Teach Writing As A Process Not Product

We have all been there; it is the night before that paper is due and we are now motivated by the clock, and the want of a grade, to actually put some words on paper. Maybe if I can quote enough sources and use a scholarly enough sounding voice, I can fake my way one more time. With heart palpitations and sweaty palms we sit and stare at a blank page while the curser blinks in a mocking tone, "give it up now. You will never produce something that is good enough to impress them." We have been programed to think of writing as a product. We expect to be able to wax eloquent at midnight the day it is due in a caffeine induced mania that we pray will carry us through until after class. We are English majors; writing is what we do. Then why do we still feel a little queasy at the sight of that blinking curser at the top of our blank document? As Donald Murray, Marva A. Barnet and others will tell you, writing is a process not a product. We have a love/ hate relationship with this activity that produces high levels of adrenaline.

As future English teachers, we have spent countless hours studying and analyzing completed works that have been polished and shined. What we do not see is the hours and tears that went into that product. Learning to see our student's writing as a process and not lonely looking at the product benefits both our students and us. When we are grading students' work expecting it to be a final product we are discouraging them from writing. Students the world over say things like, "I hate writing," or "I'm just not a good writer." These people are unenthusiastic because they have been expected to turn in finished products and have never been taught a process.

Please don't confuse a process with THE writing process. The writing process that we all learn in elementary is a left-brained way to teach a right-brained process. While it is not with out merit, it is not the only way writing can happen. Basically there are three parts to a writing process:

Prewriting—"everything that takes place before the first draft," According to Donald Murray this will take up about 85% of the writers time.
Writing—"the act of producing a first draft," this is the scariest part of the process, but actually takes the least amount of time and
Rewriting—"reconsideration of subject, form, and audience" this is where the rest of the time is spent (Murray, Teach Writing 4).

This process turns out all types of writing from dissertations to work memos. Writing is a logical process that is easily recognized. Just as we would not put on our shoes and then our socks, we should not edit before we have a topic. However, unlike our footwear, "The writing process is on e of the most complicated human activities" (Murray, Write to Learn 6). Unlike our shoes and socks the writing process will not always follow the same order. Yet, for some reason writing teachers everywhere expect that every student will be able to learn to write by following a formula.

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As teachers we need to recognize that our students are learning this thing we called writing through their own unique process. The first thing we should do, according to Murray is shut up. "You don't lean a process by talking about it, but by doing it" (Teach Writing 5). We need to listen, not talk. We are the recipients of the work not the judge. As writing teachers we must learn to be coaches and confidants instead.

Beth Muhr

Works Cited

Barnett, Marva A. "Writing as a Process." The French Review 63.1 (1989): 31-44.

Caron, Thomas. "Teaching Writing as a Con-Artist: When is a Writing Problem Not?"

College Teaching 56.3 (2008): 137-139.

Murray, Donald. "Teach Writing as a Process Not Product." Ed. Villanueva, Victor.

Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. 2nd. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of

English, 1972. 3-6.

—. Write to Learn. New Yoek: CBS College Publishing, 1984.