There is no singular way to teach writing because there isn’t an objective correctness to writing itself. Instead of memorizing a bank of information, we ask students to look inside themselves and write. To a new writer, or an experienced writer who has recently developed enhanced self-awareness, this is terrifying. Without a set of objective guidelines and a lens for self-editing, it’s hard to know what’s working. Students want some set of rules to hold onto, some box to check to say they’re doing OK. They don’t realize that writing is a creative process, with as many successful strategies as there are writers.
Teaching product may be a strategy for giving that sense of security. Similar to the scientific process of hypothesizing, testing and evaluating, we also teach our writing students a formula – read, discuss, analyze, pre-write, draft, revise, rewrite – with checks and criticisms at each stage. But these checks can have a limiting effect. Writing is already an intensely vulnerable activity, and critiques after a piece is done “does little more than confirm their lack of self-respect for their work and for themselves …” according to Murray’s “Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product.” The concept of teaching process is intimidating to both student and teacher in its vagueries, but breaking out of these confining routines may be more fruitful.