Conventional Wisdom

I apologize if I repeat anything that has been said before but I haven't had enough time to read everyone's post. I began reading the first article without giving any attention to when it was first published until I reached the point where the author claims that the concept of teaching process not product is not "conventional wisdom." I agreed with the author that this method of teaching writing is not replacing traditional forms of teaching in our schools and was surprised to find that 20 years ago people believed that the topic was dead. Being from upstate New York, I am not familiar with the education system in Pennsylvania. As a future teacher I am trying to learn as much about it as I can through my experiences here and through the experiences of my brother, who just began his freshman year of high school. What I do know is that in New York teachers are still teaching from the traditional texts on writing. Further, the standardized tests in New York are set-up to focus on product rather then process.

I don't believe that these teachers and those creating the tests are unaware of the research on how to teach writing. They attend conferences and they read all of the articles. However, it is difficult to start new. For example, one of my high school English teachers was still using the same lesson plans that she used when my father sat in her classroom. Tradition is easier. I am not saying that teachers are lazy but how do you start over when you have been doing something one way for such a long time? As new teachers we also have to face a similar question: How do we incorporate new methods into a school that still relies on tradition? This is a question that we debated in nearly every class when I involved in the Education Department at Hartwick. A major concern for many of us is that we had spent four years developing a pedagogy that we would meet with resistance from our collages, administrators, and parents.


I was taught from the traditional method and I agree with Hairston that the traditional method isn't working. I often enjoy writing yet at the same time it is the one thing that I struggle the most with. So how do we incorporate new methods of teaching?