Chapter 2: The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic

Wow, why don’t we let our students choose their own topic to write about for state standardized assessments? Often teachers allow this in the classroom. It’s called journal writing. Okay, here’s a Scenario: Let’s say you have this really “helicopter mom” (me) who wants her nine year old child to excel in everything. It’s September. My child comes to me and says “Mom, I know what I want to write about! Tornadoes! What would I do? Hmm...Go straight to the library weekly to check out books about tornadoes. His assignment would be to read a book weekly about his chosen topic. I would ask him to record his thoughts in his at-home journal. Is it cheating when students are thoroughly prepared with a topic they have chosen? The jury is out on this one. I’ll bet 55% would say yes, this is cheating. Most educators have been programmed to think that this is cheating because students will be given the necessary time to gather and research material, and prepare their thoughts. The other 45% are parents and some are both parents and educators who want their students/children to have voice in their writing. Imagine the possibilities! Exactly, Vicki! What a treat for the readers, to have the opportunity to escape inside the minds of our diverse and unique population through their writing. Yet, what they have to assess now is thousands of student essays on How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Some student essays may be quite fascinating, yet others may be somewhat bland…. “All I did was spend the summer at Grandmas.”
This leads me to my next concurring response to Chapter 2. All students must realize that they and their experiences are distinctively special. Everyone has a story to tell. That’s why journal writing is so crucial. Thanks to all of those teachers who allow this in their classrooms! Let us not omit purpose for writing. This is a vital piece that inevitably aid students in effective writing as well. Students need to distinguish between the different genres of writing. This of course, has to be taught through a series of lessons, and lot’s of time to practice.
On the other hand, it was also stated that many students would rather have a topic chosen for them. It beats having to actually think of one independently. That’s when you have the kid that just sits their and stares at the paper. And when asked, he/she responds... “I’m thinking!” Then two hours goes by….still thinking. “Okay, Johnny write about your baseball cards” says the teacher. Wrong response according to Spandel and many others. Do not give in! Let them develop their own thinking. Encourage and teach them to be aware of their surroundings “poke around” for ideas. Search deep inside and awaken the explorer-writer!
The most important thing I want to leave with my readers from this chapter was this. Most authors choose their own topics they want to write about. Why are we not treating our students like authors, teaching and allowing them to choose their own topics on benchmarks or standardized test? I’ll save you the time of answering this… because we do what we are directed to do. One day, we might escape the horror of assigning topics like Tell Why School Buses are Yellow instead of Green. Ah…who cares? No offense bus designers, but I'd rather write about my very first car "Reebok", that's what we called it. It resembled the appearance of a white reebok shoe. It was a Ford Festiva that I purchased myself at the age of eighteen. It only took five dollars to fill up, and I could drive two hundred miles on that alone!