teaching
Beth’s courses at Ryerson and
the University of Toronto
Recent feedback from students
Student writing
Since 1995 I have taught in what is now the Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. My course is entitled “True to Life: writing your own story.” It explores the kind of writing I love: memoir, autobiography, personal essay, and creative non-fiction. www.ryerson.ca/ce/writing
Students have ranged from a young man of 19 with many piercings and a dense poetic style, to a grandmother in a power wheelchair writing about life in a German village during World War 2. Some have never written a single “creative” word, a few have been published but are now stuck, and most are somewhere in between – they have always wanted to write or wrote when younger but stopped, and they need structure, encouragement, and practical feedback.
It is my job to help them find the stories they want to tell, the courage and discipline to get the stories down, and the technique to make their narratives compelling for others to read.
The University of Toronto
I now also teach a course entitled "Life Stories" at the University of Toronto.
www.learn.utoronto.ca.
Below are some stories by a cross-section of former students who have continued working with me. These writers and I have come to know each other so well that we are almost like family. (Each story is copyrighted by the author and cannot be reproduced without the author’s permission.)
A Letter Never Sent by Pat
Broms
Pat Broms has a delightful voice – quirky and utterly herself.
Sick by R. S. Croft
R.S. Croft is a pseudonym for a writer who today lives drug-free, supports
herself as a stripper, and sends powerful bulletins from a world
we rarely encounter in prose.
Free Samples by Laurel
Croza
In class Laurel Croza wrote with a hauntingly clear voice about her
life as a wife and mother. She now writes vivid short fiction
in the voice of a teenaged boy.
The Bad Day by Kate Gallant
That Kate Gallant is a gifted comic actress shows in her writing, which
begs to be read out loud. In fact, she is now working on a
series of monologues to turn into a one-woman show.
Hating Your Thighs & Brunch
#1: Arrivals and Departures by Jessica Harris
Jessica Harris, whose essay in the anthology “Wedding Dresses” was
singled out for praise, here explores heartache with her usual wry
honesty.
On Becoming 40 by Gillian
Kerr
Gillian Kerr’s story “Tiny Tomatoes,” written for
her class at Ryerson, was chosen for the third “Dropped Threads” anthology. She
writes with rare transparency and candor.
Inside 229 by Sylvia Knight
Sylvia Knight has written a funny and moving memoir of her entire life,
from a very early memory of her childhood home in Toronto’s
Beach neighborhood, printed here, to now, in her seventies.
Pat by Elizabeth Marsh
Elizabeth Marsh writes with unsentimental precision and grace about
her family homestead in the Ottawa valley, then and now.
Adrian’s Bucket by Gerry
Withey
Gerry Withey is both a busy visual artist and a perceptive, original
and lucid writer.