I started teaching college writing in 2005 when I was still an MA student, and my writing skills were  just a few steps ahead of my students’. Over the ensuing years, I’ve become a better writer, but each new cohort of students in my classroom faces struggles similar to those of the first students.

As the distance between my struggles and my students’ struggles has become greater, I’ve had to think more analytically about my writing practice in order to be able to teach academic writing effectively.

This will be a series of blog posts about the structures and metaphors I use to guide students through the stages of the writing process.

Topic Development
Generativity and Judgement
Finding Your Argument*
Organizing Ideas*
Thesis Statements
The Initial Draft
The Review of the Literature
Revision, Getting Student Buy-In
Revision Strategies
Editing

*includes explanatory and/or interactive videos