Usually I'm not that interested in the essays in Writing, Teaching, Learning, but the article this week really made me think. Many of us in this class want to be teachers, but I don't know how many of us would be willing to teach in a prison. If we want prisons to be more than punitive, we have to make resources available to these prisoners so when they are out of prison they do not repeat the same mistakes. I know that this could get into a discussion about punishment versus rehabilitation and that is not what this class is about, but any case it made me think.

I have to say that usually every time that I read the Smith book, I have to take a nap afterwards. That didn't happen this week. I thought it is chapter about the writing teacher was really good and helpful. Many of the things that he said are things that I've heard before, like the best way to get students to write is have the teacher write with the students. I like that he said, "Students need to see that writing can be a struggle." If students think that teachers can write perfectly the first time, they're going to think that they should be able to and if they can't, they're going to think there's something wrong with them.

There was a long section about the teacher's handicaps, and of course I was going to like it. I always have that "we have to stick it to the man" mentality. I really liked to have his quotes. One was, "The principal concern of any institution is the perpetuation and smooth daily operation of the institution in itself. Institutions tend by their nature to be resistant to change, intolerant of anything that interferes with their good order and routine, and gripped by a stultifying inertia." The second, which I think is what happens often, is "That is why schools have rigid routines, not to help the students learn but to keep them under control."

I was really fascinated by the average times of students reading and writing. It really boggles my mind that children in elementary school read more four minutes a day. How can that be? Even the time writing for high school students seemed so short. I mean really, when I was in high school I was writing all the time. Granted, it was long notes to my friends rather than "schoolwork," but I was still writing a lot. Smith's figures didn't seem to make sense, but I thought it was interesting.

The Spandel book really annoyed me this week; I felt it was very condescending. I like her information about Kentucky's assessment of writing. If it's so helpful, I don't know why more states are following Kentucky's lead.