Sara Dubose Ranzau

Sara DuBose Ranzau

Authentic Writing and the Stories it produces

Background

This is my first year as an English Language Arts teacher and I want my students to do the best they can on everything they try. When I entered the district I was told that the students, as a whole, do wonderfully on the ELA TAKS tests each year, however there is a decline in the writing section. I do not teach writing for the test, my students are tested in reading. However, I do have them write. I feel that writing is an extension of their literacy (citation).

I decided to have the students write, mostly narratives to explore what they will readily write. What is authentic to them? How do assignments become authentic for the students?

Description of students

My students are ninth graders in a very small community between Comfort, TX and Kerrville, TX. In their community, students are involved in a multitude of extra-curricular activities, usually if they are in one they are in most. Their families either are ranchers or may be working just to make it by. The spread of wealth seems to be fairly even, unlike other schools where I have taught. The school district has a high attendance rate, and less than 50% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school is primarily Caucasian and Hispanic students.

The majority of the students have been in the same district since kindergarten. They have known each other for a long time, and many of their parents and in some cases grandparents went to school in the same district.

Project and question

How does authentic writing benefit ninth grade students and their narrative writing? I have decided to have students write and examine several different narratives to determine improvements in their writing. I also want to use their papers as a way to expand the quality in their story telling. The students have written a memoir, an essay on someone they feel is a hero to them and a short story. I have asked the students which assignment they liked best, which was more challenging to write and why as well as how the authenticity of their writing influenced the story they chose to tell.

Literature Research

When a student writes, they are typically writing to please a teacher. Rarely do students simply sit down and write for themselves (Tompkins, 2002). In order to help students become better writers, we as educators need to find authentic ways to help them discover the writer within (Graves, 2004).

Student writers not only need help finding what makes them happy when they write, they also need help finding the courage and support to write. Writing is a vulnerable aspect of learning (Swaim, 2002). Once a word is down on the page, it cannot be taken back. Students need encouragement and a safe place to write (Daniels, 2007). By encouraging students to write authentically, and helping them to understand what authentic writing is, students have a better chance to be in control of what goes on the page. No longer are they simply trying to please a teacher or parent, they are working to make their story heard and to tell it the way they imagine it.

Methodology and Analysis

The students wrote three different types of narratives because 1) they went along with what we were studying at the time and 2) I felt the memoir, hero essay and short story were more apt to be authentic to my students. After the students wrote their pieces, they were graded differently. The memoir and short story were graded on a rubric that focused more on the content of the piece than the conventions and the essay was graded on a rubric with more focus on conventions than the other two pieces.

Each student also completed an authentic writing survey where he/she was asked about his/her writing. I was surprised to find the students’ answers so varied. There was not an overwhelming number that chose just one of the writing assignments, their answers were fairly well spread across the board.

Here are some of their responses and why they chose that particular assignment as their authentic piece.

• “My Real Life Hero because the person I picked is my real REAL life hero.”
• “The short story because it’s just written to be fun and a nice fun story.”
• “My short story because I am doing very well at writing it. It has turned out to be very good and the best I’ve ever done.”
• “Memoir. I want people to know the real side of me. Not just the side they see at school.”
• “My real life heroes essay because it was someone really special to me.”
• “Memoir because that was real stuff from my life.”

I enjoyed reading their responses from the survey because they were honest. It is remarkable how hard on their own writing students can be. I found that the surveys more so than the writing itself helped me to better understand what the students were enjoying writing and what they considered to be authentic. Each piece of writing was unique and as varied as the students themselves. I believe that if their writing were not authentic to them I would have gotten many of the same stories and pieces. I also believe that the type of writing topics posed to the students made a difference in the authenticity of their writing (Hidi, 1990).

Pilot Study

I began the year knowing my students would read and write possibly more than they had done so in the past, and I wanted to make sure my students were enjoying what they were writing. I have chosen to focus on the stories and changes in the students’ writing based on short stories they have written.

