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Subject:Teaching kids to write bad[ly] From:Chet Cady <cady -at- OCLC -dot- ORG> Date:Wed, 17 Aug 1994 08:43:18 EDT
I have enjoyed the discussion about how many kids aren't learning to
write well. Both of our kids have what Russell Baker calls the word
gene, and it has been a delight to help them learn to write
(especially our younger son, who is all the time writing
screenplays--he just turned 8).
Our older son doesn't know how to write badly, and I wish he would
learn. What I mean is that he is so left-brained that he can't
allow himself to produce a lousy draft. (Oh, he's 9-1/2.) He enjoys
writing except when it's an assignment, and then he gets all knotted
up. I tell him just write something down, the first thing he wants to
say, and if he doesn't like it, he can change it. It seems to violate
his Moral Code or something. It seems to me that my writing improved
when I allowed myself to write really badly, catching ideas on the
fly and making revision the "craft" part of writing. This technique
works whether the writing is technical or another genre. (Does
technical writing deserve to be called a genre?)
I think both parents and educators should teach kids to write badly as
part of writing well.
