A former sec-ed major myself, the pressures that new assessments and standardized testing place a huge need on the teaching of writing. The difficulties in teaching something as complex as this have been well noted in other blogs. Harriston notes that most administrators adn teachers of writing take a static approach to writing, defining such courses as "service/skill courses." Problem is, isn't that what these courses are? The process of writing, at least how it's presented to students, is something seen as neccessary for "making it" in today's society. The lack of a different approach leaves us with nothing better to look to than a traditional standard to apply in the classroom.
The prevelant idea in most of our blogs is that talent must be present in the begining. Certainly this makes it easier to teach, but if no talent is there, how then does one go about starting to make a student's writing better. It's almost as if you have to lean of the traditional practices here, unless you're dealing with a motivated writer how wishes to become better.
No comments:
Post a Comment