Responding to 9/11.

Abstract

Writing teachers are not trained as trauma counselors or therapists. How, then, should they respond to national crises such as the recent terrorist attacks in their writing classrooms? Writing teachers function most effectively as compassionate, non-judgmental, non-critical listeners and moderators. Allowing students to reflect on and write about tragedies like 9/11 yields more insightful writers, more confident human beings, and more concerned citizens.

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Writing

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 changed our lives forever. As the events of that horrific day unfolded on the television screen, writing teachers across the nation responded both personally and professionally on the Writing Program Administrators listserv with reports, reactions, and questions about appropriate pedagogy. A long discussion evolved over the next couple of weeks about our responsibilities as writing teachers to help our students deal with such traumatic events. Some questioned whether English teachers should assume the role of classroom counselor or therapist. The majority of the respondents on the WPA listserv, however, reported that they had used this national crisis as a forum for their students to express their feelings about the tragedy, both orally and in writing. On my local campus and on others across the nation, teachers from many disciplines responded to the tragedy of 9/11 in various ways--by discussing the events, by writing about the crisis, or by discovering opportunities to link their course curriculum with current events.

Responding to Crisis through Writing

I believe it is the nature of writing teachers to create a nurturing relationship between teacher and students (and amongst students) and a classroom atmosphere in which students feel free to and are encouraged to express their views and emotions about things that matter to them by speaking and writing. My goal as a first-year writing teacher is to help students communicate these ideas and feelings more effectively. How can I ignore national and community crises that undeniably impact the rhetorical situation in which we all write and respond? Although my pedagogical training did not equip me to counsel and advise students to deal with personal crises, in a national or community crisis my counseling skills may be tested. In the shared trauma of 9/11, for example, it was natural to share our communal grief within the safety and security of our local writing community.

According to psychologists, although the time frame for emotional recovery from natural disasters and other catastrophes is unique to each individual, everyone experiences similar stages of the grief process. While the victim (I use this term in an emotional sense not necessarily a physical sense) may at first be in a state of shock due to denial and feelings of isolation, if able to acknowledge the loss and its consequences, she can move from anger toward acceptance. In the classroom the teacher may be called upon to use counseling skills such as acknowledging the victim's feelings, listening nonjudgmentally, and confronting when necessary (Webb 398-99). Following a community crisis, it is important for victims to "debrief." Debriefing involves telling one's story (Webb 414). When we share our individual stories with one another in the classroom, the local discourse community not only becomes a support system but "also provides an environment for learning new coping skills" (Webb 409). No longer isolated, victims use their common experience to collectively build a common consensus of the impact of the tragedy and its aftermath. Nathaniel Bleekman, a teaching assistant in first-year composition, shares his experience of building community in the wake of a 1994 California earthquake through journal writings, collaborative writing, and observation. Sharing our feelings with others often makes us "feel better."

My classes were cancelled on 9/11; the president of our small Christian college called an impromptu prayer service in the chapel. We all silently watched the painful images that rolled across television screens on and off campus. The next day I met my English 101 classes. I gave the students time to orally reflect upon the tragic events, and then we continued with class. As it happened, that fateful week, we were responding to literature to uncover how we learn lessons concerning society. The pre-designed writing assignment was to analyze a lesson they had learned about society and how their view had changed through that lesson. Most of the students chose to write on the terrorist attacks. After reading their powerful responses, I decided to compile their reflections into a collection of essays, poetry, and artwork, which was later published at our college website and linked to our homepage ("Reflections on the Terrorist Attacks"). I believe that the opportunity for my students to respond in writing to a life-altering situation such as this tragic national crisis yielded more insightful writers, more confident human beings, and more concerned citizens.

