Here is how writing is typically taught in schools these days. Students are given three essays to read about a dull topic – say, fence posts for instance – and then asked to write a synthesis essay, either expository or argumentative, about fence posts. These essays are designed to get them ready for the writing portion of our state literacy test which basically asks for a five paragraph essay. Guess what formula for writing gets taught?
I was recently told at a “best practices” meeting that student don’t really need to learn to write any more – they just need to be able to string quotes together. “We don’t need their beautiful words.”
Best practices indeed.
The sad thing is that we are even getting away from our old Florida Standards (actually Common Core) but our new textbook, aligned to our new B.E.S.T. Standards, is still using this kind of artificial, writing-to-text, research simulation-style writing. When I recently gave a teacher workshop on teaching writing some of the teachers seemed to assume that writing to 3 sources was what writing was.
But even in the standards, no matter what standards we are looking at, students should be writing in multiple modes, including narratives – including fictional narratives! They should be really thinking about their writing, not going through fill-in-the-blank formulas in order to score well on the state literacy test. Students are really writing the same essay over and over. No wonder they hate writing.
But as bad as it is that we are not teaching writing well in terms of the writing itself, what we are not doing for students as people is even worse.
We could be encouraging students to write about their own interests – video gaming, baseball, cooking, music, painting, Manga, hiking, nature – and in doing so, helping them to develop their interests. Developing your interests could lead you to your calling, to a career.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We could be encouraging students to write about the things that frustrate and anger them. By putting them in writing, they can examine them a little more objectively and see if their anger is actually justified. If they write to persuade someone to share their anger, or to do something about the thing that angers them, they will have to actually let go of their anger in order to change someone else’s mind. They will have to come up with logical reasons for the way they feel. They will have to look at the object of their anger from a different perspective. They might have to find legitimate sources to back up their point of view – or possibly change their mind.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We could be encouraging students to write about what they worry about. This might just be good therapy. Or it might get them to try to find a solution to the object of their worry; maybe they don’t need to really worry about it if they research it a bit. They might write a science fiction story about their worry. Aren’t most dystopian stories just a worry about our current society taken to its logical extreme?
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We could be getting students to write about the things they wonder about, and about the things that give them a sense of wonder. They might actually want to do some research. They might develop their sense of curiosity and become life-long learners! (I don’t know for sure, but I expect writing about fence posts doesn’t do that for them.) They might become more attuned to the things that give them a sense of wonder, a sense of transcendence. Such a feeling might just help them find more meaning in life.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We might let them write about their emotions. Learning to write about emotions can be a lesson in showing instead of merely telling. Writing about emotions has been proven to help people deal with them – simply identifying emotions and what is causing them helps to diffuse them and make them easier to deal with. Writing could SEL-Central. It could possibly save students’ lives.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We might be teaching them to be more creative. Creativity is one of the job skills of the future because it can’t really be automated in any meaningful way. Ideation, idea generation, is a skill that is useful in any arena of life, personal or professional. You can generate possible causes of problems, possible solutions, possible options, possible actions, new ideas, new ways of looking at things, new possibilities. Anything is possible!
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We might be letting them tell their own stories. At the very least, it gets them ready to write college essays and cover letters. But it also helps them remember their lives, reflect on what has happened to them, what they’ve done, who they are, who they want to be. Writing helps you imagine a better future. Writing gives you voice. Writing your story helps you change your story. Writing your story can develop not just your writing skills but your identity.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
Writing can help you ask good questions. I sometimes tell my students that writing is the act of asking yourself questions and then trying to answer them. Writing helps you question those in authority who may be wielding too much power. Writing helps you question your own assumptions, biases, and points of view. Writing encourages you to ask questions that lead to more questions. Writing helps you find the right questions to ask, which can help you find the write answers. Writing your questions helps you develop your thinking. Questioning the right things can get you out of a rut, out of a jam, and onward to finding better answers for your life.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We could be teaching our students to create fictional stories of their own. Writing fiction is not namby-pamby writing – it is the most rigorous, challenging form of writing their is. A fiction writer must think about character (in both senses of the word), about places, about events, about causes and effects, about point of view, about universal themes, about morality, about irony, about metaphors and symbols and suspense and meaning. It is mental juggling of the highest order. Fiction writing makes you a better reader (Why do we value analyzing fiction over creating fiction? I don’t get that.) Reading fiction can give you more empathy; I suspect writing it does, too. Writing fiction can force you to think logically, generate ideas, use your imagination (see creativity above). Writing fiction might not make you rich (or it might), but it is immensely fun, very satisfying, and if you even entertain one other person with your story, you have done your job. Fiction writing challenges the writer to live better.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
We could be encouraging students to speak truth to power. If you have questioned yourself enough, thought through your own truth, reflected enough to be sure of what you think, then you can try to change the minds of the people in charge. You can try to change the system. You can fight for what you believe in. This is part of what it means to live in a democracy – in a free country: to use your words to stand up for what you believe in.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.
Writing could be helping make our students better thinkers, wiser, more emotionally intelligent, more creative, more moral, more thoughtful, more questioning, more understanding.
Writing could be giving students a sense of themselves, of their past, present and future, of their own voice. It could be saving their lives, making their lives better, helping them find their way.
But we make them write essays about fence posts.