Shirley Rose wrote in “All Writers Have More to Learn,” we learn that writing is not as simple as learning a math problem where once we know a formula, we know how always to solve that type of equation. In writing, we are constantly learning and will never know all there is to know. Some writers may be great in one context but have to write differently in another context.
When writing, not all writing is the same genre. When we are learning new forms of writing, we have also to learn a new way of being able to write in that genre. As writers, you cannot write a research article and then take how you wrote that article and become a comic book writer. These are two different types of genres and require two completely other forms of writing.
Kathleen Blake Yancey wrote, “Learning to Write Effectively Requires Different Kinds of Practice, Time, and Effort” we are informed of the same writing issues in a little bit of a different way. We learn that writers all complete their tasks differently and need to be in various types of atmospheres to be able to do their best writing.
Even though writers may need different atmospheres to write, each writer is constantly learning and changing how they may write to improve themselves and their writing skills.
With these two articles and many other things I have learned from my writing class, teachers need to get the nitty-gritty out of the way first.
Try the following and see how your students improve:
-Have them turn in a shitty first draft
-Show them how to edit it into a better-polished draft.
-Turn in flow charts or diagrams of their ideas
-Allow them to write with mistakes but show them how to fix them
-Give guidance
-Be available for help
In both of these articles, the authors teach us and show us that no one knows all there is to know about writing. All writers have to learn and grow each time they write. Audiences are ever-changing and how they read and absorb what is in front of them is ever-changing. Stated by Shirley Rose in “All Writers Have More to Learn,”
For these same reasons, one cannot assume that a student who has demonstrated the ability to write a literary critical analysis of Romeo and Juliet as a senior in high school
will also be able to write a paper outlining issues currently being discussed in response to new developments in research on childhood diabetes for a college course
With this knowledge, I hope new writers know it takes practice and changes to the atmosphere that could help them become better writers.
