During my years as a writing center tutor, countless students confessed they were “bad writers”, despite their best efforts. I’ve been struck by students trapped in preconceived beliefs that academic writing is impossible to learn, that any improvement is painful, lonely. Subsequently, my primary goal as a writing instructor is to demystify, de-terrify writing processes and the composition classroom.
Like many, I recognize writing is not just a product but rather the constant process of engaging with how the writer understand the world, themselves, and the thoughts of others. One way of encouraging individual student processes is helping them home in on concepts they are passionate about. In writing of their beliefs, of topics they find interesting, the writing becomes personal and hopefully something they want to work on. Their voices can develop and reach out to the academic genres in ways that suit them best.
For students to succeed in their writing, we must create welcoming classrooms that foster active learning, tolerance, and collaboration. Students do not just learn from the instructor but from their peers as well. All students have something to contribute to the conversation and the worst mistake we can make is letting them believe otherwise.
During my years as a writing center tutor, countless students confessed they were “bad writers”, despite their best efforts. I’ve been struck by students trapped in preconceived beliefs that academic writing is impossible to learn, that any improvement is painful, lonely. Subsequently, my primary goal as a writing instructor is to demystify, de-terrify writing processes and the composition classroom.
Like many, I recognize writing is not just a product but rather the constant process of engaging with how the writer understand the world, themselves, and the thoughts of others. One way of encouraging individual student processes is helping them home in on concepts they are passionate about. In writing of their beliefs, of topics they find interesting, the writing becomes personal and hopefully something they want to work on. Their voices can develop and reach out to the academic genres in ways that suit them best.
For students to succeed in their writing, we must create welcoming classrooms that foster active learning, tolerance, and collaboration. Students do not just learn from the instructor but from their peers as well. All students have something to contribute to the conversation and the worst mistake we can make is letting them believe otherwise.
