Emig

Non-Magical Thinking:
Presenting Writing Developmentally
In Schools
By: Janet Emig

We expect a NASA space shuttle to be fine-tuned in every aspect. It should be the ideal example of current technology, safety and efficiency. We expect that the engineers, designers and other experts involved are at the top of the field and have given as this as much attention as humanly possible. We are stunned and disappointed when anything goes wrong with a space shuttle because the standards are so high for such a machine.

In comparison, we look at a child’s derby racer and have quite a bit more grace for the product. In fact, we expect that is was created primarily but the child racing it and therefore we look forward to mismatched parts, clashing paint jobs, un-sanded wood and likely a few uneven edges. We still expect it to be safely made and to perform the function of rolling down a hill but we put all the rest into the category of growing pains.

When Janet Emig pointed out the difference between developmental errors and mistakes I felt the profoundness of the statement. First graders will not being double-checking verb tense consistencies but they will capitalize their sentences. Freshman in high school students are learning how to cite sources correctly but might still be very weak at paraphrasing citations accurately. We need to be fair on what we hold our students accountable for and what are still new ideas or not yet presented ideas for our students. We need to be more aware of what is known for mastery and what is measured for growth.