4 Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing

Have you committed one of these four errors in your teaching? Overcorrecting, holding back help, unclear assignments, and over-expectation can frustrate your students and hamper your best efforts. How can you overcome these deadly errors? We’ve all suffered it at one time or another—frustration about writing assignments. Either on the receiving end  or perhaps now on the giving end, there can be a few distinctly discouraging aspects to teaching and being taught writing. The tough questions include: What to correct and how to give a grade? How much help is too much? Isn’t the assignment clear enough? Why don’t students find their own errors? Because we are so much a product of our environment, our style of instruction often becomes a reflection of how we were taught, and consequently the â€Å"sins† of our teachers can easily be passed on to our own students if we are not diligent in evaluating and honing our teaching skills.    Andrew  Pudewa  is the founder, principal speaker, and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing. Presenting throughout North America, he addresses—with clarity, insight, practical experience, and welcome humor—issues relating to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students' skills.