Jennifer Izaguirre

Professor Weaver

ENGLISH 1101

December 5th, 2019

The Better Idea

            “SAT Scores Are Useful for Placing Students in Writing Courses” by Kristen di Gennaro is a bad idea because a test doesn’t define what a student knows. The SAT is just a requirement for many colleges but doesn’t help place a student in a class. Colleges mainly use the SAT to see who gets accepted and who does not. So, is there a better idea? The following three author, Kristen Gennaro, Gerald W. Bracey and David Owens will decide a better idea is having students do a self-assessment on themselves in order for them to choose which writing course they believe fits better for them.

            The author Kristen di Gennaro states “Many people, especially college writing faculty, interpret the College Board’s decision to minimize the role of the SAT essay test as an admission that is was a poor measure of writing ability”. (Gennaro 297) The SAT comes with an option to take the writing portion or not. So how would a student’s SAT scores help them be placed in a writing course if they choose to not take the writing portion of the SAT?

            Gennaro believes that if students were to respond to questions about the own strengths and weaknesses in writing, then they would be able to select a course based of their self-assessment. (Gennaro 296) Kristen Gennaro is going based off programs that are experiencing in these types of self-assessments. This type of self-assessment could be useful for students and could possibly be something permanent if colleges decided to eventually use them.

Gennaro used the source “Thinking about Test and Testing: A Short Primer In “Assessment Literacy’” by Gerald W. Bracey which states “Not all people who score well on the SAT will do well in college:” (Bracey 12) The SAT is only a few questions about each subject which doesn’t cover everything. Bracey explains that students could get the highest score on the SAT but still fail a class in college. This could be due to the transition for high school to college not the scores of a test. Bracey believes that freshman college grades and the SAT scores have a correlation but they the college board cannot confirm if the SAT caused those college grades. (Bracey 22) Gerald W. Bracey thinks that a better way of students doing better in a writing course is by them knowing themselves as writers.

Bracey used the source “The Truth Behind the SATs” by David Owen which he mentions “college admissions officers need the SAT because they can’t get by without an objective, uniform measure that puts all applicants on an equal footing regardless of their educational or cultural background. (Owens 260) What Owen means about this is that colleges are using the SAT as a requirement for all applicants just to be accepted. It is not being used to put students in writing courses because students choose their own classes based on the prerequisites of their major once accepted.

David Owens infers that the SAT is not useful when it comes to being placed in writing courses so even if colleges decided to get rid of the SAT requirement then there would still be students that would have to be accepted and rejected. Owens decides that possibly there is a better idea which is students testing their own ability of writing and learning in this area, which will help them decide in which class they would feel more comfortable according to their own evaluation.

In conclusion, all three of these authors believe that if students could do an evaluation on themselves, then they could be able to choose which course would best fit their ability to write and the way they learn. SAT scores being used to determine what writing courses a student should be placed in is a bad idea because once accepted all students a mainly placed in the same class (ENGLISH 1101) in their freshman year. A self-assessment could make a major change in so many ways for students. This type of assessment can help students learn their strengths and weaknesses which guide them to the correct writing course they fall in. So, could these three authors possibly change the minds of the college administrators? Will there ever be a change in the way the SAT is used in college? Would colleges ever consider a self-assessment for students?

Sources

Gennaro, Kristen di, and Drew M. Loewe. “Bad Ideas About Writing.” Bad Ideas About Writing, edited by Cheryl E. Ball, WVU Libraries, 2017, pp. 294–298.

Bracey, Gerald W. “Thinking About Test and Testing: ‘A Short Primer in ‘Assessment Literacy.’” ERIC, 2000, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED445096.pdf.

Owen, David, and Marilyn. Doerr. None of the above : the Truth behind the SATs. Rev. and updated.. ed., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999.

In today’s world, writing is highly important since it is so widely used on a daily basis. But it isn’t as easy to do, simply because there are a lot of bad ideas out there that tend to make it difficult for some. Jill Parrott, in her essay “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers” (in the book Bad Ideas About Writing) argues that the idea of the title is a bad idea because it puts inexperienced writers in a bad mindset where they think they can’t improve their writing and make themselves believe that all good writers are just born being able to write well. But, she says, this bad idea shouldn’t let inexperienced writers be kept from writing, because there are solutions out there in order for them to improve and not to feel so discouraged about writing.

“struggling kid writing” by Getty Images/VStock RF. Calvert Education ttps://www.calverteducation.com/parent-teacher/teaching-a-child-who-hates-writing

Jill Parrott, the author of “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers”, suggests on what inexperienced writers can do so they do not get in that bad mindset of labeling themselves as being a bad writer. “Persistence emphasizes that experience is more powerful than unchangeable ability, and challenges help move writers forward rather than delaying their progress.” (Parrot 73). Here, she says how being a persistent writer is key to improving one’s writing. Persistence and going back over previous work will improve future projects because then the writer will know what mistakes not to make. It’s like anything else in life where practice makes perfect, a writer can’t expect to become better if they don’t practice and keep trying. One can’t expect to be able to write an amazing paper without having previous experience and having grown from the mistakes they made previously. As the writer looks back at previous work, they must be able to take any feedback, being bad or good and use that as another way to keep improving.

