Book Review: Derrick Jensen's walking on Water - 1 views

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  #1 Colleen Fell on 14 Feb 12

   

  I choose Derrick Jensen's book Walking on Water to review, mainly because he offers specific details on how to reform education, but focuses on students' attitudes on writing and reading. Jensen teaches creative writing at a prison, but also teachers at a university level, and his conversational style of writing makes this book both insightful and easy to read. The paradox of why students hate school but love to learn is explored throughout the book.
  The chapters go from specific to broad in ideas and views on education, but the basis for the book is education reform based on the principals of teaching students to become slaves to society. Jensen makes the case that this is done through the grading system and how schools operate. Jensen hopes to combat this social enslavement by educating students on how to have their own creative voice in writing, and to become empowered through reading and activism.
  Jensen focuses much of his attention on how to create a social revolution that will begin in the classroom. Jensen gives many examples of his ideas for this social change through examples of his own classroom experiences. One of these experiences happened when he told students that one of the rules of writing is "don't bore the reader," and that they were allowed to submit whatever they wanted to him, with the stipulation that the subject was interesting enough to keep his attention. Jensen then explores with his class what makes reading interesting, what it does for the reader. Throughout much of the book Jensen makes his students grapple with a lot of important questions about writing, what it means to create something worthy of praise.
  Some of the activities that Jensen did in the book would be impossible for a teacher to perform in a public high school, such as Jensen allowing students to break into groups and have each group teach the class for an hour. In a chapter entitled "Choices" Jensen discusses the lack of choices that students have in the education system. I agree with this, as oftentimes they are handed a book to read, told the proper way to read and analyze it, and then told why it is a part of the literary cannon. Jensen lets students choose their reading, and makes them handwrite one page out of the book they had read "they soon found themselves enjoying this process, too, and turned these copied pages into not only a chance to take someone else's writing into their bodies, but also as another opportunity for self expression, bringing me their favorite pages from their favorite books" (Jensen, 117).
  I would like to teach my students to think for themselves, and that they have the opportunity to choose what they will be assessed on. At times I feel that Jensen steers to far from what is realistic to do in the classroom, his message is that schools should not be places where we train students to be mindless and choice less. Jensen has a wonderful practice with grading where students get points for things other than writing papers, but it has to be trying something new. Some examples were staying up for four straight days, getting food from Taco Bell, and trying to sing in front of others. Students would write about these experiences, and then Jensen would give them credit for them based on how interesting their writing was of the activity. I love this exercise because it allows students to be creative and have a say over what they will be graded on, and Jensen then transfers this to having students choose what they read. I want to know my students on a personal level, and have them be active participants on what they read and what they get graded on.
  I would only recommend this book to certain people, because there is a lot of social commentary in the book that many would not find interesting or relevant to the field of education. I love how Jensen makes a case for how the educational system is inherently flawed, and how a revolution can occur that begins in the classroom. I found this book to be informative and thought provoking.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I choose Derrick Jensen's book Walking on Water to review, mainly because he offers specific details on how to reform education, but focuses on students' attitudes on writing and reading. Jensen teaches creative writing at a prison, but also teachers at a university level, and his conversational style of writing makes this book both insightful and easy to read. The paradox of why students hate school but love to learn is explored throughout the book. <br /> The chapters go from specific to broad in ideas and views on education, but the basis for the book is education reform based on the principals of teaching students to become slaves to society. Jensen makes the case that this is done through the grading system and how schools operate. Jensen hopes to combat this social enslavement by educating students on how to have their own creative voice in writing, and to become empowered through reading and activism. <br /> Jensen focuses much of his attention on how to create a social revolution that will begin in the classroom. Jensen gives many examples of his ideas for this social change through examples of his own classroom experiences. One of these experiences happened when he told students that one of the rules of writing is "don't bore the reader," and that they were allowed to submit whatever they wanted to him, with the stipulation that the subject was interesting enough to keep his attention. Jensen then explores with his class what makes reading interesting, what it does for the reader. Throughout much of the book Jensen makes his students grapple with a lot of important questions about writing, what it means to create something worthy of praise. <br /> Some of the activities that Jensen did in the book would be impossible for a teacher to perform in a public high school, such as Jensen allowing students to break into groups and have each group teach the class for an hour. In a chapter entitled "Choices" Jensen discusses the lack of choices that students have in the education system. I agree with this, as oftentimes they are handed a book to read, told the proper way to read and analyze it, and then told why it is a part of the literary cannon. Jensen lets students choose their reading, and makes them handwrite one page out of the book they had read "they soon found themselves enjoying this process, too, and turned these copied pages into not only a chance to take someone else's writing into their bodies, but also as another opportunity for self expression, bringing me their favorite pages from their favorite books" (Jensen, 117). <br /> I would like to teach my students to think for themselves, and that they have the opportunity to choose what they will be assessed on. At times I feel that Jensen steers to far from what is realistic to do in the classroom, his message is that schools should not be places where we train students to be mindless and choice less. Jensen has a wonderful practice with grading where students get points for things other than writing papers, but it has to be trying something new. Some examples were staying up for four straight days, getting food from Taco Bell, and trying to sing in front of others. Students would write about these experiences, and then Jensen would give them credit for them based on how interesting their writing was of the activity. I love this exercise because it allows students to be creative and have a say over what they will be graded on, and Jensen then transfers this to having students choose what they read. I want to know my students on a personal level, and have them be active participants on what they read and what they get graded on. <br /> I would only recommend this book to certain people, because there is a lot of social commentary in the book that many would not find interesting or relevant to the field of education. I love how Jensen makes a case for how the educational system is inherently flawed, and how a revolution can occur that begins in the classroom. I found this book to be informative and thought provoking.</div>

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