Writing is a difficult process. As a college student and as a parent, I worry about my writing for classes and even to teachers of my daughter. I do not always feel I am a good writer or able to communicate my thoughts completely. From taking ENGL 121 and learning about different genres, I have learned that from practice I can become better. I also learned that some techniques for one genre is beneficial for another genre but if I need to use a certain genre more often, practice will help me become better.
Learning to write is a process. In “Naming What We Know” Shirley Rose talks about how some people believe once you learn to write it’s done, no more work required. In reality writers have more to learn. There are many different contexts for writing and how to write in those contexts. Within time, writers learn that some writing strategies are helpful in another context that they need or want to use, but you will always have more to learn. One of the reason schools teach writing in schools is because there is no perfect writer and students learn more everyday to improve their writing skills.
There are ways to practice your writing and here are some exercises that Shaelin shares on YouTube to improve your writing.
In “Naming What We Know” Kathleen Blake Yancey uses swimming as a sample of practicing, she says that if people want to swim, they get in the water. For writers if we want to write, we put pen to paper and practice. The only way to get better at different things is by practice and that includes writing. If you have a certain type of genre you need to be proficient at then you would practice this genre many times. Sometimes you practice in different areas with different types of materials to get a different feel.
Both readings talk about how practicing writing can help improve your writing skills. Individuals are not born to write naturally; writing is a process you need to learn. To begin in grade schools; teachers start by teaching letters, then combining letters to create words, and then teach students to combine words to make sentences. As you progress to middle school and high school students start to learn to put sentences together to form paragraphs and then essays.
As the student reaches college; writing teachers are wanting to teach them how to write at a college level and sometimes that means forgetting about the five-paragraph essay format that they learned in high school. According to Rose “The ability to write is not innate trait humans are born possessing,” which means you need to be willing to learn and practice because it is not a natural born trait and every genre and situation requires different types of writing.
Sometimes as a student, you have to get out of your comfort zone and not be afraid to make a mistake, and try something new to get better at writing.
There are a few things that writing teachers need to remember about students as a whole.
- All students are learning and learn differently.
- Writing teachers should not grade students to each other but should grade individually.
- Writing teachers need to encourage students to improve their writing abilities.
- Every student is at different stages of their writing career.
Students at all levels need to remember a few things while they are growing in writing.
- There is a process to writing and shitty first drafts are ok.
- Writing takes practice and can be work.
- Students need to be open to criticism and willing to get better.
- There are different types of genres and not every genre will be the same type of writing.
- Being willing to do many revisions will help improve your writing.
Many students are intimidated when it comes to writing because they don’t think they are good enough. If individuals realized it is ok to not be perfect and practicing will help them become better, then more people would be successful at writing. Knowing different styles and types of genres will help improve your writing in school and your career. Do not be afraid to ask for help and get constructive criticism from others. Remember that if you try then you can succeed.
