law and order: spritopias intent

There are few things I feel strongly about; one of them is how young writers are fostered in schools. During summer school I have been given the pleasure of proctoring the writing instruction and have been given a free hand to teach it as I will.

The students were to write an essay or story and have the story done by today so that they could be graded, recorded and reported in time for it to count for their promotion from summer school into their regular classes next year. Some of the students still have trouble realizing that we all have stories in us that need to be told so I encouraged the incorrigibles to write about something from their own lives, an experience they had or something that was important to them.

The stories were great despite earlier worries that they would not be and that I was not teaching them anything. Some were funny, some of them deeply personal, a couple of them were surprising and some were inappropriate for school. I really do cherish the fact that my students feel comfortable confiding in me but there are times that their mouths are saying one thing and my ears are hearing, "LIABILITY" and my attorney general Alex Vance appears in the spectral form preferred by Obi Wan Kenobi and reminds me that these are dangers I face on my own – even the Professors McGonagall at the University cannot save me.

Today's inappropriateness was exceptional in that the students confessed, in amazing detail, to crimes they had committed during the past year. I want to say that the one student is the criminal savant because this crime could have gone unsolved forever and no one would have suspected him, on face. If you know him then you also know to keep him in front of you and where you can see his hands. However, the whole "reading a story about it to the class with accomplices and Technicolor detail" puts him in the running for a Darwin Award and feature in the annals of the Ministry of Silly Walks. This child was certainly suspected of committing this crime because he is a snake – and in a world where most boys are squirrels or weasels he surpases his peers. Announcing his did it displays chutzpah, either that chronic poor judgment.

The other student's crime did not surprise me beyond sharing it in class. I have committed this crime to and would still commit this crime if my best friend was not a police officer. Committing this crime is a rush but really dangerous. I would never have thought this kid would have done something like this; it was truly shocking.

Also shocking was my desire to interrupt him and give him pointers on how to do better the next time and chastise his sloppiness. I had to reconcile my roles as a teacher and remind myself that coaching their criminal activity was not my job

Also shocking was my desire to interrupt him and give him pointers on how to do better the next time and chastise his sloppiness. I had to reconcile my roles as a teacher and remind myself that coaching their criminal activity was not my job.

Some people argue against the way that I teach writing. They prefer other methods, completely unsupported by research, and they are entitled to their opinions. I am confident, however, that this method of teaching is the only one that will get unsolicited confessions to criminal activity during class and that is hard to beat.

I handed in copies of their papers to Jack McCoy or crack administrator and have almost enough Republican in me to hand over their journals where they have been keeping as well. Normally I would view a student’s writing as sacrosanct but at the same time the students know that I think criminal activity needs reporting.

This evening when I was at Ashley’s with Gretchen, husbands, dogs and children we were discussing this – because we have these students in common – and one of Gretchen’s sons said, “I do bad things. I do stupid things. I’m not going to act like I don’t. I don’t write about them and then read them to the class.”

I’m glad I’m not as dumb as some of the kids and there are a lot of times when I wish I was as smart as some of the kids.

I just can’t seem to stop writing about the stupid and bad things I do.

Comments

[golfwidow]

This kid totally deserves an A for doing the assignment. He wrote what he knows and presented it in vivid detail. Poor judgment it may be, but good writing is good writing. As for its self-implication, bear in mind that he may have been striving harder for the writing assignment than for honesty - a really creative kid may make himself into a criminal on paper (and, yeah, you have to watch a kid like that pretty closely in real life; I'm not saying you don't) without having actually committed the crime yet.

[boxx]

I SUCK at writing and I ENVY anyone who is GOOD at it.

[Suburban Island]

It would be nice - good writing aside - if the confession of a crime was not the outcome of a creative writing exercise but better a done assignment than a blank page.