Yes, but . . . do beginning writers need a formula before they are unleashed upon the unsuspecting readers? Now I suppose the writers for this week are addressing the older students and those older students would be allowed more of a freedom from the formula. I also understand that one must come up with their own ideas in order for the writings to be personal and to have the most value to them. So, do you allow the first graders to have the same amount of freedom as the 12th or do you even teach "writing" in first grade? I am not of the teaching curriculum so I really don't know.
I liked Ms. Spandel's line about teaching thinking not writing. It puts a whole different perspective upon what is "normal" in the classroom. The classes that were/are the most interesting and engaging to me are the ones that make me think. Not in the sense of thinking to memorize to regurgitate what I just read back to the teacher, but allows and expects exploration of the mind and my behaviours. This is what it appears is being allowed to slip away in OBE/NCLB type teaching. (Or so I hear. More info would be appreciated.) I took an Intro. to Music class as one of the first forays back into college. I did research on the disappearance of the arts from schools. It was not a wholesale loss, but as schools and districts concentrated on test scores the time spent on the arts diminished. Basically, if it was not math or science then it received less time in the classroom with art and music receiving the least. What happens to the student, or teacher for that matter, when you just teach for the test?
On the flip side of this discourse is the research paper. A standard writing class, I would think, would need to cover all the types of papers that a student might need to write. Are all these readings dealing with "creative" writing? Obviously no matter what you are writing the ideas have to be your own, it's just the matter of how you formulate. hah. Are we still following a formula when we endeavour to not follow a formula?
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