You need to be clear. So, let me be clear. It’s all too often we English teachers hear students say, “I’m not a good writer.” It would be easy to tell these students, “that’s not true.” In fact, some teachers might assume it’s their duty to do so.
However, I believe that does students a disservice. Not because their belief is accurate, but because it ignores the struggles these students might have. It could also imply they simply need more confidence because their skill set is strong enough as it is. However, what if they need assistance strengthening certain skills? What if they don’t know where to place their effort to get better? These are the kinds of questions I tend to think about, and these are the kinds of questions I hope to answer. Moreover, I hope to answer these questions without judgement. I will only seek to provide information I found helpful myself and have found helps students who have taken my classes. I want to begin to answer these questions by taking a look at a skill which reaches beyond the field of writing but is extremely important to the overall quality of one’s work: how to be clear. Proper use of grammar, sentence structure, organization, and formatting are all important pieces to the writing puzzle, but they’re not everything. They’re tools which help lead to what matters most: clarity. To be a good writer, you need to be clear. While I may not tell every student they’re not bad writers, I do tell them that it’s possible to become a better writer. I also tell them that it takes more than learning the rules. Understanding grammar and sentence structure is nice, and it can take you far, but the truth is that to become a better writer has less to do with learning the science of grammar and more to do with being clear on your topic. To become a better writer, you need to be clear. Clear in your words. Clear on your topic. Clear in your understanding of the power you possess. This last note may read a little pretentious to some, but consider what writing has already done. Think big. Religious texts are written and worshiped. Poetry and fiction are written and change us. Laws are written and change nations. Your favorite movie was first a written screenplay. Songs are written and touch our heart. There is a great power behind the written word. When we understand and believe in this power, we tend to take more care with what we write. We think more about what words we choose, the stance we take, and the purpose for our writing. This is the first step in becoming a good (or better) writer. Writing is more than just the words we arrange in some magical way to resonate with others. Writing is a form of communication. It is how we share our thoughts with the outside world. It turns our imagination into a concrete product. It allows us to express ourselves and understand who we are. To create our inner selves well, our writing, no matter in what form, needs to be clear. However, writing is created by the creator. This means for our writing to be clear, our mind needs to be clear. We'll discuss this further in the next post.
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