"Writing the Unthinkable." Participation in a writing workshop with Lynda Barry

Grant:

Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)

Academic Year:

2014 - 2015 (June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015)

Funding Requested:

$1,675.00

Project Dates:

Sun, 07/19/2015 - Fri, 07/24/2015

Applicant(s):

magell

Overview of the Project:

Every year Lynda Barry, or as she calls herself Lynda Barry!!, an award-winning cartoonist, writer, University of Wisconsin associate professor and creative storytelling guru holds an intensive four-day workshop called "Writing the Unthinkable" in Rhinebeck, NY. Participants are engaged in rigorous in-class writing exercises while Barry guides them with a host of innovative techniques for tapping into what she considers our natural capacity for creativity. Less interested in the formal craft of writing, Barry is fascinated with discovering and helping others discover the place where new ideas come from. She encourages students to experience the fun of allowing ideas and memories to flow freely because for her "writing should take you for a ride." In these dynamic seminars, participants write and share personal and fictional narratives while exploring new ways to think creatively. While Barry's workshops may not be exclusive to writers or teachers of writing, I see great potential in her approach to teaching creative storytelling in my courses and believe that upon completing her workshop I could return to campus with a cornucopia of appealing, productive techniques that would benefit all of my students. Every class that I teach in the department from German 101 to German 386 has a creative writing or storytelling component, and Barry's ideas would be extremely valuable to me, my students and colleagues.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

I attended Lynda Barry's workshop in order to learn firsthand her fun, unorthodox approach to creative writing and drawing. With the firm belief that her techniques held great potential for the foreign-language classroom, I planned on adapting and implementing her activities in my German classes.

Project Achievements:

I now use Barry's ideas in all levels of my German classes. As a result, my students write more than in previous classes and derive much greater pleasure from writing. They also read and much more readily understand and enjoy the writing of their classmates. Several of my colleagues are now also using many of these ideas in their teaching as well.

Continuation:

I am expanding the number and scope of Barry-inspired activities in my classes this year.

Dissemination:

I have shared my experiences with successful activities to colleagues within my department and at a multi-disciplinary workshop. I will also soon be presenting these ideas at the 2016 ACTFL convention in a roundtable session for fellow German teachers of North America.

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