As Written By Ashley Buhler

As Written by Ashley Buhler

Starting in November of 2004, I wrote my thoughts of the day and what I did everyday for four years. I filled up four journals worth of personal writing. As a child, I also wrote songs and short stories. I wrote a few chapters of a book about an underground migrant network for getting Mexican children into the U.S. I think I started writing it after I read Esperanza Rising. My journals mean the world to me. I occasionally read what I wrote on the day in years past to reflect on my experiences and growth. It has been fun to compare my journals with my husband's and see what we were doing on the same days miles apart. I consider myself a writer beyond my journals, as you've probably noticed through my blogs. I love to write my thoughts. It gets them out of my head and somewhere useful where I can sort through them. 

In high school, I loved writing papers. In my senior English class I wrote a 10 page paper on food in Hamlet and Madame Bovary. My thesis statement was: Although different foods represent motifs in Hamlet and Madame Bovary, food plays a role in the downfalls of Gertrude and Madame Bovary. I loved doing the research for the paper and writing about food in classical literature. The words just flowed as I wrote. It turned out being twelve or thirteen pages. While I enjoyed writing English papers, I disliked writing proofs in math. I did not think "Side Angle Side" was a very interesting or exciting thing to write about. My husband loves writing in math, but that's his discipline, not mine. I don't really remember writing anything too in depth in my agriculture classes in high school. When I took English 2010 a few semesters ago and disliked the unguided methods for the papers I was assigned to write. 

Now I write things geared toward teaching and preparing for student teaching. I actually enjoy writing lesson plans and these blogs. I write papers for my Multicultural Foundations and Assessment classes. I try to write in my journal when I get a chance. I update my Facebook status about once a week, but it is never really anything lengthy. 

From what I've learned in high school and college, I want to give my students options in their writing. My high school English teacher gave us options and freedom to write, but within specified guidelines. My English 2010 teacher did not give us enough guidelines with which to know what was expected. I want to give my students freedom, but with defined expectations of their writing. I also want them to do daily quick writes about the topics they are learning about and also about their Supervised Agricultural Experiences that they can use in their record books.