Week 1. Learning Activity 2: Writing Instruction (part 2)

So, I realized in my first post that I neglected to discuss whether my writing instruction was more "traditional" or "process" oriented. The writing instruction I discussed in my post was more "traditional" because it almost exclusively focused on the parts (grammar) of writing. This was exactly what I needed, however, because at the age of twenty-five I knew exactly what I wanted to say. My message was very clear to me. But my lack of grammatical proficiency got in the way of the message. Having said that, I must comment on my perception of this section of the Freeman text.

I found this section of the Freeman text to heavily biased. First of all, the very categories themselves seem to slant the discussion. The term "traditional" conjures up images of strict a schoolmarm hitting student's knuckles with a ruler. While the term "process" seems to illicit images of kind teachers kneeling next to their students, both engaged in intellectual advancement-- and done so in a very "nurturing" environment.

I accept the premise that a "traditional" approach is inductive and begins with the parts, while the "process" approach is more deductive and begins with the message. After that basic starting point, however, I feel as though the distinctions start to break down. In fact, I believe the "traditional" approach becomes a bit of a characture. First of all, the paragraph for "Goals and Methods" (Freeman, 30) is twice as long for the "process" method as it is for the "traditional" method. We are told that in the "traditional" approach that writing is done in a "fairly short time." They did not go through revising and editing? I find that hard to believe. Human beings have been editing and re-writing for thousands of years. We are also told that in the "process" approach, students "produce different kinds of writing." Is the implication that the "traditional" approach only writes in one style (probably a very boring style). Furthermore, those in the "process" school "set aside time on a regular basis for writing." Again, is the implication that those in the "traditional" model do not set aside time on a regular basis for writing? And my personal favorite (I appologize, as I can no longer contain my sarcasm), those teachers in the "process" model "realize that students must read frequently." Again, is the implication that teachers in the "traditional" model do not recognize that students need to read frequently? I found the teaching strategies discussed in the Freeman text to be very helpful. But I found the categories to be a bit silly.