“Most students believe that good writers are born, not made. Some have the gift; some don’t.”
Ha! I just wrote something like this in my literacy autobiography. I can’t express how many times I thought this in high school. Only until college did I realize that I was not born with the gift. What I mean is, I always scored well on my essays in grade school. Only until college did I realize that my writing wasn’t worth a dime. Even now, I work at being a good writer and reader. What is most important is that I remind my students of our need to work at our writing. As Lindemann states, students/people find themselves without confidence because they feel they don't have the skills. Many students are discouraged by grades and comments…our task is to help them see beyond this, to see comments and grades as a guide for improvement. Our task as teachers is to help them build these skills,so that they gain the confidence of an "innate" writer. One of the best ways to do this is to have student practice writing, to confront their difficulties, their errors, and their weaknesses. Rather than simply discussing their weakness with lessons, the best was for them to work through and overcome their errors is for them to “learn to write by writing, not by talking about writing” as Moffett explains. I am hoping that Dr. Cauthen will provide more information of Moffett’s student-centered curriculum.
Teaching students the processes of writing requires much time and patience. Ironically, writing is a vital necessity in a student's academic career; yet writing is not a component of the CST, which means that the time and effort needed to guide students is not necessarily one that is understood by administrators who are worried about numbers, rather than the cognitive learning of students. As Lindemann states, in the haste of teaching the multitude of skills, "we forget that we're teaching...a complex human being"(108). It is a shame when preparing students for the future is pushed aside for preparing students for a test.
"It is a shame when preparing students for the future is pushed aside for preparing students for a test."
ReplyDeleteAnd therein lies the rub.
How else, then, are we to assess our students' skills and aptitude? How else are we going to "prepare [them] for the future," without at least some form (of the function) of assessment? How are we to assess even our ourselves?
A revolution in assessment pedagogy and corresponding methodology must occur. And by all evidence, it has been and is already occurring almost everywhere - if not everywhere - all over the world in one form of discourse or another, whether violent or nonviolent, whether with words or with deeds.
The rumbling of a "paradigm shift" is occurring in both the theory & practice of composition (and therefore in assessment), and who knows how long it will be before the aftershocks ever stop?
Rock 'n Roll, baby. Rock 'n roll baby, rock 'n roll baby, roll baby, roll... ... ...
Yeah, I'm happy to bring in some material about Moffett.
ReplyDeleteAnd in general to respond to this kind of request.
ReplyDeleteI saw most of whta you're discussing in my highschool experience. I took AP classes and was always told or ingrained that AP= Answer the Pompt. I hated that I had to spend a whole year studying for one damb test, as if writing and reading is all about tests. I'm sorry but I didn't pass those damb AP test, and I do not think it was because my writing was bad, just that the way the tests are set up is for a Compton girl to fail. I guess this is a discussion for anotehr time, I mean the way the k-12 system is set-up. But having to decide wetehr your student is a well enough writer on some test seems ridiculous. No offense, but I think that if I taught someone for over 4 months and looked at their writng all of the time, I would know more than what a test would tell me.
ReplyDeleteI hated writing, mainly because it was a forced thing. Writing is made to be too rigid and too demanding, I truly think that it needs to be taught in a way that allows the student to come to terms with it instead of using it as an intimidating tool that will always be judged. Also, especially when a student's future (ie. not graduating or getting accepted into a college) is at risk.