Rachel

Konig
Education Reporting
May 9th, 2016
Story 2

SOURCES:

David Nathan
Upper School English Department at St. Johns School

Kate Lambert
Upper School English Department at The Kinkaid School

Scott Lambert
Upper School English Department and College Dean at the Kinkaid School

Anna Wittenmyer
Plan II & Civil Engineering, minor in Spanish
Kinkaid Alumnae Class of 2013at Kinkaid for 14 years

Davida Charney
University of Texas at Austin professor for rhetoric/writing and English with specialization in
argument theory, reading/writing processes in adults, rhetoric, and composition

Rhodes, Elizabeth. "Houston's Most Intense Private School Rivalry Rocked by New Smartest
School Rankings: Superiority Established?" Culture Map Houston. N.p., 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 15
Apr. 2016. <http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/03-25-15-houstons-most-intenseprivate-school-rivalry-rocked-by-new-smartest-school-rankings-superiorityestablished/#slide=0>.

Pulsinelli, Olivia. "Two Houston Private Schools Ranked among Best Nationwide." Houston
Business Journal. N.p., 26 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2015/03/26/two-houston-private-schoolsranked-among-best.html>.

Tyre, Peg. "The Writing Revolution." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, Oct. 2012. Web. 05
Apr. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writingrevolution/309090/>.

Lee, Haley. "What the Best Writing Teachers Know." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 15
Oct. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/whatthe-best-writing-teachers-know/263573/>.

Fecho, Bob, and Stephanie Jones. "Creativity Is Not the Enemy of Good Writing." The Atlantic.
Atlantic Media Company, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/creativity-is-not-the-enemy-of-goodwriting/263058/>.

*Photo of Scott Lambert property of The Kinkaid School Faculty & Staff Directory.
(http://www.kinkaid.org/page.cfm?p=12&viewdirid=5)

*Photo of Kate Lambert property of The Kinkaid School Faculty & Staff Directory.
(http://www.kinkaid.org/page.cfm?p=12&viewdirid=7)

*Photo of David Nathan property of Davids personal Facebook page.
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3388188108254&set=a.2481690686385.2112660
.1376103625&type=3&theater)

*Photo of Davida Charney property of The University of Texas at Austin Experts Page.
(http://experts.utexas.edu/davida_charney)

*Photo of Anna Wittenmyer property of Annas personal LinkedIn Page.
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-wittenmyer-080b61b5)

Writing: The Fusion of Creativity and Formality

In 2009, New Dorp High School in Staten Island attributed their students failure in school to
their inability to write. To address this, they developed a new standard curriculum that stressed
the importance of formal writing instruction in public schools, rendering creative writing extinct.
Beginning in elementary school, students no longer learned writing by constructing personal
narratives, memoirs, and small works of fiction, instead, these students were required to write
informative and persuasive essays (Writing Revolution, Tyre). Writing was no longer an outlet
for imagination, it became a tired formula of thesis body conclusion

Imagine you are standing in front of the head-honchos of the company you work for. Youve
been working on your proposal for weeks, and your printed copy is sitting on the podium in
front of you. Suddenly, you realize you arent prepared, for what youve written is plainan
argument that anyone else in the office could make with the appropriate research. Sweating
now, you scan the crowd of men in suits that stare up at you, desperate to think of out-of-thebox ways toeven in the slightest bittransform your paper into something creative that will
catch their attention and make your proposal unique. You cant. You never learned how.
*Packs up desk*

The so-called Writing Revolution created by New Dorp High School quickly became the basis
for public schools in almost every state in America. Although standardized test scores rose at
these schools, students were not getting the skills they needed to participate in society at a
collegiate or professional level.

After hearing of this change in public education, some of the top private and public school
educators in the country preach of the importance of employing creative writing in
combination with formal writing.

Scott Lambert has taught English at The Kinkaid School in Houston,
Texas for 20 years. Kinkaid has been ranked as the No. 48 best private
school nationally, No. 4 in Texas, and No. 2 in Houston.

Lambert attributes much of the schools success on the writing program
and its ability to not only teach students the rules of formal writing, but
also how to break them.

