Ode to Writing

I have always felt much stronger on the writing side of English than the literature side, so chapter 7 was encouraging. I was thankful that Christenbury commented on the "recursive" aspect of writing and how the process looks differently for each student and for each assignment. I, of course, grew up being taught that the 5 paragraph paper was one and only way to write which greatly stifled any creativity that I wanted to bring to the piece. I was the student that would write my "rough draft" by taking the final draft, messing it up, crossing words out, circling things and turning it in. I always wrote my outline after writing the paper. All of this was because my process of writing doesn't happen in draft form. I write, revise, edit, etc. as I go. I sit and mull in front of my computer, staring at the same paragraph over and over until something comes to mind. After a new paragraph, I read back through the paper as a whole to make sure it all flows together. By the end of my I-search, I had practically memorized the first couple of paragraphs. But that is how I write. And I need freedom for that to be my means of writing. Some students do better to throw some words on paper and then revise from there. But I think that Christenbury was right that students need to be able to go through the stages of writing on their own and that as teachers, we need to simply encourage the process.

I also liked how she talked about writing groups. She gave some very practical guidelines and ideas to make it work the way its intended to work. I participated in too many groups where students wrote "good job" and that was it, not giving any sort of advice because they were afraid to say anything constructive. I often felt inadequate to tell a peer how to change something because, afterall, I'm "not the teacher." But I really liked some of her ideas and will try to utilize them in my own classroom. I think the overarching idea of students learning to write for an audience beyond the teacher is an excellent way to make writing a bit more "real life" for students and a writing group helps facilitate that.