the process

great video below.
the process of revision is the process of rethinking.
http://composition.la.psu.edu/media/heather-adams-discusses-process-oriented-pedagogy/view

revising

The value of redrafting and revising our writing is that we get the chance to listen as closely as possible to what we've said—and then make choices as a result of what we hear. But we'll never hear anything (that is, our work will never speak to us) if we haven't sincerely spoken in the first place.

You can't hear an echo—no matter how well positioned in the canyon—if you aren't willing to call out.

video, cool

No One Writes Alone: Peer Review in the Classroom, A Guide For Students

the value of reading

the value of reading, of engaging closely with both texts and their authors, is that we see how and when they leave the descriptions and observations for us to complete, and when they know they must be as thoroughgoing as possible for the picture to emerge and complete itself.

this, this thing writers do, this degree of development, of sufficiency, of anticipation—it's where the art happens.

reflect, learning to

Learning to write is the most direct way of learning to reflect; it is not the content, but the process of the liberal arts. Nowhere does such critical and creative engagement happen with more intensity, both individually and socially, than in an open-topic, research-driven, process-oriented, small-group-centered, portfolio-assessed class of student writers.

--Toby Fulwiler "Teaching Writing as a Liberal Art: Ideas That Made A Difference"

...listening

yes, all writing is rhetoric. but that doesn't mean audience is the first place to start

when teaching the craft of composition.

writing begins to take shape first through a conversation with self.

you have to listen closely to what you're trying to say.

because if you're not listening,

if you're not paying total attention,

why should anyone else?

forward, great leap

some hurried notes about writing (in no particular order and with a heavy emphasis on "notes")

it can't be taught. writing can't be taught. and i say this as a teacher of writing--

someone who earns a living teaching students to write in school.

yes, of course, people can be taught how to write. but Writing--

with all the rich and multiple meanings associated with phrasing it that way--cannot be taught.

do i mean voice? perhaps.

perhaps that's what can't be taught.

or maybe i mean a word close to voice, but not voice exactly.

i'm not sure.

i only mean this:

the great leap forward--the thing that can't be taught--is when we finally let go of "being wrong in words" and instead begin to look around with our writing, using our print to learn, explore, relax, create, share.

that's what can't be taught.

and it's the only thing we should be teaching:

by which, i mean...it's the thing we should finally free the students to learn.