Oh My!

Oh My! That is what I thought as I read the first 30 pages or so of James Williams, Preparing to Teach Writing. That was a whole lot of information in not so many pages. Fortunately in all the History, Speech and Philosophy classes that I have taken we have covered most of that information. It was still overwhelming for me though to read this in the context of this is how to teach writing. I am still digesting the historical information I guess on how it will assist me in my knowledge as a writing teacher.
I did find a few quotes within this section very interesting. One in particular I think I want to address and that is on page 16. William writes, “It continues to be important in composition studies because so many teachers, students, and parents believe that good writing is the result of talent rather than effort.” I am not sure if I agree with this….
I assume in a sense you have to possess some sort of knack in something that you aspire to do well, but even the NFL, MLB, and even Motorcross racers practice. I think if you want to do something you can become good at it with practice and an inborn talent is not always necessary to accomplish this task. Maybe it is not talent, but desire to do well that makes that person triumph in their endeavors.
The Harvard model was interesting to read about. I said of a state our education system in when we look at the students they are producing. The scary thing is they are not just reproducing students that are going to be laborers and clerks, but doctors, lawyers, dentist and yes even the teacher that will then teach/ or not teach, the same vicious cycle. Oh My!