Final Project Narrative

 Starting with the Problem

This bit was counterintuitive. Given how much we explored digital tools, I wanted to start there. I had a list of a few tools in mind, and I was ready to craft uses for them. I had to take a step back and think about what my problems were. 

I landed on building up student writing. Last year, I focused a lot on building student reading skills. I thought, "I'll save writing for later." Later is now. Next year, I want to focus on improving student writing. 

A way to do this is to free them from the Claim, Evidence, Reason pattern. This is a paragraph structure many students at my school have mastered. This is a good thing. They have a way to express logical, evidence based ideas. It is an excellent baseline. 

However, they have mastered it too well. For many students, it has become hard for them to operate outside of the constraints of this formula. They have internalized so deeply, it has created a sort of mental straightjacket. 

The metaphor I think of is the musical scale. A scale is a framework where music can be written. It focuses on certain patterns of tones that harmonize well together. However, a song written without deviating from the scale may feel formulaic or forced. It will lack tonal color and originality. 

An original composer will often deviate from the scale to add tonal tension or color. They may use chromatic sequences to create a feel. They hear outside the box. 

Thinking of the quote from Picasso: "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

This is the direction I'd like my students to experiment toward. I want them to harness their inherent original thinking and chanel that into their original and unique writing voice. 

How Will They Do This? 

Essentially, students will experiment using voice recordings as part of their drafting process. 

A long, long time ago as a Creative Writing major in undergrad, I followed the work of Anthony Bourdain. In one episode of his show, there was a short clip of him in a hotel room at his writing desk with a tape recorder and legal pad. He switched back and forth between the two, allowing one to inform the other.

 

Of his writing he said something like: "I'd love to say I'm honing my craft. I write how I talk."

I like to think there's wisdom in writing how you talk. Often when a person writes, there will be a distinctly different feel to the language than when they speak. What Bourdain did was close that distance. This is what I'd like my students to experiment with. 

Other writers who have used a similar process include: Winston Churchill, Ursula K. Le Guin, Joyce Carol Oates, and Paramahansa Yogananda. 

Beliefs

I believe in balance. Generally, digital tools are available to my students and will largely be a huge part of their lives moving into the future. Part of my role as their teacher is to give them a space that balances out that saturation. I do not feel compelled to be their digital guide, but more so show them the underlying skills they can then bring to the digital tools. 

Also, the way Achievement First Iluminar Middle runs is on the high tech side. Even in my class, there is a lot of technology use already. So when designing new approaches, I like to explore analog options. 

The precedent I'd like to bring up here is Japanese Business culture. Many businesses in Japan still use old methods of doing things. For instance, they will still keep paper files. Or their salespeople are expected to meet in person with clients on a regular basis. Relationships take precedence over speed and ease. 

They have a phrase: "If you are in a hurry, go the long way around." What I take from this is, just because something can save time, doesn't mean it's the best way to go about it. 

In fact, I find in the classroom, some tasks have to take more time. Part of the learning process takes time. And fortunately for students, they have the time. They are young. This is the time of their lives to take their time, go slow, and really learn processes that will really suck for them to learn later as adults when there's not as much time. 

And this activity will slow things down and take time. 

Intervention

Students will be using voice recorders as part of their writing process. This will hopefully have a few effects: 

1. Encourage original thinking and expression.

2. Allow students to take a close look at the language they are using while speaking. 

3. Improve their writing voice. 

4. Improve their use of language while speaking. 

As an activity, this could take on multiple variations. I will speak to an initial roll-out or pilot meant as an exploration for students and a chance to gather data and feedback for me as the teacher. 

Students will be given a short answer assignment that should take 3-5 sentences to answer. They will then use a voice recorder to answer the question as a first draft. Then, they will play their recording back to themselves using headphones for privacy. 

This will likely be uncomfortable for many students. They will be confronted with the notion of: "This is what I sound like." As 7th graders they may be highly sensitive and self-conscious of this. OR they may be used to this sort of things because they're already on TikTok. 

Next, students will transcribe their answer word for word to the paper. This will be tedious. And it may be the part where most students check out. However, it is important to go through in this detail so students use a fine comb over each word they use. This will raise their awareness of their spoken language. 

Then, they will mark up their papers. They will cut out anything extra and add new bits to their response that they think of now that they have a second thought. Papers should look messy. 

Last, they will produce a final draft. This can either be a fresh written copy or a voice recording. Either way, students are building language ability and they are noticing the gap between their writing voice and speaking voice. 

Variations

The more fun version of this activity would entail a large collection of tape recorders. They could range from toys to professional outfits to the casual old Casio kind found everywhere in the 90s. Students could experiment with the different models and have fun trading and talking about each one. 

Likely, students will either us an app on their chromebooks or use online-voice-recorder.com. The financial reality is, I do not have the spare time or cash to amass a collection like this in short order. Nor is my school likely to fund this type of enterprise. 

The lowest-tech version of this would look like students pairing up and having one dictate while the other transcribes. This would be more collaborative, but students would lose the experience of hearing their own voices. They would also not take the time to transcribe their own writing. In this case, using the technology available to suit the task is worth it. 

Other variations of this assignment would alter the length of the response. A short answer response would be an introduction, let students experiment. Once acquainted with the process, they could use the technique on longer writing. 

Conclusion 

My hope in all of this is to encourage students to think, speak, and write with originality. Using voice recordings as part of the writing process might be one way to explore this idea. It is something I can try with my students at any point throughout the year. Hopefully, I can try it early on as expectations for the year settle in and students are used to taking risks.