Re: Nancy's Fingerpainting

["Karen Degerstrom" <kdeg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right on, Nancy.  The writing test is rather a rigid reconstruction  of the
five paragraph theme--it's formulaic and functional literacy at best. It
isn't how real writers write as described in What a Writer Needs.
Karen Degerstrom
MA Literacy Instruction, Michigan State University
kdeg@shianet.org
----- Original Message -----
From: Nancy Patterson <patter@voyager.net>
To: <cwonline@nwe.ufl.edu>; Kafkaz <kafkaz@kwom.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 10:27 PM
Subject: Re: Nancy's Fingerpainting


> This may be taking things a little farther out, especially since this is a
> computers and writing conference, but...
>
> Not only do I think textual play is important in literacy acquisition (me
> and Vygotsky, bygotsky)  (and it doesn't, of course, have to be electronic
> textual play), but I think computer games, especially those that have some
> sort of narrative involved, help children acquire literacy.  Janet Murray
> talks about this a bit in Hamlet on the Holodeck, and so does Catherine
> Beavis in a chapter in Ilana Snyder's Page to Screen.  In that chapter
> Beavis argues that computer games can challenge and redefine our notions
of
> narrative and reading.
>
> Anyway, computer games are certainly not privileged in most classroom
> settings.  In fact, most teachers love to complain about computer games
(all
> that instant gratification) the way an older generation complained about
> television rotting the mind.  But I supervise our computer lab after
school
> and watch students play these games.  Many of them are run, chase, kill
> kinds of games, and conventional wisdom says I should be alarmed, but I'm
> not particularly.  They aren't for me, but my father never understood why
I
> was so glued to the television when I was a kid.  And it was television
that
> taught be the basic elements of narrative.  I think computer games have
the
> same potential.  I think we need to bring that knowledge about narrative
in
> consciousness so that students know what they know.
>
> Regarding state standards, Michigan's are pretty good.  They read much
like
> the national language arts standards which are very broad and very
> respectful of students and teachers.  It's when politicians try to
> micromanage classrooms and curricula that we have problems.  And I think
we
> need to tease out the difference in meanings between standards and
> standardization.  A broad standard like "Students will have experience
with
> a variety of written, oral, and visual texts" is a whole lot better than
> "Students will be able to construct a five paragraph essay."  Michigan's
> standardized test program--MEAP--does everything BUT assess how students
are
> doing with the state standards and benchmarks.  The tests are all about
> politics and nothing about education; they are about economic class and
not
> about equity.  And, forgive the preaching, if I had a kid in school I
would
> protest every minute that kid had to spend taking a standardized test
> constructed by some psychometrician and rehashed by a bean counter.
>
> Nancy
>
> Nancy G. Patterson
> Portland Middle School, English Dept. Chair
> Portland, MI  48875
>
> "To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone
can
> learn."
>
> --bell hooks
>
>  patter@voyager.net
> http://www.msu.edu/user/patter90/opening.htm
> http://www.npatterson.net/mid.html
>
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