There is no one philosophy of writing; consequently there can be no one method to teach it. There is no one form of writing appropriate to all occasions conceivable for writing; so there can be no one method that will equip a student in detail for each subsequent writing occasion. The most that can be done, it seems to us, is frankly to state your philosophy of writing, and within those frontiers establish whatever methodological and pedagogical laws seem appropriate. (221)
As far as I'm concerned, they nailed it. It seems so logical--learn about the different theories, test out methods, get to know your students, and do whatever it takes to inspire them and guide them in their writing. Equip teachers with the resources they need (and I don't think they are necessarily ones that cost much) and give them the freedom and trust to do the right thing. Realize that until students feel comfortable writing and getting their ideas on paper, teaching them different forms and kinds and forcing them to follow checklists and outlines may only hurts their writing--and their thoughts about writing. It's kind of like baking a cake . . . you don't put the icing on until the cake is completely cooled or else you'll get crumbs all over it and possibly rip the cake apart.
My daughter sat down with me the other day when they were home from school, and I asked her to write a story about our trip to the Farm Show. I told her to just tell me about the Farm Show, and I would write it down as she spoke--a freewrite, really, except that I was her scribe. This is what she "wrote":
What I Like about the farm show is getting milkshakes, seeing dogs perform, and seeing all the animals, even the cute little piggies. I also liked getting the delicious food there. And I had a roast beef sandwich. I like vanilla milkshakes. I loved climbing on the equipment and going in the big tire. And I like playing on the playground. The slide was super fast!
Not too bad for a first grader! She's got some form, some details, and used some adjectives. She doesn't know what those are, but she doesn't need to. At this point, if I told her what an adjective was and how they help show instead of tell, she might focus on making sure she had enough adjectives--follow a formula if you will--instead of just letting her writing flow naturally from her. Also, if I had had her physically write it, it would have look much different as I think she would have gotten physically tired of writing before she got all her thoughts down. I wonder if younger students who just don't yet have the motor skills to write as quickly as they think get frustrated and then turn out writing that is not necessarily what is in their heads. And then to have to write whole paragraphs of it? No wonder many students grow to hate writing or think they aren't any good at it.
My point is that she has thoughts in her head. She can put them together logically. She told me to add the exclamation point at the end because she wanted to show that it was really fast. Are there things that could be changed to make it flow a bit better? Of course. But that will come in time. The important thing for her is that she was able to get her thoughts down on paper (or computer screen) and see how the words helped her thoughts take shape. That was the cake. She's got plenty of time for the icing.
Yet it seems that we rush students into the icing. Already I see her so concerned with her spelling and neatness--it is not something I have ever encouraged in her writing, and I see that it makes the writing she physically writes much shorter and less detailed. Part of that is age, I'm sure . . . she is only in first grade. But when she "writes" out loud, so much more comes out. My hope is that as she ages, those ideas and details are squelched by having writing methods forced on her that don't fit her way of writing.
That's my hope for any student--that he or she can write and feel comfortable with writing and have the ability to be creative. While I believe that structured writing, outlines, prewriting tools, and editing have their places (I'm a HUGE proponent of solid and thorough grammar instruction actually), I think they also have their times. Remember: you can't ice the cake until it's cool (even though you may REALLY want to eat it). Students are being asked to do too much of the wrong thing too early. As Sir Ken Robinson pointed out in his video, we are discouraging creativity and thought in the name of efficiency and test performance.
And sorry about the cheesy cake metaphor . . . am craving cake ;).
Shakespearean Sonnet cake by Jennifer; found at http://www.gingerbread-house-heaven.com/shakespearean-sonnet-cake.html
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