"In her classes reluctant writers become eager ones; worried writers gain confidence; and non-writers come to think of themselves as authors," says a colleague of Patricia Jane (Jones) Hammons, College Writing Programs. "I want my students to understand that writing comes from life," says Jones. "So I send them to libraries, museums, Strawberry Creek, Telegraph Avenue. Then, using carefully chosen words, purposefully formed paragraphs, strategic organization, they can take their readers back to the street, the creek, the work of art, the complex text."
Students clearly respond to her teaching: "Instead of showing me how to write," says a former student, "Professor Jones showed me why to write."
But Jones recalls one of her less successful assignments: "We read a piece in an anthology and dove into the 'Questions for Discussion' at the end, dissecting this piece of writing as if it were a dead frog in formaldehyde. We cut out the thesis and then dissected what remained. We ended up with not just a dead frog, but a mutilated frog. How did this inform their reading and their writing? It didn't." Such careful reflection is typical of Jones. "Jane knows how to engage students with the reading," says a colleague, "and then challenge them to respond to it critically and write about it creatively."
For students, Jones' influence extends beyond the class: "Each time I pick up a book, I think of her because she made me realize the power of knowledge found in books. She opened the doors to different worlds." And another says, "She does a fabulous job of helping you help yourself."
Jones received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of New Mexico, and joined The College Writing Programs in 1984.
Statement Of Teaching Philosophy
The first time I assigned the complex piece "Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight," by anthropologist Clifford Geertz, we read the piece, dove into the "Questions for Discussion" at the end, dissecting this piece of writing as if it were a dead frog stored for years in a barrel of formaldehyde. First we cut out the thesis and then dissected what remained: headings, topic sentences, assertions, evidence. And we ended up with not just a dead frog, but a mutilated frog. How did this inform their reading of "Deep Play"? Their writing in response to it?
It didn't.
The next time I assigned this piece, I knew that we needed to practice some of the ways of thinking displayed in "Deep Play" before reading it. Students were challenged, not defeated, by the sequence of assignments. First we took our observation journals out onto Telegraph Ave. We observed. We asked questions. Why do people observe the behavior of other people? Does this behavior have meaning? How do we assign significance to it? Only after these questions have been addressed by the students working in groups with their journals and early pieces of writing do we begin to read Geertz's "Deep Play." Once I added the observation assignment and the group work as prereading, prewriting, and focused thinking activities, students were better able to assert that the behavior they observed did have significance. They could provide concrete evidence from their observations and any other research they felt necessary to support their claim. The result of this approach is an active dialogue with Geertz. He informs their writing; they respond more critically to his.
In addition to working in the excellent libraries and museums UC Berkeley has to offer them, students in my writing classes will find themselves walking on Telegraph Ave., sitting beside Strawberry Creek, climbing around on the various monuments and memorials on campus, understanding, I hope, that writing comes from life. It may be an act that often takes place in solitude, before the blank screen, the silent page, but the words come from the street, the creek, the hometown, as well as from the texts they read and analyze. Using carefully chosen words, purposefully formed paragraphs, strategic organization, they can take their readers back to the street, the creek, the work of art, the complex text, not only entering into the conversation of this academic community, but contributing to it.