Mechanically Inclined: Jeff Anderson
I always remember how Nancie Atwell set me straight on spending hours and hours marking every error on every essay. She said marking every error did about as much good as yelling down a hole. The belief that if we correct them enough, tell them enough, workbook them enough, they’ll get it, fails to produce independent editors.
Eddie Wilson shared with me, “If parents don’t understand why you’re not marking up papers, take a piece of children’s art and stick a transparency over it. Then, start marking all over it, crossing things out, redrawing other parts, putting notes on it. Of course, everyone gasps. Then ask, why would we do this to student writing?”
Recent brain research shows that we learn in a weblike fashion—the web of context. The brain searches for patterns and simultaneously goes down many paths. I cannot teach in isolation and expect kids to apply it. I have to guide students by building an environment that supports writers in becoming their own critics, kids who look to punctuation and grammar to make their messages clear and interesting.