IntroductionIn many of my introductory composition classes students are asked to read an interesting, humorous article from The New Yorker entitled The Driver’s Seat by Adam Gopnik. In this piece Gopnik tells the tale of learning how to drive as an adult in conjunction with his son also learning how to drive. A father-son bonding exercise to be sure…At one part of the story, Gopnik describes is visit to the DMV office near his home and is noticeably nervous to his son about passing the written test. After all, he has not taken a test in many years. Throughout this journey Gopnik comes to realize:
“The larger social truth Luke was touching on, that being good at passing tests has relatively little to do with being good at what those tests are supposed to be testing, in the end came to haunt my entire experience of learning to drive.” (Gopnik). After reading this the students are asked about this concept of testing and instruction impacting their writing. In other words, can writing be taught the same way other subjects are taught – like history or math? And does instruction impact how they think and feel about writing? While the answers do vary, a majority seem to feel that writing can indeed be taught and that their former instruction had influenced their skills thus far. Having taught basic composition for over a decade, and having worked with writing in professional environments, I find it safe to say writing is indeed a learned skillset. |
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