Comments on: How Frank McCourt Turned Faked Excuses Into Creative Writing Assignments

By: John T

John T — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:28:30 +0000

I wish I had a teacher like this when I was in school, able to point out the creative in things that normally would get us in trouble!

By: Sarah Lam

Sarah Lam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:20:38 +0000

Now these are creative excuses. Need to find one to skip work!

By: matt

matt — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:47:14 +0000

going to school in san francisco we had to cross the golden gate bridge everyday. one day when inordinately late i took my sister to the drinking fountain and splashed water all over her face and hair, then did the same to myself. we hurried over to the office and proclaimed, “sorry, the bridge fell down, and it took a while to swim, but were here.”

the dean was so entertained he walked us to class.

By: carnie_boy

carnie_boy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:39:15 +0000

“Frank McCourt (RIP) may be better known for his Pulitzer Prize winning memoir Angela’s Ashes, but little did we know that he’s also a teacher of creative writing at Ralph McKee high school.”

I’d have thought that everyone who knew McCourt would know that he was a teacher too – it’s not like he ever kept quiet about it.

I’m unsure of what the story is here; an excerpt from his book is hardly breaking news, and this teaching method is practically textbook among English teachers (it has provided me with some of my best creative writing lessons). Maybe in the 70′s it was new and unheard of, but now it’s pretty old hat.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of McCourt’s and I’m sure he was an incredible teacher, but this seems like scraping the barrel as far as stories from a man with such an incredible life go…

By: Simone

Simone — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:17:58 +0000

@Kalel: I don’t really understand your reasoning. You claim that it would be great to see what Mr. McCourt could have done with “students who already possessed the skills…expected of them.” I agree, but he apparently didn’t have those students.*** How is it failing the children to “move the goalpost closer” and give them the skills they need in order to improve? It’s certainly better than just giving them assignments you know they won’t or can’t complete based on a belief that they _ought_ to be able to.

So, basically, it sounds like you’re upset at the students’ prior knowledge, which wasn’t under his control (nor was it necessarily under the students’). Perhaps you think it’s wrong that Mr. McCourt should have “had to backtrack” by actually teaching to the level of his students, just because that level isn’t what you’d have expected them to know already. All the while you’re condescendingly criticizing Mr. McCourt for “moving the goalpost closer,” implying that he’s giving up and letting them have it easy.

But it sounds to me like he was changing his approach when he saw it wasn’t working. Sticking with an unsuccessful teaching style because you believe it’s the best and therefore students should be able to do it – to me that would be giving up. Mr. McCourt was working with what he had, with the goal of reaching his students however he could.

***By the by, the article doesn’t say the students couldn’t write 200 words, it suggests that they were reluctant to. That might be an issue of motivation rather than lack of skill. We can’t know for sure.

By: AMCabral

AMCabral — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:56:14 +0000

I’m terribly sorry, my last post was in error.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/books/20frank.html

McCourt began teaching at Ralph McKee in 1958, meaning this remembrance dates to circa 1961.

By: AMCabral

AMCabral — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:51:37 +0000

Just to put the exercise in context, the story comes from McCourt’s third year of teaching, which would put it around 1970 or so.

By: Brenda Dean

Brenda Dean — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:11:03 +0000

Frank McCourt: RIP

By: Nicholas Dollak

Nicholas Dollak — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:32:30 +0000

Re: Kalel – I haven’t yet read “Teacher Man,” but I imagine we’re only getting the beginning of the story. Having piqued his students’ interest, the next logical step after they complete this assignment would be something more ambitious.

By: Kalel

Kalel — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:22:22 +0000

Yes, poor children, that they should be in High School and not be able to write 200 words on a subject. Mr. McCourt had to lower his standards for what he expected of them, no two ways about it. He had to backtrack, and teach them skills they should already have had.

I will grant that it was a very creative way to get their minds working, but what might he have accomplished with students who already possessed the minimum skills expected of them?

By: Jill

Jill — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:15:50 +0000

Mr. McCourt was a brilliant teacher and writer. It is a shame that we have lost such a great man.

By: Wes

Wes — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:59:46 +0000

Since this is a post on writing:

“Reader’s Digest has an excerpt from another one of Frank’s memoir”

memoir*s*

By: Jayne

Jayne — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:36:58 +0000

@Kalel No, not poor children. If there is a problem motivating students, then it is the teacher’s responsibility to do as much as they can to instill knowledge in the brains of their students. This is a study in creative writing and this teacher found a way to apply to their skills in a fun and comical way.

By: Kalel

Kalel — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:52:36 +0000

Poor children. Yes, let’s do move the goalpost closer to them.

By: sadtomato

sadtomato — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:36:28 +0000

I wish my students were this creative!

By: Kayzilla

Kayzilla — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:47:44 +0000

Brilliant. It’s nice to see people who appreciate art and creativity in all forms.. even lying. I’m going to have to do this in my own spare time, it honestly looks like fun.

By: Skipweasel

Skipweasel — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:07:21 +0000

Splendid. I might well try this on my son – he’s very inventive but CBA to write it down.