Another finding of Kamler's (1994) article was that although writing at school was considered free writing in which the students were told that they could write about whatever they wished and in whatever genre they wished, Zoe and Peter (the girl and boy in the study) tended to stick to writing about their personal experiences (Observation genre). The teachers allowed freedom, but because they did not necessarily provide exposure to options, they actually didn't allow the freedom they thought they were allowing. This made me think about making a new recipe or dish of food – if I have never heard of or tasted a banana/granola/honey quesadilla before, how or why would I even think of preparing this? If I never try a “no-thank-you” helping of olives, how do I know that I do not like them? Perhaps before free writing is done, no-thank-you assignments of the different genres available to the kids should be served.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
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I found that interesting also--how the free choice within the establishment of school seemed to bring about a confusion, or maybe it was having to write something, to create...made me think about the role of the teacher as a facilitator to set up experiences (the learning kind) that sustain the creativity of childhood...
I liked to give give room for free choices AND teaching different kinds of genres, moving back and forth between them during the year. It worked for my kiddoes, I think, by balancing individual choices for writing with whole group inquiries...
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