Trust me, do not get excited. It’s not even close to what you think, unless you consider getting ruthlessly screwed in a bad way arousing.
Last year, teachers at my District 79 GED Plus site were told that we would be piloting a program called Writers Express. It is meant for students in grades 3-12. It is a program based on self-contained lessons that build upon one another, but would be great for our ESL and literacy students because each day’s lesson stands on its own.
Its origins were touted orgiastically: two teachers in Massachusetts had developed the program from the results of a writing camp. The result was a surefire writing program that was thin on the boring, smothering hands of grammar and mechanics, while big on positive, specific feedback from teachers and peers, and focused on the big picture, the story being told.
OK, I thought. I’ll bite. We have few materials as it is; why not?
when I was finally given a copy of the first book in the series “writing Personal Narratives,” I thought it was a reasonable program: for elementary school and whole language proponents. It was not, however, meant in any way, shape, or form for literacy students — quite possibly ESL students, and quite possibly for certain literacy students: motivated, well-attending, well-behaving, and reasonably supported outside, as well as inside, the school setting. There are definitely students who can flourish with this program — but few of them will be in our population.
So why am I trying it out on my students, despite the fact that I was not chosen as one of the piloting teachers? Three reasons:
1. It gave me materials I could work with which were sanctioned by the district; I had access to them, and my para and I could easily prepare materials in a timely manner; I would save hours writing from scratch or finding materials.
2. I saw this as a fantastic opportunity to do some action research on a much-ballyhooed program which was chosen, as far as any of us is aware, without input from those of us in the trenches.
3. I knew that if the program was inferior, I could tweak it.
Let me tell you, folks: tweaking is my existence with this program. It starts off reasonably enough: ten or so lessons laying the groundwork and easing students into the right mind-set for building personal narratives. However, the inadequate attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., is disturbing, counter-intuitive, ad totally wrong for a program who students routinely indulge in poor attendance, who hate, or failed to achieve, in a traditional school setting, and who are not destined to be with any particular teacher for an entire year. Therefore it is highly unlikely that any student will experience the full program, and unless the teacher, or another teacher, is working on grammar and mechanics improvement at another time during the day, these students might develop some creativity and stamina, but it will not be grammatically pretty. Add to this the fact that as the lessons do incorporate some semblance of grammar: subject verb agreement, capitalization, and punctuation, subjects and predicates in sentences (in *that* order*!!!), the journal prompts cease to have any connection whatsoever to the skill drills and targeted instruction.
The program is exceptionally routinized, and the teacher is encouraged to do and say things that are redundant, scripted, and boring. While our students may not be bookish and overly scholarly, they can smell bullshit miles away.
I have spoken with colleagues about what on earth possessed the individual(s) who made the decision to give this program a whirl with our population. I no longer have to wonder. I can see clearly now: the feign is gone.
WEX (as this miracle writing cure is called), is owned by an outfit called Wireless Generation. Cute, huh? Even more adorable is the fact that none other than News Corporation owns Wireless Generation. You know: News Corporation: Rupert Murdoch, education privatizers, and teacher bashers, technology trumps humans for teaching. Remember Chancellor Joel K.? Come on, it hasn’t been that long. Yeah, that’s right: the ineffectual, failed lawyer, know-nothing, Bloomberg crony who left — and joined News Corp. Yessiree. GEtting the picture now? I am sure many a quiet, convivial conversation was had *encouraging* the powers that be that WEX was a perfect fit for our students. Ah, the way things eventually fall into place.
It is, in a nutshell, an *absurd* program for literacy students, particularly when those in our program are forced to waive special education rights or not have a place to study for their GED’s. I am told the WEX folks are rewriting the lessons to meet the needs of our students: you know, changing a journal prompt which asks students to write about a moment during recess to writing about a moment during lunchtime. Wow, that’ll really motivate 17- to 21-year-old urban students with children, and/or jobs, and/or homelessness, and/or criminal records and/or substance issues and/or gang affiliation. REal stuff! DEscribe your cold school-provided cheese sandwich or your drama at Taco Bell.
Aside from all this, GED Plus has adopted specific portfolio and graduation expectations for our students, which is certainly a good thing. The problem is, while students are working on “personal statements” for their portfolios, they are being asked to do “personal narratives” for WEX. This leads to confusion and some overlapping, and frustrates them.
Let’s look at another little fact. The GED exam is being revamped and rewritten. There are plans for using computers to take it: great, we have one computer lab for all students, a laptop cart which teachers are afraid to use because they do not want the responsibility of ensuring that all of those laptops make it back into the locked cabinet, and no printers in the classrooms which do have one computer. How are students with poor typing skills and little computer savvy (yes, they exist, and we have many of them) supposed to tackle this technology with enough confidence to take the GED, *and* learn all of the literacy skills they have been struggling to gather throughout their lives?
The writers of the GED have stated unequivocally in the hearing of colleagues at my site that they are changing the personal opinion essay to an expository essay, based on information given to the students. WEX does have an “expository writing” book of lessons. However, that book is not the one given to us. From the standpoint of any logical, forward-thinking, logistically-minded educator, does any of this make sense?
Of course not. No matter — it all makes sense in the boardrooms of News Corporation, at City Hall, and in the offices of DOe puppets who would not know one of our students if he or she saw one on the streets, and who would not know what to do in a classroom if lives depended on him or her teaching the students whose lives they are crippling with thoughtless, impractical, and crony-centered decisions. WE have no money, so we’ll throw money at this nonsense, and bash and blame and fire teachers when it does not pan out.
What I really, really would like is quite simple: Give me two academic years, and classes with no more than fifteen literacy students, and I will teach them to write well. On my terms. Using my methods. Goodness forbid. No thinking, motivated, dedicated teachers need apply — if they do, they’ll crush it all out of you, and destroy young, confused, uncertain lives in the process.
News Corp. and the Business of Education (video)
