Teach a Writing Process? No Way!

Does anyone teach a "writing process" anymore?

I don't. Never have. Never will.

(Listen to the TSK TSK TSKs)

Instead, I teach a Creation Process.

Teaching a Creation Process rather than a Writing Process was something I'd contemplated for a while and brought to fruition during my university years after learning that education is better when it goes beyond one particular class. This truth has always seemed fairly obvious and works beautifully for ELA where a lot of the skills that are learned are cross-curricular in nature.

Now, I'm just as guilty as the next teacher when it comes to failing to link the learning in my course to others, but the idea of a Creation Process does this beautifully. And, it doesn't just relate to other courses, but also to life in general, and careers in particular.

For the past five years I have been teaching my grade 9's a formal Creation Process. A student teaching class was my test market for this and I'm thankful that I dared to question my mentor teacher when he told me I'd need to teach the class the standard writing process. Thankfully, Mr. Lent was an amazing mentor teacher and granted me permission to alter his typical content and experiment with his class.

The results were amazing. Students were engaged and participated enthusiastically. Even when it came to writi g and rewriting a text up to 8 times, there were few complaints.

There really isn't a whole lot of difference between a process of writing and one of creation, that is except for the focus. For the student who hates writing, learning a process to improve writing sounds like a long, boring, pointless endeavor. But that student may love baking, or science, or architecture or . . . The creation process is a process that not only improves writing but it also improves ANYTHING a student chooses to create in any subject or other area of their lives.

I begin the unit questioning students about what their parents do for a living: "A truck driver, pastor, teacher, lawyer, constuction worker, small business owner, astronaut (Ok, I've never heard astronaut, not with a teaching assignment in rural northern Alberta, but how cool would that be?) and I pick out one or two occupations that I know will easily prove my point (while stay at home mom can work, it's not easy getting the answers I want.) I then ask why she or he does this job--leading to he/she enjoys it--and what is involved in the job--looking for something that gets created. I'll ask if they know all that's involved in doing the job--planning, talking to others, redoing some of the work, etc.

Next, I ask if anyone has seen the television show, "House." There is usually a few and I'll have them give a brief description of the show, ensuring they understand that House is an expect specialist doctor who solves cases others can't, and that he saves lives. I'll ask if anyone knows what's similar about House and their parents. There are often some interesting answers here that I gloss over until I can tell they want me to tell them. But I don't. I placate their annoyance by offering to watch an episode of House instead: Season 1, Episode2, Paternity.

As we watch, students have a set of questions to focus on and write point form responses to. The focus involves why House takes the cases he does, what his first steps are, what he does when he thinks he has an answer, what he does after administering a treatment, who else he talks to about the case, and when he stops trying to cure a patient.

Each of these relates to 1 of 6 steps in the Creation Process.

1. Interest
2. Research
3. Creation
4. Evaluation
5. Consultation
6. Re-Creation

I'll spare you a full on explanation of each because I'm sure you can see the link to House, life, careers, school, and writing. I go over each step in detail, offering explanations and examples of "practical application" for both writing and life. I also stress the importance of repeating steps 4 through 6 as many times as necessary to achieve the desired level of perfection. I use House and their parents as examples of not just doing things once and saying "good enough."

Through the unit "I reserve the right to test them on these steps and applications without notice" and I do. It isn't long before they realize the importance of evaluating their answers, consulting to get it right, and recreating their answers the next time there is a quiz. Soon they have it all memorized. I also combine this learning with the 6 traits of good writing and the RAFTS model (or FARTS model if you ask the kids) and have them plan, write, evaluate, consult, and rewrite a piece of their choice for each trait. By the end, they get it. (Can you see why I despise standardized tests that allow very little time for steps 2 and 4, and eliminate steps 5 and 6 all together? It hardly seems fair to expect from students, who have had very little creation practice, so much more than we expect from Specialist Doctors!)

What are your thoughts? What am I missing? Am I completely off my rocker? Did I seriously just say, "off my rocker?"