Stenske 1

Nick Stenske
ENGL 361
Professor Kmiecik
September 19, 2014
Position Statement
Writing will always be a cornerstone of society, particularly a Democratic one. Learning
to write levels the playing field. A writers prose can transcend the limits of family history,
economic standing, and social stigma. Writing allows one to learn how to effectively
communicate by considering how to tailor a message to a particular audience. Although the
form and language of the message will continue to change, the essence of writing will always
exist. Teaching writing will always be important because humanitys need for creativity,
connection, and escape will never die.
My formative writing education focused on the composition process. My high school
teachers required evidence of the completion of each step. I turned in countless outlines, Venn
diagrams, and pieces of free writing as evidence of the prewriting process. Then my teacher
would collect copies of the first draft, second draft, peer revised drafts, and then the final draft.
The evidence of the composition process was worth at least fifty percent of my final paper grade.
The micromanagement of my composition process made the whole experience feel like several
hoops I was simply jumping through to achieve an adequate grade. As a future composition
teacher, I will not treat the writing process like a menial chore.
I took my first college level writing class during my sophomore year. It was during this
class, Advanced Composition, that I discovered the excitement of the writing process. The
professor had five writing assignments that required the students to explore personal experiences.

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I felt empowered to write about my experiences instead of being intimidated by a strictly

expository world. For each assignment, we had two due dates; one date was for a first draft and
a second date for the final draft. The professor formed peer editing groups that consisted of four
or five students. On the first due date, the instructor required us to bring a copy of our rough
draft for each member of our peer editing group. At the next class period, one was to show up
with constructive feedback for each member of the group. The professor allowed timed for us to
discuss each piece as a group. The author of the piece being discussed was not allowed to speak
or to explain anything until everyone in the group had stated their opinions on the strengths,
weaknesses, and ideas for revision. My writing thrived thanks to these peer editing groups.
Hearing the discussion of my writing built my confidence in my writing and always left me
pining for the moment I could sit down at my desk to explore the possibilities present in each
piece. This is exactly how I would like to set up peer editing groups in my future classroom.
My Advanced Composition professor emphasized the composition process as being
recursive. Just because one turned in a final draft did not necessarily mean the piece of writing
was complete. One can edit and revise indefinitely. Throughout the course, the professor
conducted several in-class writing days. He would start each writing session with a fairly openended prompt and then let us write. After a few writing sessions, he asked us to look back on our
writing and to pick one we wanted to expand. Most of the writing I turned in for that class
stemmed from these composition exercises. Sometimes the original idea from an exercise grew
into the final work. Other times, a single phrase or word sparked a completely different idea that
took my writing in a different direction than the initial exercise. I enjoyed writing in Advanced
Composition and Creative Writing more than any class I ever took in high school. The focus in
the college courses seemed to be on immersing students into the ways writers actually work.

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Although the procedures in high school taught me a lot about writing, it made writing an
unnatural chore that lacked cohesion.
Writing should be taught as it was in my college courses. Composition teachers should
allow their students to explore the writing process in a low stakes, low pressure way that is more
reminiscent of the way writers actually work instead of dictating a linear composition process. A
course like this would entail frequent writing exercises, assignments, and ample time to explore
possibilities in peer editing groups. As an educator, I will stress substance before form. I will
frame early drafts as doodles or incomplete sketches that my students will eventually tweak,
flesh out, and improve upon later. The point of the early drafts is to start shaping ones ideas
into a coherent piece of writing; however, there is no definite point when the piece is complete.
Writing should never be about going from point A to point B. My goal as an educator is
to foster the experience of writing. I will do this by creating meaningful assignments that
students can connect to the world outside of the classroom. I will accentuate the process over the
final product by allowing time for students to explore the possibilities of their writing and to
make revisions. My writing class will never consist of trivial chores that students must complete
to pass the class. The Zen Buddhist philosopher Alan Watts once compared life to music. Life,
like music, is not a pilgrimage about making it to the end. The point of music is not the final
note. You should sing and dance while the music plays. For the writer, the point should not be
finally placing the last period but to enjoy the process and infinite possibilities of composition.