Some thoughts from the trenches…
Not everything can be put into a box. For years I have been trying to teach middle school and high school age boys “how to write” by using a series of extremely detailed rubrics that leave little to chance, but maybe (I can’t believe I am writing this) I should just stick with helping them think imaginatively, take risks, learn the meat and bones of effective writing—and then write, write, write, write, write…
I am serious. It seems like every time I try to “teach” writing, I am met with sincere, yet vacuous eyes almost pleading to be freed from the contradictory admonitions spewing out of me like smoke from a tall factory stack on a wild and windy day.
Yet…
When I simply let them write and blog and journal about “whatever,” they sooner or later become better writers, more interesting writers, more confident writers—writers who are invested, engaged and inspired by the “process” of writing. They are more like kids at recess playing whiffle-ball for the sheer joy of the game. Not baseball you might say—but pretty damn close. By and large, when the boys come to like writing, they might actually listen to my droning. Heck, they sometimes even (maybe) want to write the classic five-paragraph expository essay.
I need to get back to the more magnanimous and enlightened practice of allowing my students to write instead of mega-focusing on teaching them how to write. In the same way they learned to speak, they will figure it out how to say what, and when and why what they write works or doesn’t work. (How’s that for convoluted writing!) I am not ready to can my rubrics and chuck them in the trash. I just think they have become the cart pushing the horse for me—an easy fallback that gives shape and form and meaning to content—never a bad thing!
A writer needs to feel that he or she is the engine pulling the train and not the passenger being pushed to a dark precipice. Every English teacher should let kids write. (Even better, every English teacher should be a writer—a flesh and bones writer in the same way our music teacher knows and plays his music and is, hence, a real musician!) Writing for the sake of writing should be, front and center, a part of every academic day. As a parent, I would be more than willing to let go of some “critical” component of the schools curriculum to allow it to happen. The old adage: “Readin’, Writin’ and ‘Rythmatic” rings pretty soundly for me. Everything else is tasty, but proscribed, icing on the cake.
Sometimes nothing works. No matter what I do as a teacher, some few of my students will learn little, write little and leave my class little the wiser, which is a sad, but hardly debatable, reality. We just don’t reach everyone, and we often don’t reach the students that need to be reached the most. In those times, all we can do is keep the red pen of criticism wisely at bay and hope they see that the door to our heart is always open and that the starting line is still there.
And let them tell their story.
And show them how to tell it well.
And hope they listen…
Fitz, I think that you had brought up really good points like how we become better writers by writing and not learning, and how we need to feel we are pulling the “train” for the reader.
I really like the idea that when we write by ourselves, without any guidance, we become better writers. Thank Fitz.
There is no one teaching style that works everyone. Some people learn better with rubrics, and some learn better without them. I’m personally more suited to the rubric-based style of learning, although I know that many in my class would prefer to get rid of the rubrics.
This story is really inspiring, and will definitely use it toward my writing
I think that teaching children to write is like training a young dog; you’re going to need to start on a leash. After a while, you can trust them off of the leash, just like the rubrics teach us to how to operate by ourselves. This was all very interesting, Fitz, and very well said.
Thanks for this, its good to know that you are reevaluating yourself and your curriculum as opposed to some teachers who just do the same thing every year and don’t check to see if it’s working. Interesting post.
Totally agree with the first two paragraphs but those rubrics help us a ton.
I wish I had been in a future Fitz English… Fitz, I completely agree! I would much rather expirence what I am writing about, via book or physically, then be told to recall some memory. I know me. This is most cuttingly true. Because I know me, I know that I love to be active and physical in life. I love to write. I LOVE to write. But you know what is better then writing about what I did when I was six, writing about the trip I took to The Concord River. I wish we did more expire trial learning and Fitz English and I have a feeling that you are begging to share this thought…keep thinking Fitz!
Wow, this is an AMAZING post. This really made me think. I used to always write when I was assigned to write. Only two blog posts a week when asked. But after reading this post, it really got me thinking. If I were to make a goal to write three blog posts a week, I would slowly become a more creative, more confident, better writer. Thanks for this Fitz!
I really liked reading this post it was really good. The rubrics are very helpful thought I like being able to split up my work to see how it will all go together. great post.
I’ve always wanted to become a better writer, and I hope that I have improved this year. I love to write, so becoming a good writer would be reaaaaaaalllly cool. When I ready my own writing, it never sounds the way I want it to, but that’s a part of writing. It won’t necessarily be exactly what you wanted, but it can still be good
I am very suprised to read this. I do agree that free writing can be as good as any way to teach literature. During applications when I had to write about myself, I wrote a lot in that month or so, about 6,000 words. When my mom read over my applications she said it looked like I didn’t even write the essays compared to the short answers I wrote at the begining of Winter break compared to the essays at the end! Despite, I still enjoy these rubrics as sometimes they are a guiding light house when I am out at sea on a stormy night.
