How should educators view "Teaching Writing" ?

A teacher of writing must also be a writer. Writing is far more than a means of recording information, which has been proven vital to sustaining society as we can move forward with the wisdom passed down from the minds before us. It has captured many truths about our world’s history. One can illustrate their thought process with the use of written words which can be used to investigate their way of thinking. The mind is a raging river which writing can remedy through the channels of documenting experiences to systematically separate misconceptions from absolute fact. From youth to days of sharing wisdom, writing has its place in our lives to make sense of the world around us. For this reason, teachers must instill the joy of writing in their students. Any piece of writing from a student, especially in the earlier stages of development, should be treated as a direct product of their minds, it reflects their experience with their reality. A teacher must reflect on their own experiences as they develop into writers to comprehend this concept of putting the mind to the page. The learner’s writing process should be nurtured and encouraged not to be perfect, as most works of art rarely are, but to be an ongoing practice developed as a tool to decipher information. Writing will serve as an aid for critical thinking. It is of great importance that teachers provide adequate practice to use this tool through meaningful learning. Students can be exposed to a variety of texts which they would come across in the real world. Again, this interaction is to nurture as they develop into more efficient writers, after all the texts reflect some aspect of the world they are soon to contribute as members of society. The world is advancing with many breakthroughs being made more frequently as compared to the past and it will be the students’ turn to make changes for the betterment of society with the age-old tool of writing.   

By Prakash Seeberran