Routman's ideas about writing conferences seem like a valid way to combat the stigma associated with constructive criticism in writing. Having content and editing conferences with students before they publish eliminates much of the frustration in getting back a marked up piece of published work. Her approach to writing as a collaborative effort allows students to work together to come up with ideas as well as creates an atmosphere where students aren't afraid to share their writing with their classmates. Additionally, she allows students to create their own goals so that the conference process is more student centered than curriculum centered.
The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Taking Risks
As adults, many of us (and by many of us I mean me) are reluctant to have others read what they've written. We're afraid that they'll judge our ideas, the way we write, or even our punctuation. We don't see other's suggestions to our work as an opportunity for improvement as much as we see it as a personal attack on who we are as writers. This makes sense of course, given that most of our lives anything we'd ever written for a class has come back to us covered in red pen. I'm not saying that those comments don't have their place, but there should be another avenue for teachers than to mark up every piece of writing presented by their students.
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Yes, I totally agree and I think Lamott does too, especially when she describes an incident at a writing conference where one student "chopped" another with the sword of truth, when maybe, as Lamott suggested, she could have pointed with that sword instead. Lamott continues to describe how writers really need encouragement to keep trying, which is exactly what Routman kept describing teachers and peers use in conferences.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence, that "she allows students to create their own goals so that the conference process is more student centered than curriculum centered" really reminded me of another of her main points, that writing is about communicating meaning to a reader. Grammar and spelling and all of those other details in writing are tools to help communicate the meaning of the writer. And it circled me back to the beginning of your blog, wondering how many of the red marks I've seen were there with the purpose of helping to communicate the writer's meaning and not just a reminder of all the grammar points the writer accidently missed.
I love the idea of writing conferences as well. Even today I find it disappointing to get a paper back only to discover that after all my hard work didn't really pay off with all the red marks all over it. I think any one could benefit from having a writing conference before turning in their final work. But it seems that it would be important that the students know that the work that is being looked at is a rough draft and there should be mistakes in it. Students need to understand that sometimes mistakes help us learn something new, like how to spell a tough word.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading a students work I asked her if it was okay for me to make a few corrections. She seemed to accept my changes much easier when I had asked her this. I also did not fix every thing. But what I found interesting was that when I pointed to a word that was spelled wrong and I would help her sound it out she actually really did know how to spell it. I think having a writing conference would help students better find their own errors and help them feel better about themselves as writers.