JOANNE
PAYLING
Diary #25
What
Happened When
I Took the Writing Test Myself
More learning is happening, and, as usual, most of it is mine.
My students have been writing a variety of short biographical essays to gain experience for the District Writing Proficiency next week. We worked on choosing vivid language for describing their chosen character. We acted out action verbs and wrote dozens of them on the whiteboard. We discussed ways to portray a person through looks, actions, and language.
One of our goals is to get these young writers to move beyond simply telling the reader about their subject. We want them to illustrate a written biographical portrait using the person's words, actions, and appearance in such a way that the reader can visualize him or her.
What I discovered in approaching this task is that it is much harder than it sounds, given the parameters of the assignment. Students are given three 47 -minute periods to brainstorm/pre-write, produce a rough draft, and then write the final copy. All this is hand-written, of course, and the only spell-check available are the dictionaries on their desks.
Teacher's trial run
In order to experience this assignment, several Friday nights ago I set the timer and starting writing.
The first thing I discovered is how reliant I am on composing at the computer. I write and re-write almost automatically as I type. Additionally, I type much faster than I write, so my thoughts are transferred much more quickly on my computer than with a pen and paper.The next thing I discovered is how quickly time passes when time is an issue one must consider. Before I knew it, the first "period" was over and I was nowhere close to a coherent or cohesive essay showing my brother, Don, through his appearance, actions, or words.
During my next timed session, I was determined to sort out the glitches and write clearly and vividly. I added strong action verbs, quirky descriptors of his looks, and quintessential "Don" quotes. Time was up too quickly, yet again.
During my third and final period, I read and re-read what I had written, polishing here and there, expanding a thought or two, deleting another. At last, I wrote the final copy and finished barely before the timer dinged. I was happy with my production and ready for it to be graded, expecting a high 5 or a 6, on a scale of 1 to 6.The next day I asked one of the English teachers to grade it according to the rubric we had. She gently told me I had earned a strong 4, or a weak 5 on a scale of 1 to 6! My mechanics were strong, as were my complex sentences and style, but my thesis statement was predictable, and I had completely forgotten to transition between paragraphs. I had to agree with her assessment.
Imagine the uncertain student
This exercise proved to me, an experienced writer, how difficult sometimes seemingly straightforward tasks can be. I am a confident writer. Imagine the student who is uncertain of her ability, who isn't exactly sure what a "vivid verb" is even after working on them, or who forgets them in the panic of forced writing with a timer ticking away. Without very focused and intensive lessons and practice, this task would be incredibly difficult for many students. Even with the best of training, the task is daunting, as I proved to myself. I wish I could write that I prepared my students well for this essay hoop they have to jump through, but I can't.As a first year teacher, I still haven't mastered the art of scheduling and planning and organizing my lessons effectively. We were late getting started on practice essays. The writing we had done up to this point was intermittent and, for the most part, unfocused. It also wasn't enough.
I know now, to include writing, writing and more writing from the first day of school. I know now the areas to focus on, such as the science of writing a strong thesis sentence, the art of creating complex sentences and the necessity of transitioning between paragraphs.
Once again, I have learned more about teaching than my students have learned about English. I have learned how difficult their job as a student is, having to jump through someone else's hoops and being expected to perform at least adequately.
A new goal of mine this year is to work on making their job easier. I can't produce laptops for them to compose on. I can't make things like the District Writing Proficiency go away. But I can be understanding, and I can be more prepared and focused in my teaching.
Sounds easy, huh? I wish!