As writers continue to be more persistent with their writing and growing, they often tend to realize how the writing process they use works and/or if it’s actually working for them. Every writer goes through the writing process when writing something and in order to not get in the mindset of “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers” the writer has to find a process that fits them. Peter Elbow, author of “Writing Without Teachers”, suggests using a certain type of model of the writing process in order to make things easier.” If on the other hand you adopt the developmental model of the writing process, you might well try to write it four times, not once, and try to help the piece evolve through these four versions.” (Elbow 33). In other words, as someone might spend hours just working on one draft and killing themselves to make it perfect then just revising and editing it at the end, the writer should write that paper multiple times. As they re-write it, each time they keep fixing it up and seeing if the last draft was going anywhere or if they can use any of it and keep going from there. In the end, as you write each draft, the paper is going to keep growing and should make writing a little less of a headache for those writers that find writing difficult.

As any writer is writing their paper and follows the previous suggestions in order to make the whole writing process better, a very important thing the they must also do is to include his or her voice in their paper. Voice is very important to have when writing something because it’s what draws the readers attention. “When teachers talk about the good qualities of student writing, one of their favorite terms is “voice.” Good student writing has it; bad student writing doesn’t” (Hashimoto 70). In other words when writing in academia having one’s voice present is a must because it’s what separates good writers / students from bad ones. Voice gives a type of energy to the reader such as humor, rhythm, flow, or individuality that makes them feel like the writer is actually talking to them. Without a present voice, the paper might seem dull to the reader and they might become uninterested.

All inexperienced writers such as students who wish to become great writers must always seek to improve. By sticking to the bad idea that some people are just born good writer does the complete opposite of that. That will just get the writer stuck in a bad mindset where they think they can’t improve. But, by being a persistent writer and taking any feedback and using it to improve their writing will help of keeping them out of that said mindset. As persistence is always important, the writer must figure out a good writing process for them in order to make writing less of a hassle. As stated, using the developmental model can help ease that struggle. As the writer is putting the paper together, they must remember to include their voice. This is highly important because with this they can catch the reader’s attention and make them want to read their work. Practicing all three will help the writers work and should shed light on them with some hope that they can improve and become the great writers they’re aspired to be. “Good writers are not born. They are learned” (Parrot 74).

Works Cited

• Ball, E. Cheryl; Loewe, M. Drew. Bad Ideas About Writing. Parrott, Jill. “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers”. Pp. 71-75
• Elbow, Peter. Writing without Teachers, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1998. ProQuest eBook Central, pp. 30-60. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gsu/detail.action?docID=516289
• Hashimoto, I. “Voice as Juice: Some Reservations about Evangelic Composition.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 38, no. 1, 1987, pp. 70–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/357588.

Marquay Collins

Class $0

“Facts about Languages” by Elaine_Smith is licensed under CC0 1.0

“Failure is Not an Option” is a bad idea, because some people use failure as a motive to become successful. Failure is used as a learning tool to grow from what have been wrong or mistaken. Failure is an option and should be used, students shouldn’t shy away from it or feel down if they encounter it, because it is an experience that they will learn from.

In the article “Failure is Not an Option” by Allison D. Carr stated, “What should be clear is that failure is a significant part of the entire scene of learning, an assertion that, again, is borne out by widely respected research.” (Carr,75) She explains that failure is an option that students should partake in. She said that it is a very important step when learning. Doing this will make you a better writer and make your writing process easier. She also stated, “Writing scholars don’t use the word “failure” very often (or at all), but we should.” She explains that many scholars didn’t accept failure or speak of it as often, but they should.

            In the article called “Literacy and the Discourse of Crisis” by John Trimbur, he stated, “The discourse of literacy crises engages deep-seated cultural anxieties and attempts to resolve them magically, by regulating the production and use of literacy and by drawing lines between standard English and popular vernaculars, ‘masters’ and ‘servants’…Middle-class anxieties about loss of status and downward mobility have repeatedly been displaced and refigured in the realm of language practices and literacy education ” (Trimbur,279-280) He explains that the literacy crisis represents the social, economic, and cultural anxieties of the middle class more than declining literacy itself. It was also found that the history of literacy crisis shows that these discourses related to social, economic, and cultural flux in the US. He also stated, “an offensive to stop affirmative-action, remedial, and equal-opportunity programs in higher education and to firm up the meritocracy in order to consolidate the privileges of the middle-class and upper middle-class students” He explains that literacy was in crisis by not making an equal-opportunity program in higher education. This means that the world was more worried about dividing the world up into different classes that they forgot to bring to realization that literacy is also just as important.

