More Than Three Ideas Are OK

Michelle Kenney's article was one that I found to be very intriguing in the way that she talked about how kids are essentially programmed to write in a specific way that often limits their ideas in writing.  A quote from her article that stood out to me the most was when she said, "Seriously? How could one of the brightest and most talented kids I had ever met question her right to have more than three ideas about immigration?"  This moment is one of realization for Kenney as she comes across a student in her class who is programmed to make a five paragraph essay with only three supporting ideas for the paper.  It is the sad reality of teaching the five paragraph essay or other essay formats that hinder kids from going beyond these formats and putting their own ideas and creativity into their writing.  Kenney brings up a great point in that these types of writing formats are basically run down versions of writing that lacks both creativity and critical thinking.  If kids are thinking only about three ideas for each body paragraph and believing that they cannot go beyond those ideas, then this is hindering their learning tremendously.  Kenney learns this scary fact when her student who has a lot of talent and is very bright thinks that she is limited to her thoughts on immigration.  Often times when we limit our students and give them rigid formatting and rubrics to get them to produce writing, kids will simply follow the rules and will not learn how to think outside of the box.  As in this part of the article, the student feels as though she is not allowed to put her own critical thinking into her paper and that is the limitation of setting standards in our schools.  It is important to remember that in writing, there is more than one way to write and ideas that students come up with should be praised and encouraged because this supports creativity.  Limitation with standards and rubrics for every type of writing is a step in the wrong direction for students.