Iron Maiden in the Polka Rack: The Genre of Standardized Writing

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Iron Maiden in the Polka RackThe Genre of
Standardized Writing
Dean Johnson National Writing Project At Rowan
University Winter Conference January 9, 2007

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Take a memo

• What makes a good memo?

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Take a memo

• Write a memo
• You are a school administrator who has had
  several complaints from both teachers and
  students about teachers eating in classrooms
  while students are in class and when classroom is
  unoccupied. Some of the complaints were about
  cleanliness and the danger of attracting pests,
  while others were about fairness.
• Write a memo to your staff stating your position
  on this issue. Support your position with
  specific details.

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Take a memo

• Highly structured
• Specific heading
• Purpose immediately stated
• Short paragraphs
• Brief
• Humor?
• Compositional risk?
• Certain expectations from readers

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Genre is as genre does

• If we combine together content, style, and
  structure, the result is genre.
• Genre provides a writer with a pre-prepared and
  labeled package of constraints. It is what turns
  composing from being a problem solving activity
  into a largely a pattern-matching one.
• Mike Sharples
• How We Write

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The Genre of Standardized Writing

• Persuasive Essay
• Narrative Writing (Picture Prompt)
• Open-Ended Questions

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Lobotomized Weasel

• Todays educational establishment is making
  actual illiteracy look good Writing, which ought
  to nurture and give shape to thought, is instead
  being used to pound it into a powder and then
  reconstitute it into gruel.
• the idea that there is some specifiable way to
  write an essay is just hoo-ha made up by some
  bureaucrat in 1987.
• The people who create and enforce the templates
  are, not to put too fine a point on it, people
  without understanding or imagination, lobotomized
  weasels for whom any effort of thought exceeds
  their strength.
• Crispin Sartwell
• LA Times 5/20/04

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• Am I a Lobotomized Weasel?

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Iron Maiden in the Polka RackThe Genre of
Standardized Writing

• The Five Paragraph Essay Problem
• Pressure
• Rubrics
• Research
• Activities

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How did we get here?

• I believe it was the scoring rubric of the
  standardized test and pressure to teach our
  students how to be successful based on that
  rubric that resulted in formula writing.
• Glenda Moss, PhD
• Assistant Professor
• School of Education
• Indiana Univeristy
• NWP Quarterly
• Summer 2002

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How did we get here?

• By teaching students to write passing essays,
  according to Elizabeth Rorschach, we end up
  with generic student essays, compositions so
  predictable that we dont really need to finish
  reading them
• we know from the first paragraph what the rest
  of the essay is going to say.
• End up with writing with no fresh truth to it.
• The Five-Paragraph Theme Redux
• NWP Quarterly
• vol. 26, no. 1

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Pressure to Perform
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Pressure to Perform
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Rubrics
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Rubrics
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Rubrics
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Rubrics
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Rubrics
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Rubrics
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Do we need yet another genre?

• Standardized tests require a specific
  performance of specific literate abilities in a
  specific context with contrived (unnatural)
  language.
• teachers need to find ways to help students
  make their literate abilities visible
• Dr. Frank Serafini
• Assistant Professor of Literacy Education
• University Nevada Las Vegas

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The Audience

• Reader/Evaluator Position
• Hours Readers are hired on a temporary basis
  by project but are expected to work five days per
  week, Monday through Friday. The daytime
  schedule is 815 am to 400 pm with a 45 minute
  unpaid lunch break. Evening shift is 500 pm to
  1015 pm with a half-hour unpaid dinner break.
  Additional paid break times are scheduled.
• Source MI Employment Application

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The Audience

• Pay The starting pay is 10.10 per hour. Pay
  increases after the successful completion of
  three major projects.
• Source MI Employment Application

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The Audience

• Look, we do know in the beginning how many
  papers we have to score, how many people we have
  and how many days there are to do it, and
  mathematically we can come up with a number of
  employees per project.
• It isnt profitable and Measurement
  Incorporated is a profit-making company for us
  to keep on someone who is scoring less than half
  of what the average room rate is. There are
  deadlines we must meet.
• Jo Davidson, Scoring Manager
• Measurement Incorporated
• source Washington Post article
• Feb. 24, 2002

