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importance of teaching writing
reflection on writing teaching
importance of teaching writing
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“Write a lot.” Could this idea be the foundation of a sound writing pedagogy? It seems almost too simple. It also seems solidly in line with Peter Elbow’s ideas for the “teacherless class”and therefore, if we believe Berlin’s formulation from “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class”, perhaps part of a pedagogic philosophy that can easily marginalize certain students or be “co-opted by the agencies of corporate capitalism” (697; in Cross-Talk). But I’m thinking more in terms of establishing writing for students as something that ought to be done in volume in order to build it as a habit. In my own experience as a student, this never happened. Nor did I hear about the social implications of writing or the power structures inherent in the classroom, ideas that might pique student interest in writing’s possibilities and demystify the classroom enough to make students want to write more. Now I think these elements could be the keys to better writing.
Elbow opines, “If you are serious about wanting to improve your writing, the most useful thing you can do is keep a freewriting diary” (9). When I recently read Writing Without Teachers for the first time, the assertion that writing a lot is a good thing hit me as if it was completely new. And I think of myself as a writer! But some reflection showed me that my education, from grade school through college, had done very little to actually encourage me to write with any sort of regularity, or to revise what I did write. And so I produced little actual writing - just enough to get by. If this was the case for me, it may well have been the case for others. And if, regardless of our particular philosophical approach to instruction, we are in agreement as teachers of writing that we are trying to get students to write ”better” (however we understand that), then shouldn’t establishing writing as a habit be a priority? It is unlikely that any teacher of writing thinks that less, and not more, practice makes a better writer.
How might we encourage regular writing for students? Are daily journal entries a good idea, as Elbow suggests? Anecdotal evidence from our class suggests that some teachers find journal writing effective, while others are convinced that assigning a ten-minute freewriting exercise really would tend to produce pages full of the sentence “I hate this assignment” repeated over and over.
In Donald M. Murrays’s essay “What is Practical Education” he explains his reasoning behind why he allowed his students to write badly. He shares his own experience with police-like teachers who drove him to hate writing. In hopes of helping his students find their voice he allows his students to write the words down as they come, no matter how awkward they sound. Often times they find out that they have more to say then they thought. Rhetorical devices are used to help the readers relate to his point of view on writing.
Ralph Fletcher’s story in the beginning of the introduction quickly grabbed my attention. Although the story was humorous, I found there to be a lot of truth in it. In the story, the young students realize that their teacher will take anything and make them write about it. It seems to be that the teacher does this so often, that the students are afraid to take joy in the simple things. The students don’t want to assigned another writing prompt. Fletcher then says that teacher need to be sure “not to get too evangelical about teaching writing.” I agree with this statement. It is very important to teach students how to write, but as a teacher we need to know when we should take a break so the students do not get burnt out. Once students get tired
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
In today's society student writers are constantly focused on the mistakes that they make. While this may be useful in some situations, it does not help in the writing environment. When students constantly edit themselves as they write, they are hindering their thoughts and ideas. In doing this, they will eventually lose their voice. In his essay "Freewriting," Peter Elbow (1998) discusses the process of freewriting and how it allows the reader to freely express their thoughts without the need to edit as they go.
In his essay, "Teach Writing as a Process not a Product," Donald Murray outlines the major difference between the traditional pedagogy that directed the teaching of writing in the past and his newly hailed model. Traditionally, Murray explains, English teachers were taught to teach and evaluate students' writing as if it was a finished product of literature when, as he has discovered, students learn better if they're taught that writing is a process. For Murray, once teachers regard writing as a process, a student-centered, or writer-centered, curriculum falls into place. Rules for writing fall by the way side as writers work at their own pace to see what works best for them.
In her essay, “The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness and Complexity in Students’ Writing,” Cynthia Haven claims that writing, for the modern college student, has changed due to recent technology, specifically the internet. To prove this claim, the author turns to a study that began in 2001 at Stanford. This study’s goal was to analyze the writing habits of college students; however, the results yielded more than just that. The study found that students are writing much more than was expected, and much of what they write is not for a grade. So, these students write almost as much for their personal gain as they do for an academic one. Due to this, students are able to understand and utilize higher-level writing techniques, such as epistemic writing. Furthermore, they have
According to Runciman, there are many plausible reasons that students and other people don’t enjoy writing. Evidence, assumptions, and language and tone are the basis for which Runciman makes his argument. Overall, this argument is effective because reliable and well known sources are used in a logical fashion. Also, the assumptions made about the audience are accurate and believable. Runciman used his assumptions wisely when writing his claim and in turn created a compelling, attention capturing argument. The article was written so that students and teachers at any level could understand and easily read it. This argument is interesting, captivating, relevant through its age, and can relate to students and teachers at almost every academic level.
