by Tyler Asteria
Kathleen Blake Yancey explains in “Learning to Write Effectively Requires Different Kinds of Practice, Time and Effort” the idea that practice makes perfect. Specifically, she states the following:
“Through practice, we become familiar with writing: it becomes part of us.”
When we write, the ideas are ones formed in our own minds and put into our own words,: the work is a product of ourselves. The lesson that practice makes perfect is one that is important for all writers to bear in mind as they write as it is too easy to expect ourselves to be perfect on the first attempt, which is not realistic. Writing effectively requires clear and compelling points and a LOT of revision work. A writer must keep their audience’s needs in mind and write with the goal of reaching the audience, allowing their work to speak for itself. By continuing to practice writing skills, we can improve upon our expertise and create work that draws the audience in.
I’m a firm believer that there is always something new to learn about any topic, but this is particularly accurate in writing. Throughout grade school and into high school, (unless you’re taking advanced writing classes) a specific writing style is ingrained in us and it’s difficult to build upon this and create effective works. Even though we are encouraged to build upon the style and technique we learn in high school, there is always room for growth, even with that style of writing. The idea that for growth to occur conscious effort and practice is required is one that is emphasized in Shirley Rose’s “All Writer Have More To Learn”. She expresses the idea that even once a writer learns the gist of a specific technique, there’s more to learn about how to apply that technique or style for different types of writing.
In order to better implement the ideas of Rose and Yancey, I believe that it would be paramount for teachers to focus on assigning more writing tasks, and varying those tasks from blog posts to discussions to academic essays to column pieces. By doing this, it encourages students to practice different styles of writing and changes the audience for their work since the general style we are taught is the “five-paragraph essay” format designed for our teacher alone to read, which causes students to get stuck in a rut. Much like training different muscle groups, I believe this would keep students off balance (so-to-speak) and aid in creating more effective writers. In turn, I believe that any student who desires to grow as a writer should be sure to put forth conscious effort into each piece so they can improve upon their skillset and that each work should be graded by quality and effort.
Sources:
Rose, Shirley. (2016) “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity.” Naming What We Know (L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle, Eds.). Boulder, CO: Utah State Press.
Yancey, Kathleen Blake. (2016) “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity.” Naming What We Know (L. Adler-Kassner & E. Wardle, Eds.). Boulder, CO: Utah State Press.
