January+17,+2012


 * January 17, 2012**

Mary Bowers – Response to Paula Stacy article “Let’s Stop Teaching Writing”

Dear Paula,

After reading your article titled “Let’s Stop Teaching Writing,” I couldn’t help but feel that your frustration with current writing trends was at a level that left you unable to appreciate how helpful some of these current trends can be if used correctly. Knowing the basic structure of an essay and how to write one is fundamentally necessary if we expect our students to be competent writers. Yes, it is challenging to teach all the required genres without limiting the creativity of the student, but it can be done as long as a teacher has creative freedom to alter the curriculum for her individual students. The writing process helps a student understand that their final paper might be different from what they initially started out to write, but because of the process they kept improving it until they were satisfied.

Instead of using a mandated curriculum, try working with your principal to allow some creative freedom and let your students write about different topics for each genre. If a student feels an emotional/personal connection to a topic they are more likely to put forth effort into their paper and will take ownership of their writing. I pity the teacher that is limited to a particular workbook. One size does not fit all. I consider myself fortunate not to have experienced an environment where according to you, “standards get twisted into oddly prescriptive steps and formats.” I believe we can combine authentic engagement with some of today’s writing structure as long as we are allowed the creative freedom to do so.

Mary Bowers