Candid Beauty

It may just be my mood, but I didn’t find the last third of this book as engaging as the first two thirds. That being said though, I think chapter 18 is not just important for multigenre writing, but writing in general. “Indelible Moments, Central Acts, Crucial Things, and Meaningful Places” really describes what writing is all about. I’ve had many teachers who meant well, but gave out the uninspiring assignment “write about something that changed your life.” I’m sure they even went past this and tried to give some examples, yet they were probably generic like, “When you see a kitten bathing in sunlight” or “When your grandfather sat you on his lap and gave you a Werther’s Original candy.” I have two points I want to make about this. As I’ve already mentioned I think these moments in life are what everything’s about. They’re not just memories, although many of them are, and memories are indescribably important. These moments are times when all the elements, especially those that are inexplicable, come together and a person becomes saturated with pure emotion. They can be when the love of your life expresses their reciprocal feelings, or when you’re driving to work listening to music. They’re proof that there is a layer to this life that will never be understood, only felt. Accurately portraying theses through any form of art, to me, is the highest and purest form of expression. Every person has these, whether their emotion is happiness, despair, indifference, or disillusionment. If students can identify and be helped to truthfully write about these moments, or the feelings they produce, a great accomplishment will be reached by all. But there is where the problem lies. Although I believe everyone has these moments, not everyone is conscious enough to identify them. The most important thing for a teacher to do is explain them thoroughly through sincere, not watered down examples, examples of these moments accurately expressed through art (perhaps in a popular song, movie, etc. the students might recognize) and in extensive verbal explanation.
One of the last things in the book talks about giving students a kind of survey about their experience with the multigenre assignment. I strongly agree getting student’s feedback is crucial grading the students, and in improving the assignment. But I’m not sure writing answers to questions will get truthful answers. I’ve been trying to come up with something that might solicit a more honest answer, but as of now nothing’s come to mind. If anyone has any suggestions when reading this, please include them in your comments.
I’m at a bit of loss as of what kind of link to leave on this page. So I’m just going to put one for a page that has different opinions on No Child Left Behind. Enjoy.

Opinions on NCLB