In Peg Tyre’s article, The Writing Revolution, Tyre analyzes the quality of education in a New York high school and discovers the problem with education in today’s society. New Dorp High School on Staten Island was known for their reputation for poor education, low graduation rate, and high drop out rate. In spring of 2007 four of every ten students starting as a freshmen dropped out from New Dorp (Tyre, 1; 2012). After discussion between the principal and the faculty the staff concluded that the reason for the crisis was that the students were simply bad writers. Starting in 2009, New Dorp put their primary focus into writing, not only in English, but also in all core subjects. Their goal was to develop “good analytical writing,” which not
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The English pass rate increased 22 percent, the global-history exam pass rate grew 11 percent, and academic assistance class dropped 135 students (Tyre, 1; 2012). Monica DiBella, a student at New Dorp, has always struggled with writing through her life; this program though has given her the skills to flourish in the fields of reading and writing. Monica reports on the matter, “Before, I could read, sure. But it was a sea of words. The more instruction I got, the more I understood which words were important” (Tyre, 1; 2012). Classroom discussions became deeper because the students knew how to communicate what they were thinking. The skills they learn from this form of education will not just help them in high school but will help in college and the work …show more content…
Assigning topics of adventure, time travel, and fantasies helped me develop my sense of a wandering mind that all children should develop. Academically these fiction writings never helped me think critically when writing, something I wish that had been taught. However, a child’s imagination needs to be stretched through writing. This is where there comes the complication of two different writing styles that are both extremely important. Do we sacrifice fantasies for structure, or critical thinking for our minds to wander? Neither of these are expendable, there has to be a compromise between the two. I believe in elementary school there should be a balance and as you get older the creativity side will fade naturally, which is okay, and students then focus on the critical writing
The English pass rate increased 22 percent, the global-history exam pass rate grew 11 percent, and academic assistance class dropped 135 students (Tyre, 1; 2012). Monica DiBella, a student at New Dorp, has always struggled with writing through her life; this program though has given her the skills to flourish in the fields of reading and writing. Monica reports on the matter, “Before, I could read, sure. But it was a sea of words. The more instruction I got, the more I understood which words were important” (Tyre, 1; 2012). Classroom discussions became deeper because the students knew how to communicate what they were thinking. The skills they learn from this form of education will not just help them in high school but will help in college and the work …show more content…
Assigning topics of adventure, time travel, and fantasies helped me develop my sense of a wandering mind that all children should develop. Academically these fiction writings never helped me think critically when writing, something I wish that had been taught. However, a child’s imagination needs to be stretched through writing. This is where there comes the complication of two different writing styles that are both extremely important. Do we sacrifice fantasies for structure, or critical thinking for our minds to wander? Neither of these are expendable, there has to be a compromise between the two. I believe in elementary school there should be a balance and as you get older the creativity side will fade naturally, which is okay, and students then focus on the critical writing