More Conversations Needed
I struggle, as most writing teachers do, with the tension between wanting to help young people become confident, strong writers and the necessity of helping them produce the required school stuff.
I am not implying that learning how to organize an analytical, focused essay is unnecessary. My concern is that we tend to ask students to do this before they have acquired writing habits, before they have developed an awareness of the importance of writing to communicate, reflect, and learn. And before they have recognized that good writing is a kind of storytelling.
