Modeling Our Struggles with Writing

This post was written by 起点传媒member听Anthony Lince.听

I struggle to write. I tirelessly tinker with my drafts until, finally, they resemble something I find worthy of publishing. For me, this is how it鈥檚 always been and how it鈥檒l always be. I鈥檓 not the only one who wrestles with a piece of writing, though. Even well-known writers鈥攆rom Anne Lamott to Stephen King鈥攈ave famously wrote how they, too, struggle with writing.

All this to say: strenuous effort is a natural part of the writing process. This is pretty well known.

Sadly, though, the people that need to know this maxim the most鈥攐ur students鈥攐ften don鈥檛 ever realize writing is difficult for everyone. They think it鈥檚 only demanding for them. And as a result, when students do encounter any sort of complications with their writing, they end up feeling endlessly discouraged. I know my students鈥攆rom the first semester of my teaching credential program placement鈥攄idn鈥檛 understand that sweat and tears often go hand in hand with writing.

The primary person to blame? Me. When it came to my writing, I never revealed to my students that I exerted lots of effort, that I had doubts, and that, at times, I felt defeated. No, what I presented, instead, was a teacher who was a 鈥減erfect writer.鈥� My students only got to see my polished drafts (after many bouts of revision, of course). If you asked them about my writing process, they might say something like this: 鈥淢r. Lince is a natural writer; I don鈥檛 think he ever has issues with writing!鈥�

In all honesty, I liked that they had that impression of me. I was the sage on the stage, after all. I was The Teacher. Looking back, though, I realize that this was a major disservice to my students, as they ended up leaving my class feeling frustrated by the challenges of writing, not understanding that writing is challenging for everybody

See also A Challenge to Future Teachers

I needed to do better. A lot better. So in the spring of 2020 (my last semester of student teaching), I decided to model my struggle with writing to my students. It was nerve-wrecking, it was painful, and it was difficult to do. But it was a powerful teaching experience鈥攐ne that was completely worth it.

鈥淭oday, before you start on your drafts, I鈥檓 going to model my writing process for you,鈥� I told my students. 鈥淭he reason I鈥檓 doing this is so that you can see how an experienced writer composes. Sometimes鈥攁ctually, most of the time鈥攚riters struggle to make solid first drafts. The writing has to be reworked and reworked for it to sound good, for it to be just right. I want to show you a little bit of that.鈥�

鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to show us how you make mistakes?鈥� one student asked.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly it,鈥� I replied. 鈥淥kay, so let鈥檚 begin!鈥� I might鈥檝e sounded confident saying those words, but I certainly didn鈥檛 feel like they had much weight to them.

I wasn鈥檛 sure how my students would react to seeing their teacher stumble and fall in front of them. Really, I was worried that I would lose some of their confidence in me as an effective educator, as an effective writing teacher. Nevertheless, I had to follow through. There was no turning back now. I was going to show my students how most writers struggle with composing, and more importantly, how that struggle was perfectly okay.

I walked over to my laptop鈥攎y screen was mirrored to the overhead projector鈥攁nd I rested my fingers on the keyboard. I took a deep breath, looked up at my students, then back to my laptop. I started writing. One sentence was on the screen. But it didn鈥檛 sound right, so I deleted it. Then, a few more sentences were put up on the screen. However, they didn鈥檛 sound quite right, either, so I reworked them. All the while, I鈥檓 talking out loud, naming what I鈥檓 doing and giving my students a sense of my writing process.

After what felt like an hour of torture, though it was really only about five minutes, I finished my modeling session. I looked up at my students, and I saw their confused expressions. I don鈥檛 think they were used to seeing their teachers make mistakes. Oh no, I thought鈥攚hat had I done? They were now going to see their English teacher as an imposter, as someone who wasn鈥檛 able to teach. Moving forward, my teaching would be met with strong doubts. My student鈥檚 faith in me鈥攆aith that I had worked so hard to gain鈥攚as destroyed.

But, in fact, the opposite ended up happening. And I realized the benefits of my teaching move a few days later when I sat down to conference with my students on their writing.

鈥淗ey, Mr. Lince, I saw that you struggled with your introduction the other day. I always have issues with that, too. Do you have some tips on how I can get better at them?鈥� a student asked me. I then proceeded to offer him some of the steps I take to make my introductions better, and he listened with an attentiveness that I hadn鈥檛 seen before. He trusted me more, not less, to give him advice because I showed him that I wasn鈥檛 perfect. My advice held lots of credibility, as I knew the struggles that he went through.

The rest of my conferences with my other students gave me similar revelations to my example above. Those conferences were great because I was able to draw on my writing experiences in a genuine way, no longer as a person who seemed to never make mistakes.