10 Posts by Me on Writing and Education
Each one 280 characters or less
In recent days, I’ve been writing short compositions about writing and education, publishing them on X, and cross-posting screenshots of them to Facebook and Substack “Notes.”
This has been to share what I’ve been learning from studying the Structure and Style writing curriculum published by the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW): in particular the insights of Andrew Pudewa, IEW’s founder and chief curriculum developer.
This practice has also been a writing exercise in itself. I’m using X’s 280 character limit to practice condensing complex ideas into concise yet clear copy.
Here are ten of the posts. I’ve linked the first word of each to the original on X. I hope you find them valuable. Next, I will publish as separate Substack posts two longer compositions that I posted as threads on X.
Per progressive ed, children should find "creative writing" fun, but many find it painful. They draw a blank, b/c their brains don't yet have enough content to draw on. Classical ed provides content so kids can 1st focus on writing. Expression skills must precede self-expression.
Humanities majors must write coherently about their subject to fully learn it. Yet K-12 schools are failing to teach basic writing skills. So universities are dumbing down from havens of higher learning to providers of remedial education.
If you would mend our troubled world, invest at least a few minutes a day teaching yourself and your children writing skills. Even in a largely illiterate age, few things have greater sway over minds and morals than articulate, readable, and convincing copy.
"The pen indeed is mightier than the sword, for it is in the written word that we do most powerfully preserve that which is noble and expose that which is evil. And so in great part, the very future of society rests with those who can write, and write well." — Andrew PudewaDo rubrics take the fun out of writing assignments? Quite the opposite, if they're designed well and used, not to "grade," but to ensure skill mastery. A writing technique checklist can gamify writing. Well-designed rules make games winnable and fun.
Standard school practice is to march classes through lessons at the same pace. Students not yet ready get frustrated and lost, while those who were ready earlier get bored. Education should instead be personalized and mastery-based. This is achievable, even with large classes.
Writing students should be taught to express the ideas of others before expecting them to express their own. Self-expression requires the skill of expression. Skills must be learned via lots of practice, which takes more material than kids have readily available in their heads.
When teaching a new writing technique, don't expect students to use it independently until you've modeled it enough. On the board, repeat the process with the whole class until some get the hang of it. While they're working, keep modeling until all the students are ready to try.
“Use it or lose it” applies to writing skills, too. If you introduce a writing technique to a student, but don't remind them to keep practicing it in subsequent compositions (checklists work well for that), it won’t become habit and will eventually fade from their repertoire.
For rapid improvement as a writer, daily practice is key. Make writing exercises short enough to squeeze into busy days. On lighter days, do them multiple times. Regularity helps habit formation. Plus, shorter gaps between sessions maintain retention and thus skill accumulation.
A young Ben Franklin developed a key writing virtue by rewriting essays as poems. This expanded the variety of his vocabulary by forcing him to find synonyms that fit the poem's rhythm and rhyme. To build his stock of words even more, he would turn the poetry back into prose.