whoa, nelly

This afternoon I attended a workshop about teaching writing. It was fairly interesting, but a) I disagreed with the basic premise and b)on afternoons I'm not buzzing around my room wrangling 12 year-olds, I get sleepy.

My concern is that these types of writing formulas deal with the symptom rather than the ailment. Writing well and reading comprehension are, in essence, thinking well. This programmatic system with reproducables indicates the larger problem of vision of public schooling. There is no vision. The problem is people can't and don't think. There's no Language Arts curriculum that can erradicate that. A mother's education level is the best indicator of a child's success in school for a reason. The foundation of thinking, hence, writing and reading are taught at home not school. There is no amount of conferencing a public school teacher can do (esp. when there are over 30 other kids in the room) that will substitute for a mother reading a book with a child. My mom taught me active reading before I could read. She'd ask questions whilst she read, demanding observation and prediction from me. Likewise, conversation prepares a child to write clearly and persuasively. There's no graphic organizer that can absolve a parent.

That said, I come back to small classes are good classes. Conversation is learning. That said, I'm glad for some methods. I got some good exercises to integrate. I'm too critical and theoretical.