Writing as a Literary Craft
Writing as a Literary Craft In order to better understand exactly what something IS, sometimes you must first eliminate what it ISN’T. This is true for understanding writing and the art of teaching writing in the classroom.
Writing IS NOT penmanship. Teachers and parents often confuse the term writing with handwriting. While handwriting may be used to record student-generated text, the two labels stand for entirely different actions. Handwriting refers to the ability to form letters neatly and space evenly between words within a reasonable amount of time. The two criteria associated with handwriting instruction are legibility (being able to clearly read the words written) and fluency (the ability to write easily and quickly). As you can see, neither criterion addresses the content or message of a piece of writing. While legible and fluent handwriting is important, it is an entirely different area of instruction. Donald Graves (1983/2003) sums up handwriting with this quote, “Children win prizes for fine script, parents and teachers nod approval for a crisp, well-crafted page, a good impression is made on a job application blank…all important elements, but they pale next to the substance they carry” (p. 171).
Writing IS NOT completing artificial tasks from an English textbook. An approach in which writing is supposedly taught through isolated lessons on topics such as identifying parts of speech in a sentence and using punctuation correctly makes no sense to students. Even worse, if someone is not particularly successful at these skills, they think of themselves as a poor writer when in fact, these isolated tasks in no way determine one’s ability as a writer. This issue is complicated further when the entire focus of a Language Arts program is dependent on these artificial tasks leaving little or no time for authentic writing for a real purpose.
Finally, writing IS NOT a skill. A person’s ability to communicate effectively through writing is constantly changing and developing.It is not a single skill to be achieved such as the ability to solve an algebraic equation. There are skills needed in order to write but these are, in a sense, prerequisites. As young children learn to recognize and isolate sounds in words and then learn which letter or set of letters represent the various sounds they are trying to represent through their writing, they are learning crucial phoneme and grapheme skills. As they learn to manipulate fine muscles to hold a pencil in order to form letters, they are developing a motor skill. As these basic skills necessary for recording words on paper are learned, even very young children begin communicating through writing.
So if writing IS NOT penmanship, correcting errors in textbook exercises, or a set of skills, what IS it? Writing is a form of expression, a way to communicate with others which fulfills a basic human need. Writing is a way to give others a glimpse into our ideas, knowledge, thoughts, and feelings. Writing is a form of expression owned by the writer who decides who will and will not be allowed to read it. Writing can be cathartic, revealing thoughts and memories that lie hidden beneath the surface of consciousness. Writing is essentially an art form; a literary craft.
Because writing is a craft, it is useful to associate writing with art rather than as an academic subject area. Like art, there is no one correct way to compose a written piece. Like art, there is room for interpretation and people will have different responses to a written piece. And like artists, writers need practice, purpose, and inspiration.
References
Graves, D.H. (1983/2003). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth, NJ: Heinemann.
Writing IS NOT penmanship. Teachers and parents often confuse the term writing with handwriting. While handwriting may be used to record student-generated text, the two labels stand for entirely different actions. Handwriting refers to the ability to form letters neatly and space evenly between words within a reasonable amount of time. The two criteria associated with handwriting instruction are legibility (being able to clearly read the words written) and fluency (the ability to write easily and quickly). As you can see, neither criterion addresses the content or message of a piece of writing. While legible and fluent handwriting is important, it is an entirely different area of instruction. Donald Graves (1983/2003) sums up handwriting with this quote, “Children win prizes for fine script, parents and teachers nod approval for a crisp, well-crafted page, a good impression is made on a job application blank…all important elements, but they pale next to the substance they carry” (p. 171).
Writing IS NOT completing artificial tasks from an English textbook. An approach in which writing is supposedly taught through isolated lessons on topics such as identifying parts of speech in a sentence and using punctuation correctly makes no sense to students. Even worse, if someone is not particularly successful at these skills, they think of themselves as a poor writer when in fact, these isolated tasks in no way determine one’s ability as a writer. This issue is complicated further when the entire focus of a Language Arts program is dependent on these artificial tasks leaving little or no time for authentic writing for a real purpose.
Finally, writing IS NOT a skill. A person’s ability to communicate effectively through writing is constantly changing and developing.It is not a single skill to be achieved such as the ability to solve an algebraic equation. There are skills needed in order to write but these are, in a sense, prerequisites. As young children learn to recognize and isolate sounds in words and then learn which letter or set of letters represent the various sounds they are trying to represent through their writing, they are learning crucial phoneme and grapheme skills. As they learn to manipulate fine muscles to hold a pencil in order to form letters, they are developing a motor skill. As these basic skills necessary for recording words on paper are learned, even very young children begin communicating through writing.
So if writing IS NOT penmanship, correcting errors in textbook exercises, or a set of skills, what IS it? Writing is a form of expression, a way to communicate with others which fulfills a basic human need. Writing is a way to give others a glimpse into our ideas, knowledge, thoughts, and feelings. Writing is a form of expression owned by the writer who decides who will and will not be allowed to read it. Writing can be cathartic, revealing thoughts and memories that lie hidden beneath the surface of consciousness. Writing is essentially an art form; a literary craft.
Because writing is a craft, it is useful to associate writing with art rather than as an academic subject area. Like art, there is no one correct way to compose a written piece. Like art, there is room for interpretation and people will have different responses to a written piece. And like artists, writers need practice, purpose, and inspiration.
References
Graves, D.H. (1983/2003). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth, NJ: Heinemann.
