By James Moffett
Before we read Moffet in class, Rodney spent some time discussing his take on personal writing. As I heard him, he told us that he would never assign a personal writing assignment to a college students. One of his reasons, among many well stated points, included that he didn't want to perpetuate the narcissistic nature of these students. I understand this completely. He said that we need to prepare our students to think about the world. I agree with this too. But what do I do with this information as a fifth grade teacher? We spend much of our year focusing on personal narrative. Am I helping to create the unprepared college student that professors complain about? Oh man, what is Rodney going to think about my demo on personal narrative?
We read Moffet shortly after Rodney offered his opinions. Moffet seemed to be sent to me in order to help me clarify my opinion about teaching students to write about themselves. I think that Moffet would agree that in fifth grade writing about yourself is important. Writing an essay would be a very daunting task for a fifth grader. We are spending time giving students that background necessary to eventually work up to essay writing. Fifth graders are climbing the abstraction ladder, but haven't reached the rung required to see exposition writing clearly. Moffet helped my justify my teaching of personal narrative after stressing about what Rodney said. I, therefore, am not panicked to teach exposition. Thank you, Moffet.
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12 years ago
6 comments:
One thing I love about bringing in all grades levels to a course like ours is this very aspect: the varying degrees of perspective and how things fit along the continuum of teaching. Hearing/reading what we and others do -- that vertical alignment, if you will -- helps solidify our thoughts and beliefs, certainly, but it does provide that bigger picture.
And who among us college educated up the ying-yang or not, is an accomplished writer?....who doesn't strive to be better? I agree with the notion of balance. We have to encourage kids to write with whatever works. The blame game is a dead end. Why didn't those elementary teachers teach these highschool kids anything? Why didn't those K-12 teachers teach these college kids anything? How about we take students where they are and take them to the next level...no excuses?
That's great Jill! I'm so glad Moffet helped clear things up for you. It's funny that you had that struggle with with Rodney said and then "poof" just like that Moffet fell into your lap. I definitely think you are right that 5th grade is a time children need to learn narrative writing before they can work their way up to more of the writing Rodney was talking about.
I agree with what April said. One of the most invaluable aspects of this month has been getting the perspectives of the teachers who come before me :)
I agree with balance and I see narrative, memoir, and poetry as a way to gets to move into more serious writing. I think Marti illustrated that as did my brother at the Writing Retreat recently. There is a time in a child's development as a writer ( and me as an adult) that I need to focus on me and what has happened in my life.
Personal writing does not need to be narcissistic. Memoir (no, I wouldn't consider a 5th grader's story about summer vacation a memoir) can teach us things. Personal narratives, if grounded in a larger context, can be valuable. If the writer stays on the self and never moves away from the center, then I'd say we have a problem. Otherwise, one has to start somewhere, and the world of a 5th grader is small.
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