papers. I remember often times in high school my teachers would use such odd abbreviations that often I could not keep straight what each one meant. Therefore, I rarely even paid attention the the markings in the margins, which looking back did a great dis service for both my teacher and my future writing.

Likewise this chapter had some great ideas about the idea of voice and how it should be addressed in essays. Gimore makes an excellent point when he states, "In the end teaching studnets that their voices can leap from the page as well as they carry in a school hallway is partly the responsibility of the assignment of the assignment and the way it's presented." I like the idea of not simply sticking to the never use "I" rule, becuase I feel that in certain context it can be very powerful. It is also less awkward than using "one" all the time, when everyone and their mother recognzies that you are just trying to be sly in disguising your desire to use the first person. I think its important that we allow certain assignments to have creative freedom, and that ability to dive into the first person. I feel that this would allow for stories to be heard that otherwise may have been lost, and that students would be more apt to write when they can not so much worry about the voice, but tell powerful stories and not be afraid to reflect on their personal experiences.

Overall I really enjoyed the content of Gilmore thus far,and feel that he offers practical advice for teachers, as well as ways to break down things about revision that I had never really thought about. I definitely think that I will need to do a closer read once I get closer to actually being in the classroom, because he has some great ideas that I'd like to incorporate into my own teaching and revision styles in the future.