Third Coast Views

I was pretty bummed by this book – not going to lie. I thought the title of the book Why They Can’t Write would have provided at least *some* ideas as to how they could. Instead, the three-four writing experiences were, in a lot of ways, bare-bones approaches to working with students to develop ideas, a major part I do agree with in this text.

Students lack ideas, and that is the biggest reason they struggle writing. The number of times I ask my students a question that is completely not related to content (Would you rather…, which would you prefer… what was the best thing about your week?), many students shrugged, saying “i don’t know” or “sleep”. Generating ideas is a combination of skill and will. The skill part is what Warner talks about: students gain ideas by exposure to texts. The more a student reads, the more ideas they will have. I completely agree with this, and that is why as a Composition teacher, I fully integrate both independent choice reading along with mentor texts to support student understanding of both content and structure.

In a world where students have SO many avenues to participate in society, such as through social media, the Internet and up-to-the-second current event news, many… just don’t. When I ask my students about an issue they care about, much like Warner’s experience of “write what makes you mad”, my students stare into the abyss. When I asked my students to write a Listicle, just like Warner’s peanut butter experience, my students had a hard time brainstorming things they would consider themselves experts in. I could have used Warner’s emphasis on Problem, Progress, and Audience, but I wonder if it would have made much of a difference.

And, I think that comes down to will. Will, I believe is both environmental and personal, and definitely subconscious. The majority of students I teach – general college prep tracked freshmen in a neighborhood city school – lack the will to have ideas. Part of that is due to environment: school systems that emphasize skill and drill, much like Warner posits in his book, have made students into rote machines, unable to think for themselves. However, I would also argue that society and culture have impacted my students in a way that makes them feel like they shouldn’t have ideas. Perhaps it is the home they grow up in, where many of them do as they are told, take care of younger siblings, and speak when spoken to. Perhaps it is that many of my students parents speak don’t speak English, while many of my students are not literate in Spanish that causes a breakdown in communication at home, a place where rich language can be developed and support school instruction. But also, perhaps it is the conditioning of the brain to be passive receptors of information in all elements of life: school, Netflix, friendships.

I don’t think there is a silver bullet or panacea for this, and perhaps I am one of the first teachers that is encouraging them to write their own ideas. Much like anything done for the first time, there is a learning curve, conditioning, and stamina involved to change practices. But, I wonder, when do ideas die? Where do they go? And, why?