The Compulsive Writing Forced Upon Students

Immediately after we are born, we start picking up sounds; the sound of our mother’s voice, the music playing in the elevator on the way to the car, and the happy cheers from a small child seeing their new sibling for the first time. We are always listening–picking up on conversations not meant for our ears, eavesdropping on the gossip of the adult world, and finding the meaning in the portentous silence. From all these auditory stimuli, we piece together the world around us to better understand what is happening to us, around us, and the secret happenings that were not for us to know. Great writers are the ones who listen and say nothing–who take it all in and save their classified information for a day when all the right words flow and form one epic story of the wondrous world we live in.

Based on his argument using a piece of story from his past, the writer conceptually supported his explanatory point of views on how skills can be developed with a passion of understanding the writer’s intention. I believe that the writer of this article addressed fundamental thoughts that should be useful in the process of reading as a writer, and on how to become a better writer.

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

In her article “I Stand Here Writing”, Nancy Sommers examines the writing process and formulating ideas for writing in a more empirical manner. She states that before she found her creative zeal/ niche her writing was often undisciplined, unmethodical, and sloppy. Sommers reveals that in college she was less known for her writing and more for her long hair and misapplication of phrases. She found her true inspiration while writing her Senior Thesis on Emerson’s “Eloquence.” Throughout the entire essay, Sommers provides the reader with advice about writing. A key point that she mentions is, “If I could teach my students about writing it would be to see themselves as sources, as places from which ideas originate, to see themselves as Emerson’s transparent eyeball, all that they have read and experienced-the-dictionaries of their lives circulating through them.”

The Article “A Stranger in Strange Lands” written by Lucille P. McCarthy is an examination of the writing process. This article follows a college student through a twenty-one month study to determine how the students writing ability is affected as he transitions from one classroom to another. Focusing on specific writing processes in different types of classrooms,this article hopes to uncover the importance and effect of writing towards a specific audience within a particular genre and to offer a better understanding to how students continue to learn to write throughout college.

In the article Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product by Donald M. Murray, Murray argues that writing is a process of discovery not an end product. Rather than being criticized for a “perfect product” by the teachers, student should be provided with an environment of creativity to explore and discover. Murray states that many teachers focus on the end product rather than teaching students the process of writing in order to receive a better product. The writing process has three stages of writing which include: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. In the prewriting stage, students should take about 85% of their time dedicated to the writing process. Prewriting includes strategies such as daydreaming, note taking, outlining, and lead-writing. Next is the writing stage where it should take about one percent of a student’s time. The writing stage is where students produce their first draft. Finally, it is the

When presented with the question, “who are you as a writer?”, I was speechless at first. But after thinking about it, I realized who I am as a writer has been influenced by so many different sponsors throughout my life and there was not a short, concrete answer. Brandt mentions that “literacy is sponsored by people, institutions, and circumstances that both make it possible for a person to become literate and shape the way the person actually acquires literacy.” (Brandt 43) My attitude towards writing has been influenced by teachers, both negatively and positively, by my mother, and by academic assignments over the years. My answer to the question can only be answered by a narrative of my writing life. I have convinced myself that I am a terrible writer, and when presented with a writing assignment, I get anxious instantly. I see writing as a burden and a huge obstacle that gets placed in my life. Academic writing is not fun, but something I value due to the fact that we are a grade driven society. When writing, I write to the guidelines in order to receive points for the requested criteria. The reason being, I gave up on expressing my own ideas because I had been shut down by so many teachers throughout my education. I tried to write down what came to my mind and put my own twist on things, but that was not the “right” way to write papers. In order to make both my teachers and my grades happy, I wrote what they wanted to hear, and even then I was not to the level they

Arguably, there are situations where the tone in the text betrays the author’s insistent perspective concerning writing. For instance, the author argues that a student can pass through the writing process successfully if the teacher chooses to shut up and allow the student to write. In reviewing this particular text, one may argue about the choice of words, however, the tonne also elucidates the author’s viewpoint on the involvement of teachers in the writing process. One of the questions the author has prompted but not answered is how the education system as a whole can be transformed to embrace the concept of writing being a process rather than a product. While the idea is sensible and well thought, its applicability in the education system is a challenge, which the author has not highlighted despite writing being under the umbrella of

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

In order to be successful, the students must fully dive in and give themselves to writing. Though her students say that yes they do want to be writers, Dillard questions if they understand what the choice really means. She asks herself “why do I want them to mean it?”; perhaps because just as she can recognize a moth, she can also recognize that many of them will not end up becoming writers. They do not understand that writing will be hard work but relatively unrewarding. Only after the moth had died did it truly begin to burn, acting as a second wick. Only after she falls asleep do the candles in Dillard’s last paragraph flame and thrive. The true success of the writing-- the inspiration and understanding it creates for others-- will remain relatively unseen by the writer.

In the beginning of this class I looked at writing as a chore. The word “writing” drummed up a vision of a thin man sitting at a cafe with wire rimmed glasses and a goatee. He was wearing dress pants that are too short and crisply creased with a matching vest. He sipped his coffee with his pinky finger curled and was completely lost to the world around him as he typed quickly then paused to read his work. He was born to write and highly organized; a perfectionist. He was all the things I thought I was unable to be, until now.

During the course of a person’s life, a decision is made as to which direction their life should follow. Most people are encouraged by their loved ones to make this choice for themselves. When Kelly Cherry was twelve, she announced to her musically devoted, string quartet violinist parents that she was going to quit piano lessons and become a writer, in response, “[her] mother said that she would rather kill [her] than have [her] turn out like [her] big brother, a beatnik. She ran to the kitchen to get [a] butcher knife” (“Kelly Cherry”). Needless to say, she was not supported in this career path. Throughout the course of her early writing career, she would hear that she “had no talent for writing” (“Kelly Cherry”). Still, she continued to write, occasionally quitting again and again, like a smoker, only to pick it up again (“Kelly Cherry”). Continually she told herself, “You are not a writer” until one day she revised this to, “If you don’t write your books, no one else will” (“Kelly Cherry”).

To understand why students would benefit with an advanced creative writing class, the issues with the education system have to be discussed. School is based on a schedule system. People are compared though age, then sent through classes. This was developed during the industrial revolution, but this has become dated compared to new methods. R.C. Smith discussed these issues in his essay “A Critique of Ken Robinson’s Presentation”. This essay was published to enhance the points Sir Ken Robinson made in his video, “Changing Education”. One of the points addressed in the video is the effect of this industrial education system on students. In his argument, Robinson claims that this system was “driven by an economic imperative of the time” (Robinson) and is not beneficial to students. Diane Tavenner, CEO of Summit Public Schools, explained

Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved to write. But I’ve never had the opportunity to share my work with my peers. Because of this, I’ve decided to start a literacy journal for creative students in RBHS. They can publish their creative writing and art for the entire student body to see. The journal is online, leaving it available to not only students of RBHS but others all around the world. This gives students the reach to inspire everyone, no matter how far they may be. With this club, I hope to accomplish the work of showing others how important writing and art can be.

Grading these students on grammar forces these students into remedial classes and discourages them even more than they already were, possibly to the point of leaving school.