I wish more teachers would recognize "a powerful sense of dissonance between their responsibility for teaching writing and the inadequacy of their understanding and training for doing so" (Lauer, 1984, as quoted in Nystrand, et al, 1993, p. 268). As the article points out, writing is more than just mechanics of our language, but is a cognitive, social, and recursive process. I still know teachers who use formulaic patterns and think that 'good writing' is technically correct. One teacher even told me she doesn't enjoy teaching writing, but it's so easy because you just use the 'formula' and plug it all in. UGGH!
Schoolwide, we have formal writing assessments twice a year to monitor writing growth. The grade level teachers rate the compositions using a 16 point rubric that equally weighs the four categories of Content, Organization, Language, and Mechanics on a scale from 1 to 4. The given prompts are not tied to student interest or background knowledge and the students are not provided the opportunity to use any reference material in keeping with the state test protocol. It pains me to participate in this, knowing that "despite receiving the same prompt for writing, the students interpreted the task in a variety of ways" (p. 307) and that these two writing samples are not truly representative of what the students know and are capable of producing given more appropriate circumstances.
In keeping with this train of thought, I found it sad to read that "most students did not feel that they could challenge the authority of received opinion, nor did many students believe that they were really invited to develop their own ideas" (Ackerman, 1990, as cited in Nystrand, et al, 1993). This just flies in the face of everything I believe about teaching in general, but writing is something that students could truly have some control over. The fact that many teachers still value memorization and formulas over real learning is beyond my comprehension.
Do you think "many teachers still value memorization and formulas over real learning" because they truly VALUE it or because these methods of education are a habit they've never broken? Until teachers are introduced to alternative ways of teaching, don't most teachers emulate what their teachers did?
ReplyDeleteSometimes we forget how lucky we are to have the opportunity to further our educations. As a doctoral student, I am constantly learning new ways to view and improve my teaching. Opportunities like the National Writing Project further open our eyes (although it seems everyone is trying to cut the NWP's budget down to nothing). However, we don't all have the time and money to attend gradaute school or even professional conferences.
Yes, I agree some teachers are stuck in an outdated rut, but it's going to take continuing education of teachers to improve the education of today's students.
Sad to say, but yes, I think some teachers do value memorization and formulas. It's probably true that they emulate what their teachers did, but I find it terribly disturbing that educated people can't bother to stay current. Too many times I hear teachers telling others to "take this course to renew your license. It's easy, you don't have to do anything." It sickens me!
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