Mom, are we there yet?

I don’t really remember learning how to write.  I know it was a long time ago, and that I didn’t really put the skill to much use other than what my academic pursuits demanded.  Then I started teaching fourth grade, and I was expected to teach nine-year-olds how to write, among numerous other elementary school subjects.  Since I didn’t really remember how or when I learned, in my mind it kind of just happened… I had no choice but to simply follow my district’s (and fellow teachers’) examples.  Fair enough – the five-paragraph essay and linear writing process it is!  And so it’s been for the past ten years.   Except now I’ve completed the Capital Area Writing Project, and I’m continuing my pursuit of earning a Writing Specialist Certification.  My attitude about writing has completely changed, and suddenly, the five-paragraph essay using the 4-square model and linear writing process aren’t enough.  Not even close!  Now granted, I believe, for the second semester in a row, that I am the only elementary teacher in the class, so my perspective on things may vary somewhat from those of you who teach middle or high school, college, or aren’t involved in teaching at all.  My focus, at least for now, is how to help my nine-year-old students put aside their fear and hatred of writing (surprising that many of them have such a strong negative reaction at such an early age), and develop a love of writing that will actually serve them both academically and personally.  A daunting task, but I believe an important one. 

For this reason, Hairston’s “The Winds of Change” article captured (and kept) my attention from the minute I picked it up.  I really became engrossed in her ideas about a shifting paradigm in teaching writing, and moving toward process-centered instruction.  Her explanation what the paradigm shift involves, how it begins, opposition, etc., really helped me to understand what is occurring.  I finished the article with a true feeling of hope that we’re heading in the right direction, and that in no time at all, we (writing teachers) would arrive at this wonderful place that held the answers to our questions about how to effectively teach students how to write.  Then I looked at the article’s publication date… 1982!  Are you kidding me!  This paradigm shift has been in the works for almost thirty years and we’re not there yet?  I get that change is often slow, but three decades?  I was floored, not to mention immensely disappointed.  (A glass of pinot noir helped me through it, but still!) 

Next I moved on to Lynn’s, Rhetoric and Compostion: An Introduction.  In addition to appreciating his definitions of composition and rhetoric, I enjoyed his reference to an “uninformed” approach to teaching writing as, “Curricular administrators, school boards, and teachers, … continue to do many of the very things that decades of research and the consensus of experts have declared to be ineffective and sometimes even possibly injurious.”  Again referencing the paradigm shift addressed by both Hairston and Lynn, three decades in the making and we still don’t get it? 

Now, I tend to have an idealistic view of the world, even though I’ve learned repeatedly that this is not reality.  But the Hairston and Lynn readings were just the jump start I needed to get my butt into gear and start planning to teach differently.  (Of course the CAWP was the original jump start, but I tend to procrastinate!  By the way, is it really 8:00 p.m. already?)  Just the idea that the writing process is, “messy, recursive, convoluted, and uneven” (Hairston, 85) is a new way of thinking for me and opens so many possibilities for teaching students!  I can’t wait to dig out my “Steps of the Writing Process” poster cut it into sections that I can display in a “non-linear” fashion.  I still have a few more months before I get back to the classroom, and I hope to use that time wisely to really make some positive changes to my writing instruction, and hopefully share ideas with my district to make changes at various levels. 

As for North’s article, the main thing I took away was the idea of community, and how I could apply this to my peer editing lessons at school.   I work hard in my class to help the students develop a strong sense of community amongst themselves, and when successful, it really carries over into tasks such as peer editing, problem solving, etc.  I will continue to help the students develop these skills, not only to aide in writing and other academic endeavors, but also to become productive members of society. 

So in answer to the original question, “Mom, are we there yet?”  The answer is, “No.”  But the more important answer, as increasing numbers of teachers and students become aware of the paradigm shift and the surrounding issues of rhetoric and composition, is, “But we’re getting there…”