OWP

Book Report 2

Julie Hamilton

Writing for the Inexperienced Writer:

Fluency Shape Correctness

Marlene Griffith

Bay Area Writing Project

This book is the perfect companion for the presentation I will be giving on the genre "Fantasy." Griffith opens her first chapter with the statement, "For the inexperienced writer it is important first to develop fluency, then to move from fluency to shape to correctness." She defines fluency as "thinking out loud." According to Griffith, developing fluency requires the teacher/reader to sit on the "same side of the paper" as the writer, as a partner not a judge, to help the writer discover what they want to say. Corrections are made only after fluency is developed. This makes sense to me! It feels forced and contrived teaching 3^rd graders what an adjective is, brainstorming adjectives, and then writing sentences with adjectives in them. Yet, this is how standard curriculum approaches writing. Griffith states that teaching grammar and teaching writing are two very different things. Spelling, structure, punctuation, and the likes, easily becomes the focus for the inexperienced writer. It is my experience that trying so hard to just 'get it right' seems to bring to a screeching halt the normal flow of language I hear when a student is telling me, for example, about their weekend.

Griffith focuses on the work of three adult students who attend writing class once a week for three hours. The fact that they are semi-illiterate adults, instead of emerging 3^rd grade writers, seems insignificant: The techniques they need to develop are basically the same. The adults, however, have had more years to develop feelings of insecurity and embarrassment. A common problem with the inexperienced writer, Griffith states, is that they either have too much to say, and are overwhelmed with too many thoughts and memories, or they don't have enough to say, and make very simple statements, never reaching the rich material behind them. In either case, Griffith believes that the role of the teacher/reader is to respond to what is there and ask questions that will either help the writer to focus or to expand. In this way, the writer is not judged, but encouraged. Genuine interest is shown and the writer feels comfortable writing again, and again, improving with each draft or paper.

Griffith comments on what seems to me the most obvious factor inhibiting this meaningful kind of interaction in the regular classroom ö time. Her students work with individual tutors. This, though, seems more of a necessity than a luxury considering they also work fulltime and have families to attend to. Meaningful dialog with 26 students on each of their papers is impossible. The "powers that be" seem to think that a little aid time and some parent volunteers can go a long way in remedying the problem. I would argue though, that as helpful as these people are, it is an insult to the child to leave them floundering and waiting for 'help' that is not readily available, and many times, untrained. But, this is a matter not to be resolved here.