"There are different ways to get better at writing. You can improve the technique, you can change the content of what you write, and you can change the general organization of your thought. Most of teaching writing revolves around fixing technique. I think that that’s okay. But to me, most of the issues that a person has with technique will automatically be fixed by reading a lot of good books and by doing a lot of writing. Even though it might take ten years, those things will be fixed. The thing that I think that’s a better path to becoming good is to work on those other things—the content, to find things you love to write about, and then to become sharper and clearer at thinking. So my class—the classes on lucid dreaming, on lying, or walking—those make people live better, more interesting lives and then whatever they write will be better." -Jesse Ball on teaching, The Millions
He literally "wrote the book" on the subject!
"Notes on My Dunce Cap reconsiders hierarchy in the classroom, and the role of education as a context for creativity and collaboration. The volume also includes sample syllabi from Ball’s courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on everything from lucid dreaming to the theory of the Dérive; the Brothers Grimm, to a Franz Kafka Fancier Society. Ball also develops a dynamic process for workshop discussions based on Quaker practices of discernment, and incorporates theatrical elements to draw the most out of students and teachers alike." -Pioneer Works "“When I was asked to teach for the first time, I was deeply uncomfortable. I was not embarrassed or confused. But I was suspicious. My own path has always been meandering and I rarely learn what I am supposed to at the time when I am taught it. At such a time I am busy learning something else. Only later do I circle back. I began teaching with this suspicion, that I was wrong in having the class meet, and wrong in declaring expertise. This being true, I felt, I must do everything in my power to right the initial wrong, and I must make the class as strange, as fascinating, and as suited to each particular student as I can. If I have ten students in a class, and they all learn the same thing from a lesson, I am dismayed. What I hope for is this: some will drowse by windowsills doing their own deeds, some will follow after my words, guessing at what I mean, and learning things that are not what I mean, some will turn my thoughts over with a spade and find still better thoughts, and some will disparage me, some will disagree out loud. In this melee, different things will be granted to each one, and I myself will be granted things also. I will leave the class with new belongings.” -Jesse Ball on teaching, Notes from My Dunce Cap
His groundbreaking work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
"Unlike most creative writing instructors, who lecture on issues of craft or content, Ball decided to focus instead on cultivating the young writers he worked with as people with distinct interests. 'I thought if the students would become more interesting [people], they would become more interesting writers.'
So he developed a number of innovative classes, including the one on lucid dreaming. In the spirit of writers like Charles Baudelaire, who believed traversing a city was its own kind of art form, Ball created a class on walking. He also developed one on lying. 'Lying is our stock-in-trade as social creatures,' says Ball. 'The class is not about judging if someone is lying or not lying; it’s more about navigating this morass of lies without judgment. As a writer of fiction, lying is the central thing to all books.'" -Joe Meno, Chicago Magazine
As a school with a renowned education department what he, as an engaging and fresh perspective on education, can expose young teachers to is invaluable and inspiring. Additionally, The College of New Jersey only has seven classes specifically classified as CWR classes, and some of these classes are only occasionally offered. Hopefully a visit by Jesse Ball could widen TCNJ's perspective on the benefits of these classes, and inspire interested students to pursue further education in this area.