Three things I’ve learnt from or with my students this past week

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1. Considering the order of arguments is an easy way to improve structure. Step back and consider is there a more logical or coherent way to order this information? 

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2. I finished Down and Out in Paris & London by George Orwell over the weekend, and found it leaves you with an almost disturbing and detailed sense of poverty in Paris and London during the late 1920s and early 1930s, and its ability to envelope and snuff a person’s potential, energy and sense of their own individuality. The description is so lucid that the statements and conclusions he draws from his observations and experiences at the end of some chapters feels valid. One point I might emphasise to students that I learnt here is that when evidence is sound and comprehensive, your conclusions rest easily on their solidity.

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3. A student today looked at a paragraph they were writing and I asked them what it was missing. “It needs more evidence”, they said, and went to look for a quote from the text they were reading to add. Hopefully one day if they ever write policy for government, or give advice to clients, they can keep the same intellectual honesty.

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Two quotes about writing

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“Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.”

― Howard Nemerov

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“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it's always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.”

― Neil Gaiman

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Just finished

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Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

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Happy writing,

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Jaye Sergeant

Founder & Lead Tutor of Turtle and elephant

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