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Wednesday, July 13, 2005

MAKE A PAPER DOLL OF IT



Last week, in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a pseudonymous writer attacked people who don't write pseudonymously. This morning, in The New York Times, a formulaic writer attacks people who write formulaically.

The Times piece follows the established journalistic formula for contrasting the free spirit of art to the imprisoning grip of the state:



First, narrate a marvelous exciting personal story describing what it's like to leave your stultifying bureaucratic public school and fly like a bird in a creative writing seminar:



BECKY KARNES, a high school English teacher, recently completed a graduate-level writing course that she loved at Grand Valley State University.

"The course taught us better ways to teach writing to kids," said Ms. Karnes, a 16-year veteran who is finishing up her master's degree. "It showed you ways to stretch kids' minds. I learned so much, I had my eyes opened about how to teach writing."

Ms. Karnes learned all sorts of exercises to get children excited about writing, get them writing daily about what they care about and then show them how they can take one of those short, personal pieces and use it as the nucleus for a sophisticated, researched essay.

"We learned how to develop good writing from the inside, starting with calling the child's voice out," said Ms. Karnes, who got an A in the university course.



Exciting, mind-stretching, eye-opening, calling the voice out -- fabulous.

And she got an A!

But -- how newsworthy is the A? What do you figure the grade range was in this course? ... Non-formulaic question.



Second, draw the obvious moral:

"One of the major points was, good writing is good thinking. That's why writing formulas don't work. Formulas don't let kids think; they kill a lot of creativity in writing."

Rule-bound activity kills creativity, the opening of the voice, the expression of the self, personal freedom, excitement...


Third, insert bogeyman:

And so, when Ms. Karnes returns to Allendale High School to teach English this fall, she will use the new writing techniques she learned and abandon the standard five-paragraph essay formula. Right?

"Oh, no," said Ms. Karnes. "There's no time to do creative writing and develop authentic voice. That would take weeks and weeks. There are three essays on the state test and we start prepping right at the start of the year. We have to teach to the state test" (the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, known as MEAP).

"MEAP is not what writing is about, but it's what testing is about," Ms. Karnes said. "And we know if we teach them the five-paragraph essay formula, they'll pass that test. There's a lot of pressure to do well on MEAP. It makes the district seem good, helps real estate values."



Well, if the public schools aren't about helping real estate values, what are they about? Fundamental knowledge in building an argument - precisely the knowledge the New York Times writer acquired in order to get his job - is just a cynical exercise imposed upon innocent children by a mercenary state even as those children struggle to find their authentic voice.


Fourth, strengthen your "It's all about money" argument by marshalling evidence:


In Michigan, there is added pressure. If students pass the state tests, they receive $2,500 college scholarships, and in Ms. Karnes's middle-class district, families need that money. "I can't see myself fighting against MEAP," she said. "It would hurt my students too much. It's a dilemma. It may not be the best writing, but it gets them the money."

In this fashion, the five-paragraph essay has become the law of the land: introductory paragraph; three supporting paragraphs, each with its own topic sentence as well as three supporting ideas; and summary paragraph.

Students lose points for writing a one-sentence paragraph.


Damn straight they lose points for one-sentence paragraphs! I trust they also lose points for cliches like "law of the land."




Anyway. As the article continues it becomes clear that we have a category confusion going on. When the state test says "writing," it means making coherent arguments in prose; when the teachers interviewed say "writing," they mean telling stories in prose. The teacher of the creative writing course explains:


Dr. Patterson has her teachers write in every class - something she did with her students during 29 years in the public schools. They draw maps of their neighborhoods, then write a story of something that happened there. They envision a character they'd like to create, make a paper doll of it, then pair up with another student and together write a story with the two characters interacting.

"You're teaching them narrative - how to tell stories that are dear to them," she said. She has them read good essays that start a hundred different ways - with a quote; a question; a simple declaration of a problem; a run-on sentence; a word or two. There are lessons on how a writer blows up an important moment and how to turn a personal piece of writing into a researched essay.


Paper dolls, pairing up -- we're quite a distance from a polemical essay. To be sure, we're in a warm cooperative creative space; but this is not where we're supposed to be.