[etni] How Do You Teach Someone to Write Well? - DailyWritingTips

From: Michele Ben <mggben@xxxxxxxxx>
To: ETNI <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:32:53 +0200
This is from a blog to which I'm subscribed.  I think that we all will
enjoy reading it.
Michele


How Do You Teach Someone to Write Well? - DailyWritingTips

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How Do You Teach Someone to Write Well?

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:36 PM PST


Why is the craft of writing in such a dire state? The best writers of
our time create magnificent prose, and additional tiers of talents do
a fine job of communicating. But the vast majority of people seem
competent at best, and many of those who are paid to write — or for
whom writing is at least part of their job description (and, these
days, that’s just about everybody) — frequently demonstrate a lack of
understanding of, or concern about, the most basic rules of grammar
and usage.

How can this be? High school graduates spend part of virtually every
day of school for thirteen years learning, and relearning, and then
learning again, the fundamentals of the English language, from letter
recognition to critical essays. Why, then, do many colleges and
universities have remedial writing courses packed with students who
earned exemplary grades in high school English?

Most people, at least in developed countries, spend at least a couple
of years in college, which involves completion of many writing
assignments. How is it that many employers bemoan the poor writing
skills of their college-graduate workers and toss so many ineptly
written resumes in the trash?

Here’s a radical response to those questions: You can teach writing,
but you can’t teach good writing. As a former public school student,
and as a former public school teacher, I know that much of what passes
for instruction in writing is dull and bereft of context. But I also
know that many teachers succeed in devising and/or employing
imaginative ways of helping students develop their writing skills. As
a student, I experienced much of the first approach and little of the
second. As a teacher, I used both methods but tried to focus on the
latter strategy. I’m not sure that my efforts were successful.

I also taught copyediting to adults for many years. Some students
didn’t belong in the class, because they virtually matched me in
skill. Others didn’t belong in the class, because they had no business
working in the writing and editing business. Most were somewhere in
between. Did I help them? In class evaluations, many claimed that I
did, or at least that I opened their eyes to how complex and creative
editing can be.

I believe that students young and old can be taught the basics of
spelling, style, and syntax, and of grammar and usage. But how do they
develop the skill to integrate all these components into a clear,
concise, coherent whole? As with any other skill, it takes practice,
practice, practice — that’s where year after year of language arts
instruction comes in. But I also believe that much of writing skill is
innate: You have it, or you don’t, and if you don’t, there’s no
guarantee you’re going to get it.

That doesn’t give anyone an excuse to give up. You can’t help but get
better through repetition. Positive learning experiences and
inspirational teachers are significant factors, but ultimately,
becoming a better writer is a matter of learning what better writing
is (reading well-wrought fiction and nonfiction) and of composing your
own prose. My tip for today? It’s simple. Read a lot, and write a lot
more.

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Original Post: How Do You Teach Someone to Write Well?
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[etni] How Do You Teach Someone to Write Well? - DailyWritingTips

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