The Faigley article was quite interesting in that I do not CONSCIOUSLY grade writing based upon emotionalism. This article caused me to really think about the fact that good writing is defined by many things, including how interesting it is. When judging my students' writing, I must say that I am somewhat of a traditionalist. I appreciate the basic conventions of grammar, but am not overbearing when grading it. I have YET to find a person who always writes grammatically correct (who does that :). I also believe that all forms of writing can be valuable, because they help the students to better express themselves. One advantage of the 5-paragraph essay is that it makes students follow a format and sum up their writing in a few short paragraphs. The bottom line, though, is that regardless of the format, good expression is a valuable tool in writing.
After reading the articles, I am much more open to grading based upon how well a student told the story. In the Faigley article, I became immersed in memories of the days when we wrote hand-written letters. The post office story reminded me of the days when I was in the military andeagerly awaited the letters from friends and family around the world. It also reminded me of a friend who was in prison at the time. I remembered how we would eagerly await hearing from one another.
Faigley is right! The letters were so powerful because of the life experiences we shared, and not because of the grammar or spelling. While these things are important for a student to express himself, good writing should include more of an expression of oneself.
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