Addressing Falk's article "Language Acquisition and the Teaching and Learning of Writing"

Blog about Julia Falk’s article “Language Acquisition and the Teaching and Learning of Writing”

Above all, Falk encourages us to make mistakes.  Through mistakes, we learn what is correct.  Make mistakes in speaking and, when it’s gently corrected, one’s oral capacity improves.  Make mistakes in writing and, when it’s read by many and gently corrected by one who knows good writing, one’s writing capacity improves.  She encourages the teacher to take how humans learn to speak as a cue on how the teacher should foster writing skills.  Understanding precedes speaking and reading precedes writing.  To write lucidly one should read marvelously lucid texts.  For two years I taught seniors (+55years old) a writer’s workshop.  The most fundamental change I made to this already successful program was assigning a wealth of texts to read.  Most of these writers wanted to write their memoirs.  They loved sharing their writings with the class, but not one could tell me who his/her favorite memoirist was.  This is a disconnect that Falk would have noted immediately.  My “seniors” needed to read E.B. White and Joan Didion.  Another change I effected was to offer advice.  Previously, it seems the workshop was more of a lovefest.  “I like the mention of your daughter.”  For me, this became a jumping off point to explain how characters are developed, through what the character says, through what he does, and through what others say about him.”  Now this was a writer’s workshop; this was sanctioned time to write.  I will have to become more organized to incorporate more writing into my English classes at Charter.