Target Grades: Middle-High School
Key Concepts: Writing on Demand, SAT^®, AP^®, state assessments, academic writing, college readiness
Submitted by: Kathryn S. Pabst, Lovejoy High School, Lucas,Texas Kathryn_Pabst@lovejoyisd.net

Kathryn S. Pabst currently leads the Pre-AP/Eng. II team at Lovejoy High School in Lucas, Texas—a unique district that has adopted the philosophy of “Pre-AP for All.” At Lovejoy, AP^® strategies are embedded in the curriculum to ensure a deeper and more enriched learning experience for all students. Kathryn’s passions are teaching writing—in all its complexities and nuances—and crafting and writing curriculum. In 2008-2009, Kathryn’s responsibilities will expand to include the teaching of AP Language. She will also be an AP^® presenter at the 2008 National Conference. Kathryn holds a GT Endorsement and earned her M.A.T. in 2004 from The University of Texas at Dallas. Her current goals include alignment for grades 6-12 and the initiation of a student literary magazine for her district. Kathryn also published a memoir, TAKEN, in 2003.

“Research and experience show that writers need three things: ownership of the form and subject of their writing, feedback from other writers, and time to draft and revise. Yet the harsh and confusing reality of today’s college-entrance and state-mandated examinations—or any test with an essay component—is that students, trained in writing workshops, go on the clock to compose a paper on an assigned topic, in a prescribed form, for which they will receive no feedback. …And their future depends on it.”
Anne Ruggles Gere, University of Michigan

     The emphasis on timed writing tests such as the SAT^®, any AP exam, and state exit tests acutely challenges writing teachers’ best practices. Even outside of the academic testing arena, training and preparing students for the real world requires the development of fresh writing strategies.
     In “The School Essay Manifesto,” a short but insightful analysis of the academic essay, Thomas Newkirk discusses the idea of front-loaded writing, such as thesis writing with text support, and back-loaded writing, such as the personal essay, personal narrative, argumentative essay, or memoir. A front-loaded essay reaches its conclusion in the thesis statement and proceeds to defend or support the argument throughout the paper. This is essentially beginning with a conclusion-the writer is answering the question before beginning the writing. Front-loaded writing, then, is guided by the process of proving a thesis statement. In contrast, the back-loaded essay follows a circuitous path to an insightful conclusion. The final argument is made only after a stroll through various nuances of the topic. In a back-loaded essay, the task of the writer is to explore an issue to reach a conclusion or resolution, but only after insightful reflection. An essay can thus be described as a conversation between the writer and the reader, where the full idea may not be expressed until near the end of the composition. As Newkirk concludes, “the essay is a playful, free flowing form and more a way of exploring one’s thoughts on a subject rather than proving a thesis statement.”
     The goal of a master teacher of writing is to lay the foundation with experience and practice for both forms of writing. My teaching goal is to create “noodle writers” of my students. A “noodle writer” is one who is cooked to perfection, who has all the writing tools at their disposal, and who does not break like an uncooked strand of pasta when asked to write for a particular purpose. A “noodle writer” is ultimately flexible and can bend and form his or her writing to fit the audience, purpose, and topic required. And because everyone loves great pasta, all great “noodle writers” need expressive and specific diction, varied syntax, and a structure that enhances the flow of ideas regardless of the writing task. The timed writing environment demands another layer of writing instruction that prepares students for their most intensive and perhaps most defining writing experience.
     Teachers have long relied on the process of writing that involves the interplay between the following phases:

Yet a timed environment rarely allows for much more than a quick mental “iSEEK search” to generate ideas and connections before beginning a draft that is logical, lyrical, and focused. On-demand writing relies principally on the students’ ability to decode the prompt, connect, and write fluidly, sidestepping the circuitous and time-consuming attributes of the writing process. Writing on demand, by contrast, involves a shorter, four-step process:

     In the first phase of this shortened process, students should confront the prompt by deconstructing and then reconstructing it. For example, a sample prompt might be:

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”                                                                                  Helen Keller

        Agree, disagree, or qualify the above quotation.

