For decades writing was taught in a manner that was very counter-productive to getting suitable results. Instructors used diagrams of essay forms and outlines to educate students. While these diagrams do portray the correct finished form of documents, they fail to address the steps needed to arrive there. In other words, the instructors were teaching the product, while ignoring the essential process of writing. This method of teaching held back the student as well as the teacher. There is now a large shift taking place in the way writing is being taught. This shift involves the emphasis of composition being moved from the product of writing and being placed on the process. Donald Murray see the process as “discovery through language(Murray.)” There are many reasons that this progressive approach is superior to the conventional one. These advantages include: the role of the instructor being transferred from that of a utensil to a mentor, the teacher gaining a more clear knowledge of students problems, and becoming a better instructor overall.

The pattern that conventional writing instruction usually follows involves an assigned topic being given. This is com

The most important aspect of teaching the writing process is that it will improve the value of the instructor overall. The priority of every educator should be the positive progress of his students. That said, the measure of a successful teacher is the success of his students. The process approach of writing instruction gets results from students. The old method of instruction involved little more than assigning topics and grading for errors. Today, a teacher can open the door to so much more in a classroom. Students that never thought they could write or for that matter never wanted to, can be encouraged by the process approach. Due to its unthreatening nature, process instruction promotes original topic selection and interesting content. This stems from the time allowed for the practice of writing without so much emphasis on correctness and spelling. Correctness is usually not an indicator of good writing. In fact, one teacher notes that some mistakes can be indicators of improving writing as they can represent growth such as a writer experimenting with structural or stylistic approaches that they have not yet mastered. Teaching writing as a process addresses the main purposes of writing that conventional teaching somehow completely overlooked. By emphasizing the process, an instructor is allowing composition to remain the organic process that it really is. As a teacher takes emphasis away from the product and places it on the individual steps in the process, he is actually ensuring that it will be better in the end. When it comes down to it, the process approach of teaching gets results in the form of student progress. By including this improved version of composition education, the teacher is improving himself. All of this should result in positive progress made on the part of writing students, which, since it directly reflects on instruction, should indicate that one has succeeded as a teacher.

monly accompanied by a due date that is all too soon. The papers are then turned in when time is up and given back a few days later, some full of red marks, other relatively clear. Grading criteria is based on spelling and correct

Some topics in this essay:
Donald Murray, Writing Process, Judy Rogers, Joel Saltzman, teaching writing, writing process, teaching writing process, process teaching, process approach, students instructor, donald murray, aspect teaching, aspect teaching writing, student teacher, advantages teaching, teachers students,