Other Thoughts | BulgingButtons

Or don’t. Usually I don’t really care whether you exercise your civic right (and duty) if you’re a U.S. citizen. I trust in the balance of powers and figure that it will all work out one way or another.

Sad, right?

What can I say? Most of my life I’ve identified myself as “apolitical,” rather than Republican, Democrat, liberal, or conservative. I’ve been a registered Independent my entire voting life, and I have crossed party lines many times depending on the candidate’s stand on particular issues. I’m not a one issue voter, though, so sometimes it’s hard for me to figure out where I want to place my support.

This presidential election year was similar, at least at the beginning. There were different faces emerging from the usual crowd. I heard different voices in the mix. I stood back and listened, not intently, because I knew most of them would fall by the wayside, but I was still at least a little bit interested.

As the campaign season progressed, though, it because impossible to listen from a distance. As the field narrowed and the voices got louder and more difficult to laugh off, I started to pay closer attention. I started to get concerned.

Now here we are, election day. This is where I would normally encourage you to get to your polling place and cast your vote, if you haven’t already. I normally wouldn’t care what you marked on your ballot, just that you were a participating citizen. This year is different. This year I’m afraid for our nation. I’m afraid that what was once considered a joke will become our nation’s new reality. I’m afraid that too many of us don’t recognize how dangerous a world leader with an out of control ego can be.

I still have faith in our nation. I still have faith in the balance of powers. I still believe that the future of our country is not as grim as some make it out to be. I’m not packing up and leaving the country, regardless of the outcome of the election, but I can’t help but think of my parents and grandparent who had to do that very thing when a certain leader came to power just two generations ago.

I hope you’ll use your vote wisely. I hope whomever ends up as our next leader does so with wisdom, restraint, and fairness. I hope so for all of our sakes.

This was the question posed to my fourth grade students on their recent “Writing Motivation Survey.” It was in the form of an online poll, complete with twenty-eight questions that they were to rank on a 1-4 scale. It was required before they completed their annual district writing assessment.

Twenty-eight questions. They are nine years old. If I ask them why they write they will tell me things like, “I have to” or “I like writing because it’s fun” or “I like making up stories.” Those replies are perfectly appropriate for a nine year old. But twenty-eight questions? Too much.

Speaking of too much, there’s the assessment itself. In the old days we passed out a paper folder with a writing prompt on the front. It was one or two sentences long. We also passed out a check sheet that kids were to use for revision and editing purposes. Some used it, many did not. After they completed a rough draft they got a second paper folder for the final draft. It was a long process, and quite demanding, but appropriate to the age and grade level.

Times have changed, however. Now the kids get a copy of the scoring guideline, which is written for adults. Good thing we have access to it ahead of time so that we can teach them what it means. The test is now on the computer, which isn’t uncommon, but it does take quite a few more steps to get to than passing out a paper. They have to read through two dense pages of “how to use the tools” (again, we are able to do this ahead of time, thank goodness), before they even get to the prompt.

Ah, the prompt. It’s on the right side of the screen, with a related article on the left side. Remember the old one to two sentence prompt? That’s gone. Now there’s about 200 words of text they have to navigate before they can figure out what they’re supposed to write about. And am I allowed to read it to them or help them interpret it? Absolutely not. They are on their own (even though this is not a reading comprehension test, it’s a writing test).

The expectation is that they will then independently read the included article on the topic (again, no help is allowed) and incorporate information into their response. They also watch an informational video and take notes on it to include. Then they are to independently compose their piece, revise and edit it, and type it into the computer. Did I mention that they’re nine?

We try to prepare them for this task, but frankly it’s too much. Even if I could rewrite the prompt so that it’s easier to understand, even if I could choose a shorter, simpler article, even if I could read it to them, it’s too much. How often do you have to read text, view a video, and compose a piece of writing all in one sitting? And you’re an adult!

It’s a good thing they take the “Writing Motivation Survey” before this assessment, because afterward I don’t think too many of my kids were feeling very good about writing, and that’s terrible. I have to do damage control, and work hard to get them back to a place where they don’t hate to write. Tasks like this are discouraging to so many learners, even kids who are normally enthusiastic about writing.

I understand the value of being able to accomplish that type of task, but honestly for kids in the fourth grade it’s too much, too soon. Now we’ll take a few steps back, break down some of those writing tasks into smaller chunks, and tackle those. We’ll also go back to enjoying language and learning how to play with it.

fun-writing The good new is that kids are flexible. They did it. They survived. They’ll move on. My creative writing club kids met yesterday afternoon, and they proved it to me. They wrote for thirty sustained minutes about planets they created based on their watercolor paintings from the previous session. We had poetry, a space explorer account, a newscast drama, descriptions of the unicorn planet, the rainbow planet, the basketball planet, and more. Now that’s a reason to write.