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The Audience

• According to Davidson, 70 accuracy in scoring is
  acceptable and the industry standard.
• Scoring rate according to Davidson is 60 booklets
  per day.
• Graders said some graders averaged 90 and allege
  being pushed to complete as many as 100 test
  booklets a day
• source Washington Post

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The Audience

• According to scorer Amy Weivoda, the real
  inadequacy of the standardized testing process
  is the relationship the kid, the testee, had
  with me, the test scorer.
• Weivoda saw herself as underpaid, treated
  without dignity and reminded daily that she was
  disposable

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The Audience

• instead of the professionals Id envisioned
  painstakingly grading exams, I found a room full
  of temporary employees who had little respect for
  and minimal investment in their jobs.
• Cameron Fortner
• Christian Science Monitor
• Sept. 18, 2001

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The Audience

• These essays, which inspired careful penmanship,
  the pinnacles of eighth grade vocabulary, and
  serious reflection on the meaning of life, were
  being graded by temps who were more invested in
  the magazines theyd brought with them than in
  the essays they were paid to read.
• Cameron Fortner
• Christian Science Monitor
• Sept. 18, 2001

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The Audience

• And yet
• I held the power to affect the lives of
  thousands of kids.
• Amy Weivoda

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The Audience

• Keeping up the paceWeivoda continues
• If we were going too slowly, the test
  administrator would urge us to burn through the
  remaining tests extra quickly.

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The Audience

• 45 seconds to 1 minute
• Not invested in ideas of student
• Reads same topic over and over
• Part-time workers
• Low pay
• Temporary Employment

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The Audience

• Hillocks calls assembly-line approach to
  scoring
• Expected rate is sixty compositions per hour
• If scorer cannot keep up, job is jeopardized

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The Purpose

• Artificial Purpose
• WRITING SITUATION
• A frequently debated issue is whether or not
  violence in the media including video games,
  movies, songs, etc. has negative effects on young
  adults. Some people believe that there is a need
  for censorship and the elimination of many
  products while others believe it is unnecessary
  to ban potentially violent media and media
  products. Your school newspaper decided to devote
  an upcoming issue to this controversial topic. 
• You decide to write a letter to the editor of
  your school newspaper expressing your views about
  the effects of violence in the media.
• WRITING TASK
• Write a letter to the editor of your school
  newspaper with supporting or opposing whether
  violence in the media has negative effects on
  young adults. Support your position with reasons,
  examples, facts, and/or other evidence. Convince
  your readers to take your position seriously.
  (www.njpep.org)

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Persuasive Essay

• WRITING SITUATION
• The tween generation, kids 8-13, are the newest
  powerhouse in pop culture.  Products are marketed
  and entertainment developed to appeal to this age
  group.  Tweens everywhere watch young girls and
  boys rise to stardom overnight.  There are shows
  promoting instant success, such as American Idol,
  Making the Band, and Star Search.  There are
  young stars that get cast in the role, instead of
  working their way to stardom as more bands, TV
  shows, and movies are put out each year appealing
  to this generation.  As these entertainers are
  put to the test, some are caught lip syncing
  while others fall apart after a brief moment in
  the spotlight.  Is it too easy for tweens to
  become famous?  Are we doing a wrong to both
  tweens and the entertainment industry by allowing
  them to believe in the instant overnight dream of
  success?
• DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING
• Since you are a tween and part of the group that
  is directly marketed in the entertainment
  industry, write an editorial for a popular teen
  magazine voicing your opinion on the overnight
  success of tween entertainers.  Do these tweens
  have actual talent?  Are we encouraging a false
  sense of talent or dreams by allowing them all of
  the fame with minimal hard work?  Should various
  television shows and movies be allowed to take
  advantage of the tween superstars?  Back up your
  opinion with details, facts, or anecdotes

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The Purpose

• Assess whether curriculum is meeting state
  standard
• Assess whether schools are performing adequately

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The Purpose

• Proficient or Advanced Proficient
• High School Diploma

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The Audience

• Content and style must be appropriate to audience
  and purpose.
• Mike Sharples
• How We Write

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An idea has its own form.

