Saturday, September 12, 2009
EDU Blogger post as promised...
This short post is dedicated to the only person who reads my posts. I looked into an EDU blogger sit called EdTech Solutions as I was advised. One post really caught my eye. The first was the idea that writing prompts could be detrimental to student's ability to write. The premise of the article was that writting prompts limits the ability of the students because they don't always have the desire to write about what they would feel like if they were the ruler of the world or one of the other such nonsense that they might be required to respond to. As much as I appreciate that new insight, I felt that the idea wasn't convincing enough to my way of thinking about prompts. It stems from the constructivists idea that students need to want to work to do well. I don't see anything wrong with it and I think that whatever helps students learn to write is great. However, it seems to coddle students by refusing to give them prompts or guidelines for fear that they might not be able to get into the prompt. I think a major need for students is to be able to use their imagination when required to do things they don't like.
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Epigram 86
When I would know thee, my thought looks
Upon thy well-made choice of friends, and books ;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends :
-Ben Johnson
Upon thy well-made choice of friends, and books ;
Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends
In making thy friends books, and thy books friends :
-Ben Johnson
Vanessa, as you are aware, this is an important topic for Language Arts educators. Is there a path through this issue that makes sense to you, and seems to serve the students well without constraining the creativity? What are the considerations that factor in to your thinking?
ReplyDeleteit seems at least two people are reading your posts- don't discount me just cause i'm not commenting :)
ReplyDeleteand after reading this post, i'm conflicted as well. i'm the first person to criticize conventional teaching methods and talk smack about implementing new and more inclusive methods of instruction... however, this issue doesn't really seem that related to instruction as it does to a teacher's efforts to get her/his students to become better writers. while i don't really support your "coddling" suggestion, i think you're right in suggesting that part of effective writing is the creativity to write well even in non-ideal situations...
Hi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteCount me as #3 (or #4, including “the only person”). ☺
Anyway… I don’t disagree with writing prompts, but sometimes they are just so lame that it prompts me to disagree with them. I think a fair solution would be to give students options, like 1. Write what you’d do if you were the ruler of the universe or 2. Write about whatever you want to write about.