Measuring the Immeasurable
I sat in
a meeting today where my district asked for volunteers to create end- of-
course exams for classes not already covered by some type of standardized test. Stupidly I was surprised when creative writing
was one of these courses. I turned to
the teacher next to me and said, “How do you make a standardized test for
creative writing?”
He
said, “Seems counterintuitive, doesn't it?”
Yes,
yes it does. I know that there is good
writing and bad writing, but I still hate the thought of standardizing high
school creative writing and trying to make it fit in a box.
Creative
writing is about going through the writing process and learning there is no one
way to process writing. It is about
creating a writing community and writing raw emotion. It is about exploring different genres and
finding your best style. It is about trusting
your peers and sharing a piece of humanity with them. It is about tears and laughter. It is about fear and courage. It is about
writing with your heart and with your head.
It is about putting the pen to the paper and the fingers to the keys. It is about living for the words because words
change things. They change minds and
souls. They change directions and
shapes. They change policy and procedure. They change sight and sound. They
change beliefs and ideas. They change
who we are.
How in
the heavens do my students bubble that on a test?