Boundaries were set amongst literacy and had no control. As mentioned in “Failure is Not an Option”, But cultural attitudes toward failure remain as sinister as ever, perhaps more so in the wake of standardized testing, No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top.” (Carr,78) She received her view that literacy was at a crisis when these items were perceived as a weakness. This is also why failure is considered weakness, it should be used as a positive outlook for students.

In the article “The History of Literacy and the History of Readers” by Carl F. Kaestle was listed in the article “Literacy and the Discourse of Crisis”. Kaestle stated, “Literacy has become an issue, within the United States and internationally. This spurred through historians.” (Kaestle,11-12) This relate to the topic discussed by Trimbur. He explains that literacy became an issue due to the views of historians in the article from 1985. The decline in literacy leads to the thought of failure not being an option. Kaestle also agrees that failure was not spoken upon. (Kaestle,31) He explain that communications revolution including; televisions and computers, makes the world question the understanding of failure. Most of the early historians believed that failure was a sign of weakness, that should never be spoken. This relates to the world now and how it is viewed as weakness. (Kaestle, 42)

Kaestle also stated, “One cannot merely adapt a master view of multiple expectations, historians shy from the attempt.” (Kaestle,27) He explains that no one of that time period had a clear view of expectations, and that the people from the past closed their eyes toward this topic. Expectations was mostly based upon not being associated with failure. This explains why most people didn’t think highly of failure or at all.

Failure is an option and should be used, students shouldn’t shy away from it or feel down if they encounter it, because it is an experience that they will learn from. Failure is defined as a lack of success. Many people believe that when you encounter it, you are failed as a student. But that is no longer a suggested outlook of failure. It is proven that we perceive failure as an insult according to our historians, which was based off our ancestors’ experiences. This grew the word into a decline. The literacy decline is a major reason why failure is surfaced. When dealing in the academic world, you are taking a risk. Failure is just part of the process when you want to succeed. Failure should always be an option.

Work Cited:

Carr, Allison d. “Failure Is Not an Option.” Bad Ideas about Writing, 2017, textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf.

https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Trimbur, John. “Literacy and the Discourse of Crisis.” The Politics of Writing Instruction: Postsecondary. Ed. Richard Bullock and John Trimbur. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1991.

https://jessicamwinck.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/trimbur-literacy-and-the-discourse-of-crisis/

Kaestle, Carl f. “The history of Literacy and the History of Readers.” Research in Education Vol.12, 1985, book. Ed.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1167145?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Thinking that failure is not an option is a bad idea about writing. It is a bad idea because it stops people from taking chances and trying new things. Failure has a bad reputation and fear of disappointment. There are also the hidden consequences of failing. These can be more damaging than the real-life consequences because of how they impact our future efforts and how we feel about ourselves. People can shut down because the shame of failing can be overwhelming for them. Also, some think that failure should be avoided at all cost and that leads to not trying. As humans, we are taught to think that failing at something is bad but sometimes it can be helpful to not be successful at something and learn from it. The lack of failure can lead to complacency. Being successful is good but getting too comfortable can be a bad thing. Failure can be used to learn how to improve and also to give a different perspective on the situation. It gives more ideas to think about and motivation to look for them. A better idea is to encourage students to not be afraid of failure and earn from their failures. It will help students learn more about themselves and think outside of the box.

“kid smiling” by Ben White is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Allison Carr, author of Failure Is Not an Option, states that “failure is acceptable if we learn from it. If we can recuperate it if it brings us virtue and strength and morality because what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. And if we never, ever do it again.” In other words, failure is a good thing if students can learn from it. Carr says failure should be welcomed because it can help make a better mindset about writing. To fail willingly in writing is to be empowered by the possibilities that happen. There are many ways to benefit from a failure such as: learning something new, developing the courage to keep going and helping to get rid of the current way of thinking. When understood as part of the normal process of growing and developing, failure may become something to be accepted and even welcomed. Katrina Schwartz, author of Growth Mindset: How to Normalize Mistake Making and Struggle in Class, says that “The Stanford psychologist found that children who understand that their brains are malleable and can change when working through challenging problems can do better in school. Now, many school districts are attempting to teach a growth mindset to their students. At the core of this practice is the idea of “productive failure” (a concept Dr. Manu Kapur has been studying for over a decade)* and giving students the time and space to work through difficult problems. Another key idea is to praise the process and effort a child puts in, not the final product.” In other words, studies show that students who have a growth mindset are more likely to do better in school. With a growth mindset, students understand what they need to do to deal with challenging problems they may have. At the heart of a growth mindset is productive failure. Schwartz thinks that productive failure is the idea of giving students time to work through difficult questions and helping them to understand the correct way of doing things instead of focusing on getting a good grade. Elizabeth Stein, author of Creating the Context for Growth Mindsets in the Classroom, argues that “When teachers nurture a growth mindset, students focus on the effort they put into a task rather than falling back on preconceived beliefs about their intelligence or skills. Learning happens when students push through their comfort zones (the cognitive research proves it!). Classrooms should become learning environments where students naturally apply effort and persistence to achieve.” In other words, students learned from work that they are not comfortable with or are too challenging for them. Students need to be pushed beyond their comfort limits. Stein argues that harder assignments force students to apply themselves more which leads to students learning more. She makes a good point to be students most times get content with their success. Students should be pushed further even when they are successful.

