Emig Blog

Emig

Janet Emig draws our attention to the different sources and various research that supports the claim that writing is a natural process. Writing is something that human beings are naturally inclined to take-up…as a result of our physiology and our societal tendencies. We lead each other by example; we learn by observing and doing.

I have been educated thus far to embrace magical thinking. I am sorely disappointed. Reading this article helped me to embrace an entirely different view of “teaching writing.” It is not to be taught necessarily. Writing is an experience. Writing is more like a journey, and the writing teacher is more like a helpful guide interjecting facts and tid-bits along the way.

My role as a writing “teacher” is mainly to provide my students with the most enabling environment for writing as possible. I must provide frequent feedback and opportunities for students to implement my advice and their understanding of it. Making these adjustments is contradictory to what state legislature and test preps demand, while research begs for these adjustments be implemented.

Writing is not only natural, but it is also recursive. There is no “right” way to write. The only pattern to be expected is the erratic and unpredictable kind. How does one “teach” this type of process? By exposing students to as many different forms, processes as possible, with as much practice in each as possible.

My role as a teacher is then further focused in helping students through these unpredictable and various patterns. There are indeed ways to monitor student growth and that is through the type of risks they take, and the type of mistakes they make. There is beauty and growth in the mistakes. In order to become a better writer, we must make mistakes, and make them often. Writing teachers should be veterans of making writing mistakes and learning how to understand these mistakes so that they may grow as a writer. Writing teachers should be well versed in a variety of ways to start, mess-up, revise, freeze-up and explore a piece of writing… for their students will be going through similar ordeals.