Dear Plutarch,

For the first time in SAT history, students will have a written essay as part of their SAT scores beginning in 2005. Students will have twenty-five minutes to respond to an essay topic, organize their thoughts, write the essay and proofread it. For anyone who has been working with high school writers with less than average verbal skills, this is truly a difficult task, especially since the task will have bearing upon college admissions. However, the essay on the SAT test will now be in place and I like to think that whatever I am doing well in the classroom might help my students become better thinkers, writers, and even higher scorers on this new test. The scope of the writing opportunities my students get to try is wide and varied. Some topics work better than others; free writings are always best--those writings in which students do not have to worry at all about usage and mechanics; essays are hardest, but are very rewarding for me to evaluate by spring because most students have learned to organize their thoughts so that another human being can follow the line of thinking. I happen to love writing, and I do hope I convey in spades my enthusiam for the written word, and most especially the written words of my students.

Your response was interesting to what I initiated as a simple inquiry into one of literally thousands of questions a teacher could pose about writing. Your response was not particularly original. The reason I say not particularly original is because what you wrote has been observed by countless teachers I have personally known and also in thousands upon thousands of articles about writing, poetry, rhythm, the oral tradition in the classroom, and so on. However, you moved from my questioning of a very insignificant model for testing prepositions to expression of your own philosophy about common sense applied in the teaching of writing. Terrific. I agree with you. I also use the practices you described in my own classroom, and I use other practices you didn't mention.

After reading your initial response, I thought, "Plutarch certainly jumps to many conclusions." After reading your response from this morning, I thought, "Plutarch jumps to many more." It is surprising to me to see just how many conclusions you've reached about my own teaching by my simply asking about the preposition model that I found lacking--and certainly wouldn't use as a standard with my own students--and my having mentioned that we do teach students how to punctuate prepositional phrases that begin sentences. You also commented on the list of prepositions that I had simply copied out of the grammar book. I cannot imagine a grammar book lying around that didn't include a list of prepositions, a list of subordinating conjunctions, a list of personal pronouns, and so on. I think lists of examples, whether open or closed sets, are commonly used in all grammar texts. You commented on teaching punctuation of prepositional phrases. For better or worse (and I believe for better), we do work with punctuation as a means the writer has of letting the reader know how his message should sound. Punctuation is to the writer as rests are to the composer, plain and simple, most likely too simple, but perhaps you understand the analogy. I teach ninth grade, and still the tenth grade teachers comment that some students do not use punctuation well for even simple concepts such as items in a series. But writing is a process; it evolves; students improve; teachers improve. I listen carefully to what the teachers around here say, I try their methods, and I view their complaints to my own students so my own will know that some writing traits, such as a poor mastery of punctuation, can give a reader the wrong impression of their own merit. So, I hope you see that you and I do agree, but I will use a phrase that you apparently bristle at (introductory prepositional phrases) simply because that phrase helps some of my students, the more left-brained in the crew. You have to realize that people learn best in different ways. What works for you, Plutarch, could be a method that is anathema to another student. The challenge of a determined teacher is to incorporate many different ways and approaches into the classroom so that the final outcome is a group of students who will write well, write with emotional honesty, and write with confidence. You may have been my Plutarch over there in the desk by the door who detested learning parts of speech, but you may have been the one who, when reading aloud, capitivated the entire class. However, in the other corner is Jordan who, though a horrible oral reader, needs to know the naming of parts, needs to know down to the last detail why this word is called an adjective here but a verb over there. And I do have a Jordan and he must understand word functions, punctuation rules precisely and with some comfort level reached about the--ah, me--exceptions. And you two are just two types among so many who dwell inside the English classroom.

There is a great deal I could write about the virtues of teaching parts of speech, and there is a great deal more I could write about the multitude of ways in which parts of speech are taught. But I won't. I'll just say that, yes, I do teach parts of speech, I love teaching the parts of speech, I bring a lot of imagination to the teaching of parts of speech, and I even quote passages from A Word a Day in these lessons from time to time. It is a very good idea to teach parts of speech, but understanding a dictionary and the scope of the entries does require that one basically understands what a part of speech is. Faldage called me on calling concerning, considering and but prepositions, when he believed they were not; I referred him to MW where those three words are clearly identified as prepositions in certain functions. If Faldage had called me on something in which I had been in error, I would have written here that he was correct. I certainly have done so in the past when in error. But the point I make here is that teachers at the very least should make sure their students understand how words function in the glory of sentences we offer to them so that, at the very least, their students can use their dictionaries with understanding. And that is at the very least, Plutarch.

Let me address writing:

It has been my experience that students learn to look forward to writing when the fear of being marked down for errors is removed and, more importantly, that they know their thoughts will be responded to by a careful and caring teacher. My own students write to me at the beginning of each class, and they tell me what's on their minds: problems, celebrations, observations, narrations--any topic they choose. And I take these usually two-page invitations into their lives and respond honestly to the places that are strongest in terms of expressive strengths. I don't offer advice, and I don't try to overrule their own emotions with my own experience. Instead, if a student writes about an event and recalls an impressive list of details, I will comment on that strength; if a student shows insight into a situation, I comment on that; if a student asks interesting questions of himself, I comment on that. In other words, I am a deeply listening ear--and I care, so I take care to respond. If you've ever wanted someone to listen to you and notice you--really notice you--then I'm your man when it comes to reading your free writings.

Essays are altogether different for the English teacher and student. Essays are the place where rigorous proofreading must occur, not only for usage and mechanics errors, but also for content, organization, and written expression. Yes, the student is still expressing his opinion, but the rigor of essay writing challenges the student to make reasonable arguments and to organize those arguments so that most readers will understand his points. I try to build up my students' confidence through their free writings, and then help them understand how to improve their editing and organizing in the writing of the formal essays. I see the free writings as a safety valve for the rigors required in essay writing. And I see the study of grammar as a tool that helps the student editor.

You name it; we try to do it in English 9: spell, conjugate, parse, speak, read, rap, write, edit, sing, chant, create, negate, hypothesize, order, dream, celebrate.

And we fail at times. And I admit failure at times, such as in the preposition model I offered to the A Word A Day bulletin board readers as an example of a teaching model that struck me as being flawed. But, Plutarch, I will continue to examine any model anyone mentions that resonates with productive possibility if it leads my students toward learning to thrive in writing about their lives, whether formally or informally.