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mom2boys
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| Joined: | Tue Jan 18th, 2005 |
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| Posts: | 1 |
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Posted: Sun Jan 23rd, 2005 05:33 pm |
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| I read the article about violence in school writing and found it very interesting. We had experienced a similar situation with my son's teacher a few years ago--she was concerned about his creative writing. His style of story writing seemed to reflect his favorite pastime--reading and watching spy books and movies. Neither my husband and I find what he writes alarming, because his stories are quite "fast-paced" and in most cases what he's put in there is necessary. However, it was at odds with the views of his teacher and the school. We met with the teacher, and then spoke with our son and agreed that he would keep that sort of writing for home only and follow the guidelines of the school when writing in school. It made sense to him, much like he has certain clothes that are suitable for school and others he can only wear around the house. It was a good experience for him, and showed him the importance of being able to compromise. It worked out for us too, because as parents we felt it was important to back up our son's talents but also to support the teacher and her guidelines for the classroom.
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~connie
Member
| Joined: | Sat Aug 27th, 2005 |
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Posted: Sat Aug 27th, 2005 02:55 pm |
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re: the article on violence in students' writing.
I'm a mom of 2 boys, too, ages 15 and 14. I'm also a junior high teacher of English and History. I like what mom2boys said about supporting her son's writing at home, and helping him to recognize that what is suitable in one setting may not be suitable in another.
Last spring I was a brand new unior high/high school teacher doing a long term sub job where classroom management had been a disaster. In addition to setting up boundaries for the students I was dealing with the issue of violence and vulgarity in student writing.
I checked with my administrators and other teachers and couldn't get a real definite answer on how to deal with it. I ended up with a guideline that stated there would be no grade given for writing that was vulgar or that promoted illegal actions and/or violence. I gave them credit for knowing what vulgarity was, and said that if it was questionable, I would have the last word on it. My motto was, "If in doubt, leave it out."
That being said, this article, especially the last section, is exactly what I wish I had heard last spring. Writing is a craft that is sometimes served by violence, but as the article pointed out, the best approach for teachers is to advice their young writers to think about their audience, the purpose of the characters, and "leaving some details up to the reader's imagination."
Great article! ~connie
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