blog 9

I thought all the readings were interesting this week. As far as the WTL article, it was nice to see a personal reflection on how the writing process had to be modified considering the population and circumstances of the class. I also think the article was a testament to the power of writing and the benefits that writing brought to the prisoners. I felt that this essay pretty much summed up everything we have been talking about this semester: writing as therapeutic, adapting to audience and purpose, modifying the writing process, and the sheer enjoyment writing can bring. I also enjoyed the numerous quotes from James Moffett that appeared throughout the chapter.

I think the topic of the 9Rights chapter, "the right to be assessed well" is an important and often overlooked area in writing and education. If only all assessors could be perceptive, compassionate, and useful in their criticism. That would make writing much more enjoyable. I think some of these ideas need to be refreshed in the minds of current K-12 English teachers and others as well. I personally don't see any purpose or advantage in using standardized assessments, especially on demand writing assessments. No one enjoys them or feels particularly confident after they complete one of these types of assessments, so why continue them? Spandel brought up three great points as to why schools should not use on demand writing assessments and while I think all three points are valid, her second point questions whether this type of writing produces the students best writing. I think we can all agree that it doesn't. So why are we showing evaluators something that we just threw together in an allotted amount of time? Isn't the purpose of these standardized assessments to show off a students best work? In talking about how most students and teachers/evaluators put more emphasis on a numerical grade than a heartfelt analysis, Spandel said "We trust our calculators more than we trust our hearts" (111). I thought that was a great way of looking at the situation.

Smith's chapter in WW was also enjoyable this week. I felt that he mostly reiterated what we discussed in former chapters, but it was a nice refresher. Besides, even those teachers with the best intentions need to be reminded of these things occasionally.