I brought this post back
from the land of the drafts. I believe it might be about a year and half
old. Since I previously posted this, I have learned so much more about the
power of writing. Reading several books about writing including Acts of
Teaching, On Writing Well, and studying Janet Emig's work has had
a profound impact on my thinking. Writing is so very important!
I woke up this morning and
grabbed my phone. I noticed that I forgot to charge it last night.
There was still some battery left, so I took a gander. Drawn to
Alana Morris' post today, I read on and on. It is so TRUE! I couldn't
have said it any better. I copied and pasted the quote for you to
read.
Writing is thinking made tangible,
thinking that can be examined because it is on the page and not in the head,
invisible floating around. Writing is thinking that can be stopped and tinkered
with. It is a way of holding thought still long enough to examine its
structures, its possibilities, its flaws. The road to a clearer understanding
of one's thoughts is traveled on paper. It is through an attempt to find words
for ourselves in which to express related ideas that we often discover what we
think."
---J.Gage Why
Write?
Writing is a tool for thought, generative in nature, great for processing, creating, evaluating, and understanding. Writing, as a tool, engages many areas of the brain at once.
I am a writing apologist. For some, it is that red headed step child left on the stoop by accident. It is the umbrella placed in the closet in Death Valley. It is...discarded completely. If we only understood the power of writing, then we would incorporate it into everything that we do. My wish is that more people (teachers) would become more enlightened with regards to the the power of writing and actually try it out for themselves. By doing so, one can begin to see the value of it.