To deconstruct the prompt, have students quickly underline the key word or concept words that will focus their generation of ideas. In the above prompt, the concept of adventure = risk vs. nothing = security would be a quick way to deconstruct the central argument. Decoding writing prompts into mathematically styled equations is often very helpful and quickly pares down the prompt to a manageable task. Next, have students re-read the prompt to look for the nuances in the argument. It is always the more sophisticated writer who sees the argument as more complex than simple. After reading and deconstructing Keller’s argument, an average student might perceive that security does not exist in nature, and therefore might be unnatural or unavoidable in our own world as well. It is the insightful mind, however, that can qualify the argument and perceive its grey areas. The advanced student might conclude that shielding oneself entirely from risk is impossible, but also that inviting unnecessary risk seems imprudent—as evident even in nature. While all timed writing environments are not created equal, the ability to quickly decode the writing prompt to uncover the goals and expectations of the assignment is critical. Small but crucial words like “and,” “or,” and “but” significantly influence the next step: the “mental search.”
     Students are often quick to take sides in an argument. Defining their position on the “prompt equation” is usually instinctual. I recommend telling students to go with their first inclination. With their point of view defined, ask students to use a  “mental search” in their heads-just as fast as a computer would-for literature, history, current events, and/or personal experiences that relate to the conceptual ideas of risk and security. You might be stunned at how fast students can access such information if you only give them a 2-3-minute time limit on this step. Because most writing assessments value academic connections across the curriculum over personal experience, stress these as most appropriate.
     When the three-minute time limit is up, have students find a way to thematically and authentically connect their examples and create a thesis statement, such as: “Risk, not security, has brought advancement to the world.” Once defined, this connection easily focuses their writing.
     Now, instruct the students to spend just 20 minutes writing, integrating their “mental search engine” examples as if they were having a conversation with a judge in a courtroom. In this metaphor, the writer is the lawyer and must prove his case before the judge. This formal context reinforces the audience portion of the rhetorical triangle, preparing students to write an elevated paper with the stylish vocabulary and varied syntax patterns expected in academically rigorous testing environments. As the clock is running, prompt students when they have just three minutes left to finish their final thoughts. What they should have is writing that is more like a sophisticated conversation with the reader/audience than a stilted, formulaic essay. We all know from Court TV that electrifying lawyers are theatrical and expressive in front of judges and juries-just as writing should be for its audience. From this vantage point, students can easily assess their own performance. The analogy of lawyer vs. judge or jury, used during free reading in class, is an excellent way to assess student performance even without a rubric. Is the judge (other students) convinced or not? Has the lawyer (the writer) proven his or her case or sent the client to the gallows?
     You may find that essays that truly sway the judge-those in which students give the topic some thoughful insight and try to reason through an idea, rather than adopt a superficially immediate response-are perhaps few and far between. But the few great papers I do come across are magnificent. When consistently challenged with the clock, students are eventually transformed from flustered writers into confident writers.
     Give your students the opportunity to develop the proficiency and confidence they need to succeed in on-demand writing situations without abandoning the principles behind first-class writing instruction. Inspire student confidence in their ability to not only beat the clock, but write well—even in the most trying conditions. Test preparation and good writing instruction are not incompatible.

Writing on Demand and MY Access!®: The Timer Function

     One of the unsung tools in the MY Access!® Tool Box is the timer. Once set, this timer can be used for multiple purposes, but is best used as practice for the timed writing environment in SAT^®, AP^®, and state assessments. With the teacher in control of the timer, the student is notified with a pop-up five-minute warning. The ability to personalize the messages students receive is an authentic and playful feature of the MY Access!® system. I encourage my students with humor and sometimes a message with a hidden surprise. Your creativity drives students to pursue that five-minute warning with relish. Locate the timer and play with the multiple functions and flexibility that are built right into the MY Access!® system.

What are the advantages of using this timer function?

Strategies to Embed Writing on Demand in Every Grade Level Curriculum

  Works Consulted

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