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I was just reading an article titled, “7 Bad Writing Habits You Learned in School,” (http://www.copyblogger.com/bad-writing-habits/) and it really got me to thinking about what I think is good writing for my students and what I think is “bad” writing from my students. I am not sure that my ideas line up with those of this author, but you should know where this idea came from.
- I don’t expect the writing to sound like someone who is famous or who died 100 years ago. I want it to sound like the students in conversation – only more polished. I want to know what they think, or what they have experienced, not what they are retelling me from something they have read.
- You don’t learn to write by reading about writing. You learn to write by writing and writing often. Sometimes when you learn the most about writing, it is because you did not write well. You learn by editing and revising yourself. People who write and don’t ever look back at what they wrote are never going to get better. My brain cannot be the only one that jumps around. It is kind of like when you are in a heated conversation, when you walk away you always have those thoughts “I wish I would have said…” that only come to you when you go back and rethink what has already happened. It is the same with writing. In one sitting, you might think of a lot. In the next sitting, you will different influences that inspire what you have to say. A second pass any writing will only improve it. That is the fault of most school writing experiences. We give the assignment, we check it, and we hand it back, and we never look at it again. If you put a little time between the writing assignment and when you revise it, if the student puts a little effort in, they will be able to make big improvements.
- I want to hear their passion, or lack of passion, about a subject or they shouldn’t have wasted the time writing it. I hate assignments that the students are forced into writing. That is when you get bad writing. I would rather have them pick their topics and show their own opinions. I recently gave an assignment to write a personal narrative. The student didn’t want to write one, because anything they wanted to write about was “probably not school appropriate, and if it wasn't, then it was probably boring.” So their entire narrative was about writing personal narratives and what they "didn't really learn" while doing this assignment. This was the best narrative I read out of the entire freshman class.
- Who are you going to spend more time writing for? My guess: everyday people — your family and friends, your blog audience, your boss at work, maybe even a Letter to the Editor every now and again. None of them are academics. None of them want to read an essay. I know that English teachers like to assign essays. We want students to compare and contrast, persuade, describe, inform and once in a great while, entertain. But what we are missing in these assignments if making the writing enjoyable. I am not that naïve to think that my students will all enjoy writing, but if they can write what they think, without the fear of failing, it makes it more enjoyable. I want them to write what they think- and how teens think might be short and concise. They might be argumentative. They might be controversial. They might not be grammatically correct. They might use the wrong words, and they might not use correct references. They might misquote and they might have strange connections but at least they are thinking for themselves and they are expressing their ideas. Once they get used to us letting them writing without being censored, they will improve their writing.
- Some of the best writing is short. The writing says what needs to be said and finishes quickly. Requiring length is not going to make a better writer. What makes a better writer is experience. If a student writes a lot, then they will hone their skills. Most people like to read short things like newspaper and magazine articles and web sites. They read emails, wall and text messages, and blog posts. They don’t read 5 paragraph essays and research papers because they are boring. Yep, I said it… boring. And yes, if they are boring to read, then they are boring to write.
- Using quotes from research is not necessarily good writing. The author talked about being able to write an entire paper without writing a sentence of his own. That scares me! I am having my seniors write research papers right now and that is one big fear of mine. It is too easy for students to regurgitate what they have read and never really process the material and make it their own. I would much rather read a blog entry that is short and to the point where the person shows some interest, passion, critical thinking, and problem solving for themselves. Would you really want to read this blog if I didn’t have opinions of my own? Do you really need to read the link to the blog I read before my passions kicked in? If I was just going to summarize what the other person wrote, why don’t you just read it for yourself?
- Shying away from controversy or opposing ideas is foolish! I would rather read about something that makes me react, get mad, get upset, and at least think! Otherwise why bother? The only conversations people want to get involved in is when we can argue; when you can play the devil’s advocate; when you can scrap a bit. This is what makes things interesting. It is the same with writing. Why do you think The National Enquirer, talk shows, the Huffington Post, and other news sources are so popular? Just giving information about a topic is not interesting…
