Let’s try that, banging two rocks together, first with reading. Youdidn’t read and prepare for class today. Whether it was too many hoursat work or too many other things due in your other classes, somethingjust had to give, and you let the reading go for your writing class. Butyou have a few minutes before class to pull something together. Youhave the reading, you have some paper and a pen or a laptop, and youhave the course syllabus. Take five minutes, and make them count.Quickly answer these questions.

Not much holding themtogether. So far this essay of philosophizing mixed with examplesmight make you think that I let my students write anything they wantand that I’m encouraging you, as well, to write anything you want; inother words, trading rules for freedom. I don’t think writers have tochoose one over the other. I don’t think you can. If I try to convinceyou to write whatever you want, I’m using a traditional strategy forengaging students: your choice, your interests, your whatever. But anywriting choice is a choice. At the end of a semester, Adbe Guerrero,a former student, taught me about the positions that expertise andchoice occupied in relation to his experiences, my teaching, and oneof our later readings

The ease of familiarity and the intrinsic value of focus, in the end,may be two of the most damaging myths we need to re-invent in a writ-ing classroom.

Brittany questioned the form and function of a test, so it made sensefor her to try and create one that met her goals. In the end, she cre-ated what we might now call an example of high school and collegealignment—an exam in high school that might have prepared her forour college writing class. It is wishful thinking, but classmates wereprompted to talk about how to approach tests that they needed to takebut didn’t agree with, and my colleagues and I learned that alignmentdiscussions can be had among all stakeholders, rather than amongteachers and administrators alone.

Q: If you can comprehend difficult material (i.e. Downs &Wardle Article), does that affect your writing capability?Merely a MisconceptionFrom the elementary level to secondary schooling, educa-tors are consistent upon the insistence that their students readmore because it will help improve their vocabulary, writing,etc. School districts have even gone as far as instituting incen-tive programs in order to encourage reading (i.e. AcceleratedReader or A.R.) or otherwise force it on students. However,the question here is, does reading more really help; and if so,does reading more difficult material play a role in one’s writ-ing level?. . . I believe that one’s writing can be improved throughreading and that in some part, your reading level does affectyour writing capability, but it is not always the case. Differ-ent people learn differently. Writing requires practice all onits own in order to better oneself at it and requires the read-ing of not just more difficult pieces but a multitude of pieces.In order to improve one’s writing one needs to be exposed todifferent varieties of writing in order to hone the ability ofcomprehension. Everyone has their own method and style ofwriting, however no one style of writing is original. It is justlike art, an artist can no longer claim their work to be originalbecause everything has been done before. What can be doneis to take what others have given us and use it to our advan-tage; learn from it.

For this project, then,I want you to create a text in which you explain a theoryyou have about writing and learning.