It is really easy to believe that everyone can develop at least some degree of writing skills, and not only that they can, but that it is necessary and important, and that it is good for them.
That is, until you have nearly 200 papers written by all of those everyones, and you have to grade them using constructive criticism and motivating words. Or something like that.
I assigned my sophomores a CREATIVE short story last week. They all think they’re being creative, but if only they knew…This is what sophomores in high school write about:
-all of the girls either write about falling in love (see last post, punch yourself in the face) or about surfing on the beach in California. Usually either one of those stories features a girl who goes to a high school in California called Ocean Beach Wave Dolphin High School, home of the Dolphins/Whales/Surfers/Seashells. She has just moved from somewhere depressing, one of her parents has recently died, and she gets surf lessons from some hot 25 year old and falls in love. Gross.
-all of the boys write about some skateboarding/fighting/snowboarding event that has been heavily inspired by playing video games/watching X Games/watching MTV. They usually have to overcome demanding parents, get the girl, and then win the world fighting/skateboarding/snowboarding championship. The first three papers are entertaining.
Alternately, the stories can follow the same plot line, but the characters can be squirrels, elephants, fish, or monkeys. If the characters don’t fall in love or win a championship, they are killed by drunk drivers. And we think DARE isn’t getting through to them.
