Blakely's+thoughts+about+the+writing+process

First and foremost, I was struck by how many of the names cited in Pritchard and Honeycutt’s article were familiar to me. It made me feel better about my own awareness of the pedagogical underpinnings of literacy education.

I was also relieved to read that (a) experts seem to agree that teaching students to use __a__ writing process is generally more effective than not using one and (b) experts also __disagree__ about what “the” writing process really is.

As a not-quite-yet-teacher, I definitely embrace elements of the writing process that include: pre-writing, free-writing, sharing in small groups, giving and receiving feedback, re-writing, editing, and sharing/celebrating the finished product.

Having said that, I was also surprised to find myself sympathetic to the concern that “attention to the processes of creating texts has made writing products into by-products” (p. 285). I take this to mean that teaching students “how” to write may encourage them to follow the process faithfully without feeling personally invested in or connected to their own writing.

This is a good reminder not to focus on a writing process as if it is holy and unimpeachable. I need to teach writing processes – plural – not so that students can learn the process itself, but so that they can learn different approaches to help them craft their own writing. In a way, it’s like teaching the violin: you need to know where to put your fingers and how to hold the bow, but you also need to hear the music.