“Teacher helping kid” by stem.T4L is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Students need to know that failure is a good thing if they can learn from it. Most students think that failure is bad because of how it is sometimes perceived, but that needs to change. Teaching students about having a growth mindset is critical. They must be able to understand that if something is difficult, that does not mean to give up. Also, when something feels easy, it is still important to go back and see what were the reasons for success. Failure does not mean that an idea was bad. Rather failure shows that there is something to be learned and that there is an opportunity for growth. Failure should be encouraged to students because it lets them not be afraid to mess up. This will lead to better grades and students will learn from their mistakes. 

Citations

Carr, Allison D. “Failure is Not an Option.” Bad Ideas About Writing. Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017,

Schwartz, Katrina. “Growth Mindset: How to Normalize Mistake Making and Struggle in Class.” KQED, 27 Jan. 2017, www.kqed.org/mindshift/41700/growth-mindset-how-to-normalize-mistake-making-and-struggle-in-class.

Stein, Elizabeth. “Creating the Context for Growth Mindsets in the Classroom.” Teacher Teacher, 19 Feb. 2019, www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/09/17/ctq_stein_growth_mindset.html?cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS3.

            The bad idea that I will be discussing in this paper is that Dual Enrollment Writing Classes Should Be Pursued. The better idea is that Dual Enrollment Writing Classes should not be Pursued. In addition, dual enrollment writing classes contain instructors who don’t have enough experience and prior knowledge about the college writing, conflicting cultures and pedagogies, and teachers should take programs of education to provide them the understanding and practical theoretical knowledge.

There are many factors that play into the Dual Enrollment writing classes and the main problem is the teacher. They don’t have enough prior knowledge and understanding of the class to fully know what to teach the students. As stated in the Bad Ideas About Writing Article “High-school instructors may not have any experience in teaching college-level writing courses; most have experience only in teaching literature, creative writing, and speech or journalism courses. This lack of experience teaching at the university level compounded by a lack of training from the university could result in conflicting information being relayed to students about what college-level writing means.” (Wilkinson 6) Therefore, to conclude the sentence above many high school instructors lack the prior knowledge or experience to teach Dual Enrollment class.

Concepts and topics taught in Dual Enrollment Writing Classes may vary based on the high school instructor or college professor. Furthermore, as stated in the Contesting the Space between High School and College in the Era of Dual Enrollment article it states, “the obvious differences in composition pedagogy between high school and college instruction are the many contextual and cultural differences that exist between secondary and postsecondary institutions.” (Tinberg and Nadeau 25) In contrast, many high school teachers and college professors teach in many different ways mainly because of culture and the way they wish to teach.

Due to high school teachers not having enough experience or prior knowledge of the subject of Dual Enrollment Writing classes. They should enroll themselves in programs or classes to improve their prior knowledge and educate themselves on the idea. As stated in the article Position Statement on the Preparation and Professional Development of Teachers of Writing “Programs for the preparation and continuing education of teachers of English and language arts, at all levels, should include opportunities for prospective and active teachers…” (CCCC Task Force on the Preparation of Teachers of Writing). Correspondingly, if you were to read further into the passage you would discover the different ways and techniques of English teachings.

In essence, there are many other reasons why Dual Enrollment Writing Classes should not be pursued, taken and taught by high school instructors/teachers, however the main reasons above are the most important and crucial to the concept or idea.In similar, students especially Dual Enrollment students need to be cautious about taking any classes/subjects either at the high school and college.

Work Cited:

Caroline W., “Dual Enrollment Writing Classes Should Always Be Pursued” Bad Ideas About Writing

Howard Tinberg and Jean Paul Nadeau’s “Contesting the Space between High School and College in the Era of Dual-Enrollment” in College Composition and Communication. June 2011

Conference on College Composition and Communication. “Position Statement on the Preparation and Development of Teachers of Writing,” Conference on College Composition and Communication. 1982. Web.28 College Composition and Communication Vol.33, No.4, Dec 1982

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