Raise or Raze?

When I look at the list of words provided about the writing process, I think I tend to dislike words that seemed strict, abrupt, or close-minded/rigid. Those are the best things that I can think of to describe the words that I felt resonated with me in a negative way.

For example, I didn’t like words like: solitary, methodical, constraining, messy, unpredictable, disciplined, unintentional. I felt that many of these terms were negative and could possibly turn students off from the writing process. I also feel that the terms might reflect a teacher who is too rigid and expecting way too many text-focused, prescriptive ways of writing which could cause tensions in the students. I find that things that I like and that resonate with me include ways to engage students and ways to make a classroom student-centered. So, the word that I felt most uncomfortable with, in regards to this way that I want to focus my classroom, would be “solitary.” I just don’t feel that there is any place for being solitary in the process of writing.

I believe that writing is multimodal, and involves drafting processes – which really give the student a chance to engage with their peers, discuss their drafts, get feedback, and then revise. I also want students to spend time with me and get my feedback after they have continued further along in the writing process. I hope that other writers and teachers would feel the same way – that there is no place for “solitary” in the process. I’m sure that there will be many students who haven’t been exposed to the process of writing and I feel that after they see that it is the whole process that they are getting graded on (the whole process that counts) they will find that they rather enjoy it. I want to show them that by engaging in the entire process, they will be less stressed out, and will also learn to become better writers as they are engaging in a longer period of time with their writing assignments. Hopefully they will take what they learn from this and use it in all of their classes in some way.