• According to Dartmouth Colleges Composition
  Center Tutoring Training
• Allowing an idea to find its own form takes time,
  trial and error, diligence, and patience.
• While the idea for a paper can come in a flash,
  finding the actual form that the idea will take
  on the page can require hours or even days.

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An idea has its own form.

• Practice what I teach?
• And the elephant No need to tiptoe around Dec.
  25. Philadelphia Inquirer, December, 2006
• Odd reactions to a fifth child. Chicago
  Tribune, November 18, 2006.
• Schools are banning tag. Whats next Musical
  Chairs? Christian Science Monitor, November 20,
  2006.
• Hey, doll, you need a real man. Los Angeles
  Times, February 20, 2006.

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Time is (not) on their side.

• Some people will spend almost all their time and
  energy on the beginning of a pieceleaving no
  time for the middle or the end.
• Managing time is essential to the writers
  control.
• Sanford Kaye
• Writing Under Pressure

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Danger, danger

• Five Paragraph format
• Is artificial
• Depends upon a categorical scheme of organization
  that simply divides any topic into three sections
• Stifles writing process because
• Pre-determined structure discourages techniques
  of arrangement
• Does nothing to foster thought
• Can hinder further development of writer

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Danger, danger

• Therefore, it must be treated as only one genre
  among many. Like the memo, or corporate report,
  or etc.

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Persuasive Essay

• Even when writing to a formulaic genre, a writer
  must make many decisions, of content, phrasing,
  variation of style, and, in fiction, character,
  setting, and development of plot.
• Mike Sharples
• How We Write

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Persuasive Essay

• Thinking within a conceptual space eases the
  task of writing by restricting the search through
  long-term memory for appropriate language to
  express each idea.
• Mike Sharples
• How We Write

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Do we need yet another genre?

• No research
• Artificial prompts
• Contrived purpose
• Limited time
• Limited space
• Disaffected audience

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Do we need yet another genre?

• Do we allow the requirements of the test to
  determine ourcurriculum or do we demonstrate the
  differences between the two and teachfor a test
  as a separate process and skill?
• Dr. Frank Serafini
• Assistant Professor of Literacy Education
• University Nevada Las Vegas

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Persuasive Essay

• Critical thinking skills
• Literary elements such as tone, voice, persona,
  point of view, characterization
• Logical Reasoning
• Teach format as strategy
• When is strategy best used
• Teach various strategies

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Persuasive essay

• Do you like this picture?
• Is this a good picture?
• What makes it a good picture?
• Would you hang this picture in your living room?
• Defend your response.

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Persuasive Essay

• WRITING SITUATION
• A frequently debated issue is whether or not
  violence in the media including video games,
  movies, songs, etc. has negative effects on young
  adults. Some people believe that there is a need
  for censorship and the elimination of many
  products while others believe it is unnecessary
  to ban potentially violent media and media
  products. Your school newspaper decided to devote
  an upcoming issue to this controversial topic. 
• You decide to write a letter to the editor of
  your school newspaper expressing your views about
  the effects of violence in the media.
• WRITING TASK
• Write a letter to the editor of your school
  newspaper supporting or opposing whether violence
  in the media has negative effects on young
  adults. Support your position with reasons,
  examples, facts, and/or other evidence. Convince
  your readers to take your position seriously.
  (www.njpep.org) NJ HSPA

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Persuasive Essay

• Persona and voice
• Freewriting journal entry
• Rewrite as if you were a stuffy college professor
• Write as an innocent child
• Choose a famous person. Write as if you were he
  or she
• Mono-syllabic
• Use as much slang as possible

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How did we get here?

• When we teach this reductive process formulaic
  essay writing, we are telling students that each
  writing task, each writing problem, is
  essentially the same.
• Mark Wiley
• The Popularity of Formulaic Writing (and why we
  need to resist). English Journal, Sept., 2000.

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Narrative Picture Prompts Genre, Too?

