Blog Post #3
In this blog post I would like to discuss the Red Pencil
Blues by Tchudi, mainly because this is something I can relate to very much
from my time in secondary school. The gist of the article for me was to try and
breakout from the typical writing process in school. This usually consists of
the teacher assigning a paper with a due date, students turning the paper in,
and finally receiving a grade. This was basically my experience through almost
all of high school, which made me take great solace in reading this section of
Tchudi. Learning all the alternatives that make the writing process not only
better but also more efficient was very informative. One of the handbooks guidelines
to teach the writing process as a process in meaning rather than an exercise in
learning to write made a lot of sense to me. I took this as trying to make the
paper convey a message successfully is most important aspect of the writing. Instead
of just judging a paper immediately on form and flow, rather look to see if the
paper fulfills its purpose. The handbook also talked about teacher exhaustion
towards assigning a lot of writing assignments from the shear fact of the time
it takes to grade them. Instead the writing process should be interactive
amongst peers and teachers, rather than the conventional method I pointed out
above. Peer editing, displaying anonymously student papers on the board, as
well as conferences during class are all ways I learned to remedy long hours
grading that is probably ineffective anyway. I also enjoyed the standard put on
the students who start by saying “this paper didn’t really come out the way I
planned” and outlawing this. Nobody should ever start anything in the classroom
with a self-defeatist attitude; it’s a learning environment. Tchudi also
brought up how the peer groups benefit students learning English as a second
language. These groups are a good exercise because they’ll be immersed in the
language and with encouragement hopefully improve their writing. Finally, I
liked the last section about grading. Students should know how to score and
impress the reader, how can you appease the audience if you don’t know what they’re
looking for? This is has been an issue in many of my classes in high school and
the story in the beginning is all too familiar. When a student doesn’t know how
to do well in a class you rob them of their motivation to improve and this to
me is one of the worst realities of many teachers I have come across. So in
closing, I ask the question has anyone else had my experience in high school
with vague grading requirements? Comment below!
I am a big fan of The Gladiator, and the message speaks to the student who doesn't know how to do well on papers from vague grading requirements. Tyranny pure tyranny haha.
I like that you mentioned outlawing the self-defeating attitude in your classroom, that it's a learning environment- and you will be there to encourage and guide through the process. Also giving the work a purpose rather than simply being a paper to turn in is super important.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail on the head with teach burnout from grading papers. Instead, we can help ourselves by allowing our students to help each other.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard sometimes to break free of feeling like, as the teacher, it's your responsibility to read and comment on everything! But, in a good group atmosphere, the students should be able to help each other. Of course, you have to help them help each other by letting them know what to look for, trying not to be vague in the requirements, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your point (and Lesley's) about outlawing the self defeating attitude. I used to start my sharing sessions in creative writing by reminding students that no one is allowed to say "this is terrible, so here goes" (or something similar). Since it wasn't allowed, students had to at least act more confident about their writing. Then, after sharing and getting positive feedback, they did feel more confident :)