It Used To Be a Daily Ritual, and Now It Is a Treat

Maybe it isn't a treat, really, but it is a reminder of why I respect my K-12 teaching colleagues. Assessing student writing is always a HUGE challenge.

Next week, for the 5th year in a row, I will help evaluate Martin Luther King essays submitted to Fairfield University from Bridgeport youth in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. I don't think the writing to the right is in the MLK genre or the right grade level, but I thought ti was funny so posted it.

No, in year's past we've received 12 to 20 essays to evaluate and this year it was amplified big time. In the last couple of days I've read over 100 essays answering a prompt about social justice and doing good fro the world. Entries vary from school to school and because of the volume, it's always best to pull out the ones that stand out during the first pass. I always told my own students that the best way to get used to good writing is by having to read 100s and 100s of pieces written for a contest. Quickly, you can see what you're looking for and scan for originality and voice. The vast majority of entries are formulaic, biographical, and informative, but there's no development of original thinking or individuality in the writing. They typical go into the 'average/normal' pile.

Then I look for pieces that make me smile, stick out in my head, paint a picture, say something new, and have a voice that I can hear in my head. There are few of these, but it is one way to shrink the pile down to a more controllable winner pool.

Yesteryear, I used to read essays on end for days and days and days (180 days to be exact). Now, I don't read the developing writing as much, so it is always a pleasure to see if students are still growing like they used to. It seems they are.

I'm especially impressed by the teachers, however, who find such essays contests and obviously mentor their students to think originally about the writing. Most important, these teachers are getting their kids to write beyond their own classrooms and that is huge in terms of developing writers for the future - who will read this? Um, Bryan and a few others at Fairfield University.

Of course, the entries also remind of the extreme socio-economic divide of our nation and how zip codes often are separated by race. You can feel this in the essays, and then when you think about the nature of higher education and the populations they cater to, you wonder if MLK's dream has ever been realized, or if his legacy is simply used to pacify guilt and to check off moments for some to say, "Yes, I believe in equity and equality." I've yet to figure this out yet.

I just know that American youth are better for thinking about the King's legacy. And with that, I'm starting my day.