Each six weeks the students were assigned a major writing assignment that correlated with the type of literature being discussed in the classroom. I wanted their topics to be on par with the stories, but not the subject matter of their writing. The students were given free reign over what they wrote about, as long as it was appropriate for school and they were able to justify the actions of the characters within the story.

“The short story (it) lets me write about anything I want to write about.” The reaction from students who were able to write, in a structured manner, about anything they wanted was exciting. I had students coming up to me telling me bits and pieces of what they wanted to write, and begging me to read their stories every day in class. It was fascinating to me to see students react to their own writing that way.

In some students’ writing, I noticed a change in the way they write. For instance, one student, a girl, originally from Louisiana, has been struggling to write the stories; she had typically been describing what she wants to write, and not just writing it. She moved here because of Hurricane Katrina and has had trouble adjusting, even though she has been at the district for a couple of years. Here is part of her story, The Mysterious Medallion:

“I must warn you, this book is not something that anyone can just pick up and read, like some novel off a bookshelf in a bookstore or library. This book chooses its reader authors for a reason known only to the book itself. Don’t get me wrong, the book is not “possessed” as previous reader authors thought and its new admirer will undoubtedly find out. I should know, I held its secret and still lived to tell the tale.”

The first draft of her piece consisted of statements like: “My imagination is the meaning of my book. It tells and describes or shows many mysteries that are shut out of the minds of unimaginative readers.” She is an avid reader herself and I think at times gets caught up in the retelling and explaining of a story. She was able to take her descriptive nature and turn it into a truly wonderful story. I also believe her experiences with Hurricane Katrina and adjusting to the school district have contributed to her struggle with writing.

Another student, this one with severe ADHD, spent hours working on his story. His grandmother told me she had to make him go to bed and stop writing. He was writing because he was excited about his chosen story (Tompkins, 2002). In his survey he says that he does not like to write, yet he was excited about his short story because, “I get to write what I want to write about.” Students should have the opportunity to write stories of their own choosing the narratives are more authentic that way (Smede, 1995).

Another student has continued his story and now finds himself writing at every chance he can get. He now plans to be a writer, and he is excited to read his story to the class before Christmas break. His story had been passed around the classroom before it was ever turned into me. The students were excited about his story and he was encouraged to tell it. Here is part of his story, Rockstar: The Ballad of Andy Wilson:

“The band played at the bar six nights a week and played seven songs for two sets. It all seemed to be going well for The Fallen Angels until Mark started to start having problems with drugs and alcohol. Sometimes no body would see him for days at a time. He even stopped coming to shows and practices. It seemed that the band was falling apart but, they caught a break, when after a show they were approached by a man who gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”

This student worked with his friends to create a life style, one with consequences, for his characters. His rough draft his full of scratched out words to find just the right one for the story he was telling. He took charge of his writing, and after many words and several discussions with peers, he found exactly what he was looking for. The authenticity of his writing and his writing process is clear. This story was important to him and he worked very hard to make sure the finished product was as important to his peers and me as it was to him (Daniels, 2007).

I plan to continue examining my students’ writing and discussing it with them. I hope that the more authenticity I can bring into the classroom and student writing, the better my students will be able to learn. Students are willing to write when it suits them, why not create situations in the classroom that seemingly suit the students. Authenticity in writing is what students and teachers are craving, we need to use what our students give us, in conversation and short pieces of writing, to determine how best to find authentic stories. I believe that the stories that come from authentic writing experiences are remarkable and encourage us, not only as teachers, but as readers.

References

Daniels, E. (2007). Literacy Café: Making Writing Authentic. Voices from the Middle. Volume 14(3).

Graves, D. (2004). Interview with Donald Graves. Talking Points. Volume 15(2).

Hidi, S. (1990). Interest and its contribution as a mental resource for learning. Review of Educational Research. Volume 60.

Swaim, J.F. (2002). Laughing Together in Carnival: A Tale of Two Writers. Language Arts Volume 79(4)

Smede, S.D. (1995). Flyfishing, Portfolios, and Authentic Writing. English Journal. Volume 84(2)

Tompkins, G.E. (2002). Struggling Readers are Struggling Writers, Too. Reading and Writing Quarterly. 18, p 175-193.