June 23 - Writing to Learn?

Writing to learn? What a concept. I found myself very engaged in Don and Sherrie's diagram of Writing to Learn (versus writing to communicate). The discussion really got my brain working and wondering about how I should change old attitudes about writing. It was exciting to consider writing as a means to learning WITHOUT BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR GRAMMAR AND FORMAT ACCURACY! Wow. Case in point: my father was a journalist and an excellent writer. I still remember him gently and sometimes not so gently, tearing apart my writing as he looked for grammatical problems. He was trying to build my skills but all I remember was feeling like a failure. He tried to point out positives, but all I remember was my sense of inadequacy. My dad (the expert!) spent more time rebuilding my work than finding any redeeming value in my message. My experiences directly point out the problems with focusing TOO much on structure without developing a sense of confidence in the development of a message. With that in mind, imagine my epiphany moment as I realized that I am fundamentally a product of the problems that occur when there is an over emphasis on structure! I have had that approach so ingrained in me that I find it difficult to rewire my thoughts about the way to approach writing. But rewire I must. Wonderfully, I find myself excited about this rewiring I find happening in my head. In fact, just like when I have seen a great movie I want all my friends to see, I want to tell every teacher I know about this great way to view the teaching of writing. The good thing about my previous teaching is that since I was not actually an LA teacher, no great damage was caused by my ignorance. The great thing about future teaching is that even though I do not teach LA, I can be a more positive influence in the development of m students writing skills!