The+Right+to+Be+True

= The Right to Be True = = =

"But sometimes your words  might link especially to some other person." ~ William Stafford, from "Passwords"

"They must be  so believable  they're true..." ~ Jorie Graham, from "Reading Plato"

Writing is used in the classroom for countless purposes...to assess a student's understanding, to document a process, to record information, to capture artistic expression.... With every writing occasion, it seems, a student needs to take on a new writing persona: researcher, analyst, poet, and so on. In addition to conforming to each new writing occassion, a student also is faced with assessment. Currently so much emphasis is placed on meeting standards, getting a good grade, and following the teacher's instructions that I often wonder when, if at all, is the student-writer able to be herself? To be authentic? To write what is personally significant? To write in a way that impacts her world?

In the selections from Stafford's and Graham's poems above, great emphasis is placed on the power words hold. Words, when they embody the writer's orginal idea, have the capacity to bear truth and connect the writer directly to the reader. Words, when authentic, bridge two strangers' minds. What about our students' written words? Do they hold such power? Do we instructors allow students to express the original, powerful words contained within their minds?

The act of writing can serve many purposes. For example, education scholars Daniels and Bizar describe writing as a form of thinking, if students are invested in the learning that is taking place. They explain:

"Writing is not just one of the 'language arts.' It is also a form of thinking, a way of engaging and acting on information...Writing can be a way of acting on information, manipulating, challenging, exploring, and storing it. However, for writing to have this cognitive power, the words students write must be original" (Daniels and Bizar 78).

I believe students must be given opportunities to write with authenticity. That is, students must be able to write about personally relevant topics in personally meaningful modes for actual audiences. I understand such a right may not be appropriate or practical for every writing assignment (for example, students might not be able to write a sonnet when they are assigned to create a persuasive essay on ground water pollution). However, when possible, I believe teachers should allow students freedom of choice in writing topics and genres. Students should also be encouraged to write for an audience that is larger than one (the instructor). Publishing student writing, reading it aloud, sending it out into the community...these are just a few ways students can impact the world outside their classroom with their own words.

As an example of authentic writing, consider this wikipage. Even as I write this, I am thinking of this document's practicality...a writing philosophy I will use for my classes, for job interviews, for methods courses in the teaching of writing... As a writer, I feel most fulfilled when I know my writing serves a real purpose in my life and the lives of others. Like Stafford, I hope my words might "link especially to some other person." I love how Stafford uses the word "link" because, in this digital text I have created, some of my words literally do this... Multicultural Literature Teaching Pedagogy, Student Work, [|Discussions with Students], [|My Journal], [|My Professional Portfolio].

====I believe all writers want what they say to matter, to elicit reactions, to go out into the world... Why shouldn't what our students write in the classroom serve these same purposes? ====

**In my class** students enact their "Right to Be True" in these ways:

 * Students are given many options for writing topics and genres. Students choose which texts they have composed to put in their final portfolios.
 * Students may propose an alternate assignment, writing topic, or genre.
 * Students can rewrite any assignment, if the outcome is any way unsatisfactory to me or to them.
 * Students "publish" their writing weekly on a class blog and are required to comment on one another's work.
 * Students are given opportunities to publish outside the classroom (send a letter to the newspaper or a congressman, post a book review online, etc.).
 * We hold "public" readings of our writing in the classroom,