Allegra Pescatore, aka Allegra Fisher, was a MCWC 2006 High School Scholar. For her senior project at the Mendocino Community High School she taught a Creative Writing class. Allegra will attend Hampshire College in the fall.
Creative Writing 101
by Allegra Pescatore
Part Two
The first thing on the agenda for when we came back after winter break was to summon all the Inner Editors back from the tropics. They came in, tanned and resentful, to help me teach poetry. While they unpacked from their month long break, I explained our plan of action to the class: “First, forget everything I’ve told you so far about writing. Poetry is not fiction; it’s music and should be treated as such.” For this semester, our big project would be the Poem of Origin. I was first introduced to the concept, and wrote my own poem of origin, at the California State Summer School for the Arts, by Sacramento’s Poet Laureate Julia Connors. During her month long class, she had us write a collection of poetry about our origins, our memories and our families. The poems were then laced together into one long work, called the Poem of Origin. A picture of one’s self in 1000 words so to speak. I spent about a month introducing my class to the different poetical forms and how to write and edit poetry. Where in the first semester I had pushed quantity, now I demand quality. After almost two months of work, including binding the poems into hand made books, I was again able to sit back and read what my students had to say. I was completely blown away.
I don’t know if I’m a good teacher, or if I was blessed with the best of students. Ether way, I have imparted what wisdom I know and, I believe, learned what they had to teach. Every day that I walk into that empty Lit/Comp classroom and sit down to wait for my students, I know that this is where I’m meant to be as assuredly as I know that they will be late. As much as I love writing, I get just as much if not more joy from teaching, the same feeling: like I’m channeling something else. It’s been an honor to be allowed to do this as my senior project. Only at a place like the Community School would something like this be possible.
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