Camille T. Dungy

On Thursday, November 18th, Camille T. Dungy visited my Intro to Creative Writing class. Dungy is a poet and editor, and one of our textbooks in that class was edited by her and also contains two of her poems. Dungy's presentation was very captivating, simply because she exuded confidence and you could tell she was passionate about what she does. The hour and a half of class was mostly spent with the students asking her questions. Dungy did not know beforehand what our questions would be, but she always provided clear, concise answers. She never had to stop and think about what she was going to say, yet she always seemed to know right away exactly the best and most concise way to answer the question. Now, she may not have been feeling this way herself, but I think the reason her answers seemed so good was that she approached each answer with confidence. Although Camille T. Dungy is an editor and a writer, I think her strategy in answering questions can definitely be applied to teachers as well. If teachers approach each question with confidence, students will be engaged and trust that the teacher really knows what they are talking about. Another thing I noticed about Camille T. Dungy's presentation, was her obvious love for writing. She was not overly enthusiastic and energetic, but she had a very pleasant, happy disposition whenever it came to talking about writing. The smile on her face was very genuine, and you could tell that she enjoyed being in our classroom answering questions about writing, because she truly was passionate about writing. Seeing her passion for writing, I was much more interested in what she had to say and her presentation kept me captivated for the entire hour and a half. I think as teachers, we also need to show the same level of passion about our work. If students can tell that we really are passionate about our jobs and that we genuinely want to be there, they will be more engaged and will begin to enjoy school more themselves.