More Insightful Writers

Some writing teachers believe that personal or "expressivist" writing has no place in the composition classroom; creative writing belongs in the creative writing classroom. However, Wendy Bishop argues that "[w]e need to be crossing the line between composition and creative writing far more often than we do" (qtd. in Harris 176). While my students were at first instructed to write essays, they were also allowed the freedom in the published collection to respond to the terrorist attacks in a more "creative" way with poetry and artwork. Judith Harris believes that "[a]ll writing pedagogy can make use of the unconscious and can actually help students to improve their writing while still broadening their social and political awareness" (183). My writing assignment illustrated Harris' point that "personal writing and socially engaged writing are not mutually incompatible or in competition with each other" (Harris 201), as "[e]motions cannot be simply 'cut away' from the larger context of a social or political person" (Harris 197). Further, the essays, poetry, and artwork on the terrorist attacks were revised for publication. Through the writing and revision process, the student writers gained valuable insights about writing, about themselves, and about society. As Harris states, "Revision is not only a writing process; it is also a psychological process of gaining insight into writers' own life experience" (183). In the process of writing and rewriting, writers themselves are revised. The ongoing nature of the writing process parallels the gradual process of grief recovery, which may take time. While early writing may initiate the healing process, writing and rewriting that are delayed until after the initial responses to the traumatic event may continue to be the catalyst for full recovery.

More Confident Human Beings

Personal writing can have therapeutic effects. According to Harris, "When writing is used as a way of exploring emotions and thoughts about stressful events, both emotional and physical health are often improved" (189). While writing about traumatic experiences is risky (for the student as well as the teacher, who may not be prepared to handle volatile emotions), creative writers often use personal writing as a healing process, an "outlet for releasing volatile emotions from the unconscious and then 'composing' them in order to bring them under better conscious control" (Harris 192-93). Similarly, my writing assignment was designed to elicit (unconscious) personal emotions and reactions in a focused (controlled), critical (conscious) social context. A rhetorical situation in which writers write to discover ideas as well as feelings, while writing to a public audience, is perhaps less risky than one that is purely cathartic and private. In any case, issues of protection and safety are crucial to victims of crisis, including the threat of war (Webb 439). In my writing classroom, I seek to build a safe, non-threatening environment where students can openly express their ideas and feelings, including their responses to traumatic situations. Just as the writing process can help inexperienced writers to gain control over their texts, writing has the capacity for helping victims of national or community crisis to gain a sense of control over their daily lives and to deal with the outside events that impact them. Personal success builds confidence and self-esteem.

More Concerned Citizens

Personal writing can become the catalyst to take action in the social and political realms. Writing about pain or trauma may be a mode of both personal and social change. According to Harris, "Introspective writing ... helps students to be more self-critical and therefore more tolerant of others" (189). Self-disclosure helps students to pursue writing as a means of knowing oneself as well as the relationship between self and others (Harris 199). Furthermore, students will come to see that "[a]n individual's suffering is always placed in a larger stream of human suffering and reveals a larger context by which all life continues" (Harris 200). Students will view themselves as members of local and global discourse communities whose writing impacts the lives of others, and they will be empowered. Politically charged events such as 9/11 may lead to more informed citizens and greater civic participation. Helping others in the community shifts the victim's focus from self to the greater good. Through individual efforts to participate in communal recovery, personal grief recovery will be facilitated. Educational consultant Dr. Charlotte Cole highlights the importance of engaging in activities that benefit others in order for individuals to cope with their own stress ("PBS KIDS").

At my institution, I had feedback from readers outside of the classroom who were encouraged by the collection of student reflections on the terrorist attacks on our website, which was evidence of the powerful work we do in the writing classroom. The publication of their work also encouraged the students themselves as writers and as individuals who shared their personal yet common experiences with others. They gained insight from others' perspectives, expressions of grief, and coping strategies. Further, they learned valuable lessons about audience as they revised their work for a different audience than they usually address in their local discourse community.

Classroom Moderators

Clearly, I am not trained to be a classroom trauma counselor or therapist; however, in national or community crises, I may need to use the counseling skills that I have acquired from my experience as parent and teacher. Psychologists offer advice for helping children cope with crises such as 9/11, which applies to the classroom as well. When speaking of the events, the teacher should remain calm, talk to students openly about the issues so they can be well informed, and comfort and reassure them. In political crises such as 9/11, students need to be assured that our nation and our government are stable and that Americans are resilient; life will go on. Besides expressing their thoughts, fears, and anxieties, students and teachers ought also to share strategies for dealing with their discomforts (Moffatt). As moderator, I must ensure that my students feel safe to expose their thoughts and feelings to others; I should express empathy and compassion without judgment or criticism (Harris 191). The Constitutional Rights Foundation offers other valuable classroom suggestions on their website for teachers responding to tragic events ("America Responds").

