The Writing Process, What a Wonderful Thing (blog 5)

 I have thoroughly enjoyed being a writing coach and seeing first-hand how different students write. Although I have read peers’ writing in the past and given them feedback, I have not had the experience of reading younger students’ writing until becoming a writing coach for this class. From what I have gathered thus far, I think when receiving feedback from teachers, student writers need specific things to work on in order to better their writing. At times teachers may tell students things they need to work on or fix but do it in a broader way than the students may prefer. If the student only has an idea of what to fix but is not exactly sure, there is a chance that they will not fix what the teacher wanted them to which results in their writing not getting much better. Their peers can help with spelling and grammar mistakes since a majority of the errors I noticed in my students’ writing were small mistakes that would easily be corrected if the student read over their writing or had someone, like a peer, read it prior to it being turned in. I noticed what appeared to be students finishing their assignments in potentially one sitting and then submitting them right away. At times, thoughts did not seem complete which peers could also notice and suggest fixing.

The teacher, peers, and writing coach all share the same responsibility of attempting to make the student write the best they can and learn from their mistakes. Each individual wants the student to succeed and produce great writing; they each share the responsibility of giving the writer feedback to help them continue to improve their writing. Although they each have the same end goal of wanting the student to succeed in their writing, the difference between the role of the teacher, peer, and writing coach would be the harshness of the critiques. During the writing process, “as every writer knows, having good ideas doesn’t automatically produce good prose,” (Flower & Hayes, 367) so I think beginning with peers looking at your writing is a good way to start. I think peers can start the editing process with basic things for the writer to fix, then I think the coach can come in and help the writer reword sentences, tell them if things are flowing nicely, if they should expand more in certain parts, etc. The coach has the role of knowing a bit more as to what the teacher may be looking for in the writing which can lead to the paper being put together nicer than it may have been without the coach. Ultimately, though, the student needs to be active in the editing phases; “the growing text makes large demands on the writer's time and attention during composing,” (Flower & Hayes, 371) and needs their focus to better the writing. The teacher is the last one to get the piece of writing from a student, they get the finished result, which is the main difference. If the student cares about their assignment and have peers and/or a writing coach look at it prior to the teacher seeing it, the role of the teacher is to grade the finished piece and give feedback for the writer to either make corrections or look back on when writing their next assignment.

In the end, the writing process looks different for everyone. Depending on how much time and effort is put into the writing can be the main difference when editing and what sort of feedback the editor gives. Everyone is a novice writer before they gain the proper knowledge and skills to produce work that shows the ability to accomplish the skills they need. Everyone has to start somewhere, though, right? With proper resources, anyone can become a better writer!