At some point, I think we have all been convinced that there is some study path, which leads to a final destination of being an expert writer. I love that threshold concept four dispels this myth and plainly states, All Writers Have More to Learn.
One of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott, is quoted several times in this week’s Naming What We Know Threshold Concepts of Writing Skills reading. I love Anne’s work because she allows herself space and freedom to write vulnerably, honestly, and in simple, digestible terms. One of my mentors shared this quote with me many years ago (see below).
I love this quote because it’s a nod to self-acceptance and a reminder of the dangers of perfectionism and procrastination, all of which are highly applicable to writing.
Transparency is important. Learners need to know that even the best, most critically acclaimed writers struggle to figure out what they want to say and how to say it (Rose, 2016, pp. 59). What techniques will you use if you find any of your students struggling to produce the first draft? When ever I felt stuck, I remember one of my teachers telling me to just write. She said, “good and done is better than perfect and pending.”
I want my ensure I provide my students with a classroom environment where what Lamott describes as “shitty first drafts” are not only expected but encouraged as a way of treating failure as something all writers work through, rather than as a symptom of inadequacy or stupidity ( Brooke and Carr, 2016, pp 63).
I think we should cancel the saying, practice makes perfect, and replace it with something like the road to comfort is paved with practice. In section 4.3 of this week’s reading, Yancey writes, practice is the key: engaging in the different kinds of practices to acquire fluency, to focus on techniques, and strategies and to engage with other humans–is the way for all human beings to develop into competent writers (Yancey, 2016, pp. 65).
In the TED Talk Live segment below, Lamott talks about the creative process and provides 13 writing tips. Tip number five is, Find a couple of critics you love; stood out the most for me. “Everybody needs two people who respect them and love their work and will give you the gifts of honesty and help.” (Lamott, 2017).
13 writing tips, from beloved teacher Anne Lamott, posted Sep 5, 2017
In the Sommer’s reading, Responding to Student Writing, we learn that we comment on student writing because we believe that it is necessary for us to offer assistance to student writers when they are in the process of composing a text rather than after the text has been completed (Sommers, 1982, pp. 149). Comments create the motive for doing something different in the next draft; thoughtful comments create the motive for revising. Without teacher comments or comments from their peers, student writers will revise in a consistently narrow and predictable way (Sommers, 1982, pp. 148). Without comments from readers, students assume that their meaning and perceive no need for revising (Sommers, 1982, pp. 149).
Thus, we comment on student writing to dramatize the presence of a reader, to help our students to become that questioning reader themselves, because, ultimately, we believe that becoming such a reader will help them to evaluate what they have written and develop control over their writing (Sommers, 1982, pp. 148).
Our goal in commenting on early drafts should be to engage students with the issues they are considering and help them clarify their purposes and reasons in writing their specific text (Sommers, 1982, pp. 155). I hope to provide my students with a review/feedback process that serves as a lifelong reminder of the importance of a good critic and the personal and professional growth one can experience as a result of good feedback, deliberate introspection, and a willingness to fail.
Our students must have the opportunity to try, to fail, and to learn from those failures as a means of intellectual growth (Brooke and Carr, 2016, pp. 63). How can we set our students up to gain confidence from failure? Which of Sommer’s commenting techniques will you implement in your classroom?
Citations
Brooke, Collin, and Carr, Allison. “Failure Can Be an Important Part of Writing Development.” Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth A. Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2016, pp. 62–64.
Lamott, A. (2017, September). Anne Lamott: 13 writing tips [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking
Rose, Shirley. “All Writers Have More to Learn.” Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth A. Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2016, pp. 59–61.
Sommers, Nancy. “Responding to Student Writing.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 33, no. 2, May 1982, pp. 148–156.
Yancey, Kathleen B. “Learning to Write Effectively RequiresDifferentKinds of Practice, Time, and Effort” Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth A. Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2016, pp. 64–65.