Individuals must be allowed to deal with grief in their own ways. Teachers need to assess their particular students, be sensitive to their needs, and react in the manner most beneficial to them. Some students will not be ready or able to talk about their thoughts and feelings right away. For them, the presence of others and maintaining normal routines may be more comforting. On 9/11, some colleges chose not to cancel classes, perhaps to remove the focus from the horrific images or perhaps as a statement of resistance to the terrorists that our daily lives will not be controlled by their vicious acts. For example, the day after 9/11, English Professor Ernelle Fife, whose institution is near ground zero, announced to her students that she would not discuss the events in class but that she would welcome students who wanted to talk to her during office hours. Her students expected her to be professional, empathetic, and unemotional; in return, Fife respected the desire of her students to mourn in private. Fife's students reported that "reading and writing their journals helped them" to cope (Fife 139-40). In Georgia, Professor Michael Galchinsky made a similar decision. Through close reading of a Shakespearean play, he and his students were able to "work through many of the conflicts and feelings raised by the terrorist attacks," but in a "distanced, mediated way that was both emotionally safer and intellectually more productive than direct discussion" (Galchinsky 144). Across America, teachers looked for opportunities to relate current events to the curriculum, such as in the humanities, religion, and social studies (for helpful teacher resources visit www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/teaching_resource and www.ncss.org/resources).

Students who have difficulty coping with a crisis and subsequent events will need professional help (Moffatt). In this situation, a one-on-one teacher/student conference might be called to advise the student to see a professional counselor. Also, any time students disclose potentially harmful or troublesome ideas, feelings, or information in their writing, teachers should be aware of counseling resources on campus and in the community and guide students to those resources without hesitation.

Results

Because of the success of this collection of student writing at my institution, other ideas resulted. I now post a collection of student writing on our website each semester. The administration discussed the publication of the collection for alumni donors, and we have decided to start an annual publication of student work. Some student writing was published last year and will be published each year in our college yearbook. Besides the obvious benefits of drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their work, hopefully this rhetorical act of "bearing witness" will enable my students to deal with other traumatic events they may experience in the future. The opportunity to express their personal responses to this national tragedy will no doubt strengthen the individual voices of my students as critical readers and writers, as human beings, and as citizens.

References

"America Responds to Terrorism--Suggestions for Teachers." Constitutional Rights Foundation. 30 Sept 2002 http://www.crf-usa.org/terror/Suggestions.htm.

Bleekman, Nathaniel O'Dell. "When the Walls Came Tumbling Down: Teaching in a (Super)natural Crisis." Paper. Conf. on Coll. Composition and Communication Convention. Washington, DC. 23-25 Mar 1995. ERIC 385 843.

Fife, Ernelle. "Near Ground Zero." South Atlantic Review 66.4 (2001): 137-41. Galchinsky, Michael. "On Poetry and Terror: Shakespeare on September 12." South Atlantic Review 66.4 (2001): 141-44.

Harris, Judith. "Re-Writing the Subject: Psychoanalytic Approaches to Creative Writing and Composition Pedagogy." College English 64 (2001): 175-204.

Moffatt, Gregory K. "Helping Parents Help Their Children: Response to Terrorism." Play Notes 7.1 (2002): 6.

"PBS KIDS Resources for Parents." America Responds. PBS. 25 Sept 2002 http://www.pbs.org/americaresponds/parents.html.

"Reflections on the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001: A Collection of Essays, Poetry, and Artwork by Atlanta Christian College Students," 2001 http://www.acc.edu/publications.

Webb, Nancy Boyd, ed. Play Therapy with Children in Crisis: A Casebook for Practitioners. NY: Guilford Press, 1991.

Judith Hebb, Atlanta Christian College

Judith Hebb, Ph.D., is assistant professor of English and Spanish. She directs the writing program at Atlanta Christian College.