Advocates who grade for effort believe that writing, no matter the structure, deserves a series of drafts and exercises. Writing takes work. Memorizing terms that denote adequate grammatical form will not make one a better writer. All the grammar books in the world couldn’t produce “The Giving Tree” or “Hamlet.” The idea of labor-based writing is to dig deep and pluck out the nuggets of truth that reside in consciousness.
As executive director of the local non-profit organization Story Chain and an advocate for social change, I work with incarcerated parents who want to read to their children. There is no grade and no social promotion, only an mp3 player with their recorded voice to give to their kids. If we simply taught literacy on the inside, the inmates would have little interest in the program. Since the incentive is for the connection with their kids, the raw enthusiasm to learn has out-matched anything else.
The work Story Chain parents produce is labor-intensive. They are required to read the published material over and over, and out-loud over and over. Guests from the community listen to their rehearsal and give feedback. The end result is a polished piece of audio with calculated pauses and rhythmic sing-song voices.
Incarceration disallows most connection to the outside world. In Story Chain’s experience, the only way they can make any impact at all is to read out loud in the best way they know how. The writing comes later in the form of reflection. Here is an excerpt from Krista VanDyke, a former inmate at the Montgomery County Jail:
“Two times a week, I leave my cell, I pick up a kid’s book, I take on the voice of an evil queen, I sail away on a pirate ship, I have a conversation with a disorderly frog and I trade my green county-jail outfit for a ballroom gown. Suddenly I’m no longer an inmate, I’m inside this world of possibilities … my daughter’s world of possibilities.”
Parenting takes work. Writing takes work — but not the kind of work an automatic computer service can grade. Another downside to “the perfect paper movement” is the amount of time it takes for a teacher to grade, let alone edit. As a college writing instructor, most of the papers I have given A’s are not something I would publish in a magazine or newspaper. The writing from the Story Chain program, however, is work I publish all the time because we hit on two essentials within the art of writing: 1. Their writing speaks to their own experiences; and 2. My expectations as a reader are satisfied.
So when a professor talks about the labor involved in writing, we should listen. It can’t happen otherwise.
Jonathan Platt is executive director of Story Chain.
You’re invited
Story Chain, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and the Greene County Public Library invite the public to a ribbon-cutting for the non-profit’s custom-made new book cabinets, which will house the books used at the jail for the program. Lunch provided, so please email Story Chain director Jonathan Platt at jplatt.storychain@gmail.com.
The event is Wednesday, Dec. 11, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Greene County Adult Detention Center, 2295 Greene Way Blvd., Xenia.
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