In creative writing, I think you are much more focused on the breaking
of the rules and how thats working and whats the story and the imagery and the ideas that
you are trying to get across, says Lambert.

By combining creative writing with formal writing, students not only develop critical thinking
skills and successfully formulate arguments, but also appeal to emotion and establish a voice in
their writing.

There is more critical thinking that happens in creative writing than happens in just making an
argument, Lambert claims. An argument can be very black and white. Creative thought really
takes some forward and advanced thinking.

As a father of two, Lambert believes that if his children were robbed of creativity in any form,
he would have to find other avenues to ensure creative abilities.

After 14 years at Kinkaid, Anna Wittenmyer graduated Cum Laude
and now attends the University of Texas at Austin. Doublemajoring in Plan II and Civil Engineering and minoring in Spanish,
Wittenmyer practices critical thinking and creative thought as she
is challenged to make even her research papers and lab reports
stand out from other students.

The comments back on my papers are almost always, Great
voice! or Refreshingly personal," Wittenmyer explains. I think
that my writing is unique, evocative, and hopefully, convincing,
because of my exposure to creative writing.

Wittenmyer stresses that between compiling eight-page lab reports and reading plays, writing
is one of the only constants. She thanks her diverse writing abilities to the writing curriculum at
Kinkaid.

A neighboring private school in Houston, St. Johns School, is ranked the No. 13 private school
nationwide, No. 2 for all of Texas, and No. 1 in Houston.

Students need lots and lots of practice, explains David Nathan, an
English professor at St. Johns. Unfortunately schools dont give students
enough practical instruction.

Its safe to say that New Dorps elimination of creative writing is not the
practical instruction that Nathan mentioned. He suggests the possibility
that the teachers dont know how to instruct creative writing.

In Creativity Is Not the Enemy of Good Writing, Bob Fecho and Stephanie
Jones make a point that New Dorps writing initiative, although seemingly successful, is a
narrow vision: New Dorps instruction gives students the skills to identify/write about a
problem and a solution (conclusion) but abandons the challenge of inquiring about the
complexities inherent to teaching and learning.

In laymans terms, New Dorps teachers are enforcing formal instruction because its easier to
teach than creative writing. Teachers must rise to the challenge of teaching creative writing in
order for students to rise to the challenge of learning it.

University of Texas at Austin professor for rhetoric/writing and English,

Davida Charney, rises to the challenge.

Specializing in argument theory, reading/writing processes in adults, and
composition, Charney is adamant that every student has a creative vein
that can be tapped into no matter what kind of writing is being
assigned.

My own comments on students papers encourage revisions and target
particular skills that each student should prioritize, Charney explains. I allow students to
revise any paper they like at the end of the semester; with the stipulation that only major
improvement will lead to a change in grade.

Before accepting an offer to teach English at Kinkaid, Kate Lambert
taught English at Milby High School, a public school in Houston. Her
experience between the two schools allows her to appreciate the level
of academics, particularly with writing, seen at Kinkaid and compare it
to the instruction at Milby.

Many public school teachers have more than 150 students, Lambert
says. It would be impossible to carefully grade that many essays well,
so individualized instruction happens much less in public school.

Having been at Kinkaid for 20 years teaching classes with rarely more than 20 students,
Lambert is confident that creative writing and thought pushes students to not only think
differently and understand themselves better, but also betters their analytic formal writing.

It may be that by eliminating creative writing, public schools adopting New Dorps Revolution
will be equipped to answer the five-paragraph essay questions on the ACT/SAT. However, they
will not be prepared to answer the more complex questions in college application essays,
college class essays, and professional works.

Thats the big pointprofessionally, Scott Lambert declares. In life, I think we would be hard
pressed to find anybody who has to write something that is in a five-paragraph essay form.

While the construction of the five-paragraph essay is essential for teaching and learning
argument, this skill is only the foundation for truly achieving a complete argument and
producing new individualized conclusions.

The rules of writing are made to be broken, Lambert insists. Good writing is about breaking
the rules, not following the rules.