• Time limitations
• Space limitations
• Experience limitations
• Knowing what everything is in the picture.
• Cultural and Ethnic biases

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Narrative Picture Prompts

• Some expository writing
• Abrupt movements in narrative will prompt lower
  score seem to focus on grammar
• Smooth stories higher score overlook errors
• Imaginative stories
• Conflict
• Resolution
• Event driven

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Narrative Picture Prompts

• Four Basic Events
• Character/Setting
• Introduce problem
• Develop/work through problem
• Resolve problem
• Three approaches
• Memory/Experience
• Video
• Character/Problem/Resolution

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Narrative Picture Prompts

• Visual students
• Use of video to show understanding of a basic
  narrative structure.
• Music videos tell story.

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Narrative Picture Prompts

• Show video
• Choose still from middle of video
• Have students write out the story of the video
• Show picture
• Create story

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Narrative Picture Prompts

• Who are the characters
• Names
• Personality traits
• Where and when
• Relationship between two
• Problem today
• What does each character want from the other
• Urgency
• Resolution

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Narrative Picture Prompts
WRITING TASKAn ancient proverb says, "A picture
is worth a thousand words."  Regardless of the
photographer/artist's original intent, what we
see in the picture can be very different from
what others see.  What words would you use to
describe what is happening in this picture?  Use
your imagination and experience to speculate what
the story is about or to describe what is
happening. (www.njpep.org)
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Every Picture Tells a Story, Dont It?

• Who are the characters
• Names
• Personality traits
• Where and when
• Relationship between two
• Problem today
• What does each character want from the other
• Urgency
• Resolution

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Thoughtshots

• Writers have a magic camera that they can point
  at the world and create snapshots that contain
  smells and sounds as well as colors and light.
• Barry Lane. After the End Teaching and
  Learning Creative Revision

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Thoughtshots

• A Thoughtshot is a reflection on a particular
  detail or event. It is speculation on why
  someone acted a certain way, what she was
  thinking, what she was feeling.

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Thoughtshots

• My mother always sat down in front of the
  television after dinner.

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Thoughtshots

• I dont know why my mother always sat down in
  front of the television after dinner. Perhaps it
  was the only time she really had for herself. My
  sister and I always had to do the dishes. My
  step-father usually went out to the garage to
  work on the old Buick that he always thought he
  could get up and running someday. Maybe Mom just
  liked being alone with her game show. She always
  watched Jeopardy with Alex Terbeck. I think she
  thought Alex was handsome and smart. Maybe she
  dreaded that Alex would come into our living room
  one day and swoop her off to game show land. Mom
  knew a lot of the answers on Jeopardy, and shed
  call them out to the television as if those
  contestants could hear her. Who is China!
  shed yell. Id always thought it was sort of
  dumb, and I remember on time my best friend
  Angela was over at my house. She heard my mother
  and looked at me like I was weird.
• http//shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/narra
  tives/thoughtshots.htm

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Thoughtshots

• Thoughtshots let the writer go deeper into his
  own mind as well as deeper into the mind of
  someone who he is writing about.
• Help make an experience that may seem
  insignificant to student writer more valuable to
  her writing.
• Can help take the situation into the story.

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Open-ended

• If a kid is good at explaining what theyve
  done, even if what theyve done is incorrect,
  then he has done well.
• Jo Davidson, Scoring Manager
• Measurement Incorporated
• source Washington Post article
• Feb. 24, 2002

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Whos this genre for?

• High achievers will be high achievers
• Middle to lower achievers will benefit most from
  the genre of standardized writing
• Other genres of writing must not be neglected

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Iron Maiden in the Polka Rack?

• I dont want you to feel restricted by that iron
  maiden, the voiceless and antiseptic five
  paragraph essay. I want you to writethrough
  your own voice.
• Dudley Barlow to his students
• I love the five paragraph essay. Thats what I
  know how to do.
• Students to Dudley Barlow

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Iron Maiden in the Polka Rack?

• Two forms of torture?
• Highly structured and/or restricted writing need
  not be an iron maiden when viewed as one genre
  among many cross curricular genres taught.
• Students writing wont be misplaced at college.

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Iron Maiden in the Polka RackThe Genre of
Standardized Writing

• Thank You