How-to teach writing by Leanne Dyck

This article was inspired by Roz Morris' blog post:  Can writing be taught? And what do writing teachers teach?

I worked as an Early Childhood Educator, also known as a Day Care Worker or Child Care Provider, for over fourteen years. I viewed my role primarily as a facilitator of play. Children are innately driven to "work"--they strive to master the skills today that they couldn’t accomplish yesterday. This is how the infants in my care learned to walk, talk, and feed themselves. We, adults, call this important work play. 

I guided, encouraged and nurtured, but I didn't say, "Today, you'll learn to walk."

Instead, I followed their led. Close observation revealed what they were most interested in learning and what level of mastery they had. Once this information was obtained, I enhanced the environment to aid them in further development.

I didn't give each child a checklist on how-to walk properly. I didn't insist that they led with their right foot. The outcome was far more important to me than the process.

The children did learn some principals along the way. For example, they learnt in order to walk they had to use their feet, to eat they needed to use their hands.

The best writing teachers teach the same way. Led by my desire to improve my writing, they guide me to growth. They don't insist that I wait to edit my manuscript until I'm finished my first draft. They don't insist I write a character sketch, when that doesn't fit with how I work. 

Instead they nurture my environment by suggesting good books to read and helping me to equip my writing toolbox with, for example, a good understanding of grammar and punctuation. Once they have equipped me with this information, they watch as I progress from writing short stories to writing novels. They celebrate my triumphs and provide me with supportive feedback on how-to improve.

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