Hi Fitz, I abolsutely agree with the point you are getting across! As a student, I feel much more engaged and interested when I am the one making literature appear on the page. I will say however, that I would not be as good of a writer as I am today without you teaching me the ways of the rubrics!!! Overall, I am excited to be moving forward with this “new age” style of class and I know that I am ready to take my writing to the next level.
I totally agree with the idea that we need to write to learn, not learn to write. I think the only way to become a good anything (writer, poet, musician) is to keep doing it, and doing it until you reach everything you wanted to be: and more. It’s like my uncle always says (doesn’t matter if I did something good or bad) “It takes 10,000 hours to perfect something.” I really enjoyed reading this post, thanks for sharing your viewpoints on our classes together.
Fitz, you definitely know I’m not a huge fan of the rubrics, so you also know that this post resounds with me in particular. There have been times when I wish that we didn’t have any rubrics, and also times where I’ve appreciated them. I think that the challenging part is to find the right balance. If there are I rubrics, then people will abuse the privilege and not try at all, producing terrible writing just in the name of “being free.” At the same time, too many rubrics definitely discourages people when that can’t say what they want to say, so lightening the load of rubrics could definitely be helpful in terms of pushing us to produce writing that is most accurate to our thoughts.
I think that for each different kid, a different method would work. Some kids need the rubric, and that is what helps them learn, but as you said, others learn better when let write freely without all the different rules.
I remember I didn’t really like to write. Sooooo many rules! But after many years, and especially this year, I have been wanting to write, wanting to get better at writing. With your teaching, no matter the style, my writing gets better. Plus, for somebody like me, a rubric always sets the bar. Without one, I would be writing and writing for days on end, not knowing if it was enough or not. Then again, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Anyway, having different methods of learning by yourself and then having somebody like you teach, really renforces our writing skills. I hope to continue to love writing after this year, and for the years to come. And soon enough, I will become somebody who can write a rubric for someone else.
I liked reading this post, it showed all the things you need to master to become a great writer. A problem I have with my writing is dragging the reading in, and Acually wanting them to read my writing. Most of my writing I don’t like people reading. You meant joined dragging the reading in, in your post above. I will work on that, thank you.
My teenage anti-establishment agrees with you, my teenage unfounded cynicism disagrees. You brought up a really important point in education, but I don’t know how many people will both motivate and teach themselves. I honestly have no idea where I stand. The basic paragraph rubric you taught us has helped me more than learning to tie my shoes at the early age of twelve. At the same time, I feel like some my best work comes from screwing around with little else planned than a theme and a few cool ideas I want to test out. In a perfect world there are no rubrics. But in our world, I think the best way to handle it is to give an optional, example paragraph and use that to explain the rubric (write a sample paragraph, then dissect what parts work, and have the student extrapolate that into a rubric). Alternatively you could not dissct the paragraph and leave the stealing to students.
Whatever you decide to do next year, and hopfully many years after that, this year I learned enough to start me on my own. Now, the greater push to keep writing has become my own. And in my mind, that’s the best thing I can take away from an english class.
Very elaborate work. The metaphors where very good and I have definently felt all the changes in my writing. Is has been amazing how much just writing a little a day can make you so much better.
I think this piece include the largest words you have ever used in a blog posting. “Magnanimous” is probably my favorite!
Interesting thoughts, Fitz. Personally, I love your rubrics, and they help me so much in writing, I could probably do well without them, but they do help me immensely in creating that one-of-a-kind piece.
Very interesting Fitz. This is a very good peice the really makes you think. I personally like the rubrics because they help very much in the stricter of a peice and without it I think that I would be much more confused on how the write it.
I don’t know where I would be without the rubrics
It is extremely interesting. The thing is, not many teenagers are very interested in English literature. Teenagers are best when they write about things that they interested in. For example, I do best when writing about basketball and wrestling, because those are the two things that I am most interested in.
I agree with what you’ve said. The perfect way to learn is to experience, in the real world when we get jobs we’re not always gonna have the guiding hand of a teacher, I think you prepare us well for that.
This is definitely a interesting idea. Contrary to others, I really do aprecciate the rubrics. When I find with out a rubric, or with on that I do t really understand, I generally fell a little lost. There are definitely many times when I do like to just write freely.
I think you can’t teach someone to write, you can only teach them to improve their writing skills.
Writing: used to be my fiendish opposition…but now I can say that the skill can do nothing but improve you, and your thoughts.
It’s true that a freedom of writing can make writing easier, this is of course there are no guidelines. I used to think my stories were pretty damn good, but now that I look back, half of them are worded poorly and dull at times. I would be an awful writer without your rubrics. I feel more confident going into writing projects now, because I know that I can find your rubrics with a few clicks and be on my way. Keep on using these rubrics, Fitz. They help kids who believe they are good writers, truly become good writers. I’m 100% sure that I will use your rubrics at some point in high school, and I would like to thank you for that.
Thanks for writing this fitz, I will definitely keep this in mind next time I am writing, really inspiring stuff.