My Teaching Philosophy...

Over the years, I have taught writing in a mental hospital, an elementary school, a public library, a children’s museum, a YWCA, a high school, a U.S. Air Force base, a computer chip factory, a women's development program in Nepal, and the University of New Hampshire. I taught writing at the University of California, Berkeley from the early 1990s to 2004, when I moved to Paris. My philosophy about teaching writing has evolved from these disparate experiences.

I believe, first and foremost, that the only way to learn to write is by doing it. I also believe that the most important element of good writing is rewriting – and that not understanding this is the biggest misconception that beginning writers have about what separates them from "good" writers.

The things I think are most important to learn about writing are that:

Each person has stories worth telling and ideas worth sharing.
Writing is a process that involves risk taking, mistakes, false leads, and great discoveries.
Every good writer rewrites – and rewrites.
Writing is written to be read – and therefore a writer must always keep the reader's needs in mind
Good writing requires clear thinking and carefully developed ideas.
Specific language is fresher and says more than generalities.
Fewer words often say more than many.
It is worth the effort that it takes to be clear.
A writer should understand how to use basic rhetorical devices.
Good grammar and organization are essential to clarity--and therefore to meaning.
Words have rich, subtle meanings; finding and choosing the right word is the great challenge and pleasure of writing.

My workshop sessions are devoted to discussion of student and published work, in-class writing, and exercises exploring specific problem areas. The techniques I use include:

Brainstorming, free writing, and other exercises to help students determine what they would most like to write about and then define and develop a topic.

Requiring them to leap in and get started, generating a first draft quickly.

Written comments, peer conferences, and workshops to give students feedback and help define directions for revision.

One-on-one work with students to help them discover their strengths and address weaknesses.

In-class exercises focusing on common problems (e.g., changing passive to active, effective use of rhetorical devices, eliminating unnecessary words, strengthening transitions).

Practice sessions focusing on specific troublespots – such as beginnings and endings –using examples from both published and student writing.

Writing with my students, sharing my own process, successes, and failures.

Presenting a variety of examples of good writing for study and discussion.

Introducing the resources that writers use, including the dictionary, usage guides such as Bernstein's The Careful Writer, and texts such as The Elements of Style.