The Importance of Narratives and Frustration with Rubrics

       Christensen’s insistence on the importance of narrative writing felt so liberating and validating to read. I have always loved writing narratives, but I wasn’t encouraged to do so until college. As a 7^th grade teacher, I feel a great responsibility to foster a love of all types of writing in my classroom – including narratives! My students love writing narratives, and they thrive when they can tell personal stories and get away from the “five-paragraph essay structure that limit[s] the writer to three big ideas,” (Kenney). The writing model my school follows is called “The Writing Revolution” and it does insist upon “easy-to-remember” outlines quite similar to TEETH and TISAS (Kenney). Students are expected to complete the same outline before each piece of writing. While kids thrive on routines and consistency, I sometimes wonder if this limits their ability to think of ideas on their own – or for lack of a better term – think outside the box. I fear that my students will eventually be like Erica in Kenney’s story, afraid to include all the ideas they have come up with because they don’t fit in the structure they were taught. Therefore, Christensen’s reflection on narratives and how fluid they can be resonated with me deeply. I found myself nodding in agreement and admiration during her anecdotes of connecting narratives and social justice. I particularly loved her reflection that writing stories “about race, class, and power,” can “shine a light on the places in [her] students’ lives that make them feel small and vulnerable,” (Christensen, 75).

      The connections she drew between narratives and social justice instantly led my thoughts to a writing assignment in my next unit. We will be reading Thomas’ renowned The Hate U Give, a novel that deals with the intense realities of growing up black in America, and police brutality. One assignment in this unit calls for students to write about a time they experienced or perpetrated a microaggression. In class discussions I have made my opinion on prompts like this clear – I don’t think it is right for educators, especially white ones, to force students of color to relive trauma, and share it. Thankfully, my co-teacher and coach agree with this sentiment, and we decided to make this prompt optional. Students can either write about this or choose a “ripped from the headlines” event to retell. Since students are not required to write the first prompt, I suspect the ones who do will be genuine and unapologetic in their reflections. What I am most looking forward to is students who are willing to share this writing. As Christensen said, “perhaps the most profound work we can do in school is to learn how to listen, how to bring students’ lives into the world of the classroom,” (68).

       Finally, I relate so deeply to Wilson’s “Why I Won’t Be Using Rubrics to Respond to Students’ Writing.” I couldn’t agree more that “the comments on rubrics are not responsive to students’ writing and often don’t reflect what I think about their work,” (page 62). My school uses rubrics very strictly for all grading, and I often find them to be obtuse and unfair – especially for ELL students. For example, a student cannot get a passing grade on a writing assignment if they do not include a concluding statement. It doesn’t matter how correct the rest of their paper is, or that they only had 40 minutes to write it – they will not pass if they do not have a conclusion. While I understand the sentiment behind this, it seems students are set up to fail since they are given such a short amount of time to reach high expectations. Each day in class, I provide students with something called a Criteria

The CFS for my class tomorrow. The discussion question is

"How does Mami's experience in the US influence how 

she raises her daughters?" Students are currently reading

Margarita Engle's Enchanted Air.

for Success, or CFS. The CFS lists all the standards kids need to meet in their Double-Journal Entry for the day, which responds to the discussion question. I circulate around the room as kids work to track whether they are meeting each section of the CFS. I think this is a high-leverage strategy that holds kids accountable and helps them produce strong work. It feels more natural to me than using a rubric, because I create the CFS and I base it upon what kids need to know before they leave class. However, I do not include CFS when students are charged with a personal endeavor. For example, next week scholars are writing a poem about a challenge they have faced in their lives. While I did create an exemplar, I did not create a CFS. I don’t feel comfortable structuring benchmarks for students to meet in their personal writing. Rubrics are most effective when the teacher is the one making them – not the school or the network. Teachers know what their individual students need to work on and can adjust accordingly.