In Peter Elbows’ essay “Freewriting,” he emphasizes the importance of freewriting to improve the writing skills. He suggests writing “at least three times per week” 10 minutes per day in a piece of paper “whatever is on your mind”. Elbow stresses that the writing should be done without stopping, just writing every thought as they come to mind because, in the process, we tend to do “premature editing” of our “mistakes,” “bad writing,” or “unacceptable thoughts and feelings” making our writing “dead.” He explains that in the writing process, we are editing while producing, which it carries an “unnecessary burden” when we look for words and simultaneously worry if they are the correct ones. He believes that our writing skills can be bettered by regular practice of freewriting. The author finalizes that our writing has a voice, which is our “main source of power” that catch readers attention. It depends on us as writers to make it into something better. A voice that will be better heard by the reader.
Writing is an art form that some people are blessed with being naturally talented at, and some individuals must learn and be instructed in order to become a talented writer. In our modern day American society, there is a strong need to have talented writers, so there is a large push to teach writing from grade school all the way up through college. I am an individual who was never naturally good at writing, but I was taught how to be a good writing. From my education I think I have made great strides in my ability and can pick out some qualities that distinguish good writing from bad writing. Overall, good writing takes many forms.
The student who is preparing for preservice or inservice teaching in any field must answer two crucial questions: “What is learning?” and “What is teaching?” The student preparing to teach writing must also answer the question, “What is the purpose and the value of writing?” Writing is a subject area in which the teacher cannot easily state why writing itself is valuable or what purposes are served by learning the “art and craft” of writing, except as a tool for communication in other subject areas. In his article “Who’s Afraid of Subjectivity,” Robert P. Yagelski (1994), offers some answers to these questions about knowledge, education, and writing, as well as addressing related questions concerning individuality.
Writing and reading are two essential skills that we need to have in order to succeed in any field of study that we have chosen. Without these two we would not be here, wouldn’t be writing right now and would be considered the lowest class of our society. There are different aspects of writing that each of us may, or may not, excel at. Some of us are creative enough to write short stories or even novels on fiction while others, like me, are better at writing essays. To accomplish this we have all had a person to inspire us, to drive us, to get us over the hump of confidence that we need to succeed. Still to be successful we need to count on ourselves to succeed.
One quote that stood out to me was “I was struggling to express increasingly complex ideas, and I couldn’t get the language straight: words, as in my second sentence on tragedy, piled up like cars in a serial wreck” (2). This reminds me of when my parents would always tell me to keep writing during my younger stages. Sometimes, through my essays I would give up because the words that are in my head wouldn’t spill out. So, I would become stuck and would consistently ask for help. I literally felt like I was stuck behind traffic, and couldn’t get out until an hour later. However, one good point brought up by Bailey was “I believe that school writing and personal writing are completely different, where school writing can be right or wrong but person writing can be anything without any consequence.” I feel like school writing can play a big role in how one may decided to use their words. If there’s a big essay due; there is a high chance that expressing high complexed ideas would be a lot more harder; than through personal writing because the ‘A’ is a lot more important than actually understanding the context. Another quote I agreed with was, “developing writes will grow… if they are able to write for people who are willing to sit with them and help them as they struggle to write about difficult things” (2). This goes along with my
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
The writing class session I observed is a packaged program in which the students have been participating in for 5 months. They all know the routine of the reading and writing workshop and understand “the Daily 5.” The student’s movements are purposeful and there is little time wasted in transitions. The books used by students become more complicated as the students ability strengthens. At the end of the workshop, Mrs. Rammond praised those students who used their time efficiently during “the Daily 5.” She spoke directly to the students who wrote in their journals and asked them to share their entries. The students learned some new trivia about insects, practiced writing and then had some time for art.