"These four stages of discourse--inner verbalization, outer vocalization, correspondence and formal writing..." James Moffett
Four mile markers on the highway of where written work and focused thoughts merge. Four towers to climb and gain a varied vantage point from the same subject matter. Four recipes using the same ingredients, although perhaps with different measurements.
As a teacher who not only teaches writing as a creative outlet but also as a fundamental academic skill, I am very careful to only take in new knowledge that will help me become a better facilitator of the writing process to my students. I reviewed this particular article and this particular expert with a touch of criticism and skepticism as his words flowed past me much like an untouchable wind. Practical is vital for me and tangible is invaluable.
It took reading most of the article until I bought into some key concepts that I felt could translate into a new academic knowledge. I started to cling to the pieces of an idea that writing follows a logical mental process. That this process from concrete to abstract is fluid but not native to learning. That allowing students to manipulate their thoughts first in the brain and then play "catch" with those thoughts, I could help them make the abstractness of idea a little more tangible. That with continued focus, well crafted lessons and practice, my students could begin to see the morning breakfast (or any event) from varied perspectives and that eventually they could even use the morning breakfast as an abstract to portray other ideas.
There was so much to masticate in this article but for a season I want to focus on the idea that concrete can develop to abstract and that there are ways to help students become fluent in this skill.
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I thing we should be a facilitator during a writing process in our classroom. Give the students the freedom to express themselves going from the abstract to the concret ideas.Let them play with their ideas in order for them to be a succesful writers.
ReplyDeletegreat analogies...
ReplyDeleteand thinking about thinking is powerful stuff
I only understood Moffett after I read Britton. Now that I have a grasp of what he is trying to say, I don't think I agree with his linear model of writing acquisition.
ReplyDeleteCertainly you are right, there is much to debate in this article. I can't imagine our litle ones becoming writers when they do not have something concrete to write about. For them is so important to see the object (concret) in order to come with different ideas for their writing.
ReplyDeleteAfter revisiting this, I'm reminded that Moffett does say that "The panic to teach exposition is partly responsible for its being taught so badly. Teachers do not feel they can take the time to let a student abstract from the group up. But if they do not, he will never learn to write exposition." To this end, we need to take the time in elementary so that the learner can progress to more difficult genres later.
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