Update: Inquiry into Teaching

So far I have read the first three articles. The first article was confusing and seemed rather pointless until I talked with Kittle about it. Article one's main concentration was on genre theory. Article two talked about limiting writers creativity based on cultural taboos. Article three was about empathizing with students. All together they seem to mold a way of teaching that will be productive for the student as well as the teacher. Gunther Kress, in article one, discusses the importance of knowing the genre in which one will be studying/writing. If one does not understand the genre of the novel or a business letter, for example, they will have more difficulty reading the genre and even more difficulty trying to recreate their own work within that particular genre. Kress opts for genre theory which teaches students all about various genres, however, I think this would be a colossal waste of time. We need to introduce students into respective genres as they arise. Jennifer Schneider goes into limiting what the students are allowed to write, based on teacher and administrative bans on certain taboo subjects. Violence seemed to be the universal ban within student's writings. Sometime students use writing as an outlet to express themselves or vent out frustrations. If we strip them of total creativity, we take away their voice. Schneider talks about the power of coercion teachers use to control students writings. One teacher talked about giving too much freedom. I disagree. I believe topics should be given so students have a guideline to help stimulate motivation and direction, but once a topic has been given, we should allow children creative freedom. Of course there are those instances where a child may write about abuse at home, and we, as persons left to control the safety and well being of students, should report it to the correct authorities. However, we should not stop the student from using his or her gift of writing as an emotional outlet. Schneider go on further to discuss other taboo issues like homosexuality which some teachers addressed based on their own morals. I believe students need to be given the freedom to write, regardless of the teacher's personal feelings. One year a student may have a liberal teacher, the next a conservative. We cant ask them to continually switch back and forth, constantly trying to figure out what their teacher wants...not what they want. I RAN OUTTA TIME! Article three by Judith Jester talks about being empathetic to the students plite with writing because we've all been there. We've all looked at a blank page or a paper desperatly needing revisions and frozen. Jester just asks us not to forget what it was like to be a student.