From time to time, I’ll post articles of interest and ideas that I’ll call “Thought Piece”. There will be no specific action required on your part. If you have no time, you can pass it by. If the topic interests you, give it a read and throw in some comments.
This is an article from the Two Writing Teachers about teaching writers instead of teaching writing. Enjoy.
Salt Creek Teaching and Learning 
My thoughts of teaching writers….
Each writer has a different perspective and experience to share. In my opinion, building confidence in young writers is what needs to happen. If I look back at my own personal experience, I thought I was a horrible writer, maybe because I wasn’t taught to believe in myself or because my grammar and lack of structure was hideous. Now, I think back to what impacted me the most and it was a tutor I had in college who gave me self confidence to keep writing. I know that I am that tutor, better yet the teacher who believes in my students and that is how I know I am not just teaching writing.
Thanks for sharing, Paty. As our teachers provide opportunities for students to express themselves on topics that matter to them, they will all gain that confidence that you mention. Excellent thoughts on the mentor role of the teacher to our young writers.
I agree with you Paty that confidence is such a crucial component. One of the best experiences I had as a writer was in a creative writing class in college. I remember how “out of the box” the writing we had to do was. It was not your typical narrative or response to literature. One of my favorite pieces was a character sketch that we had to do about a person that we saw frequently but that we didn’t know personally. We simply had to observe and write. It was challenging for me since there was no defined format for how to develop this sketch but my professor gave me specific feedback and motivated me to let my thoughts flow….he gave me confidence. We then had to share our sketch with our class and publish it in a class book. I still remember how proud I felt…..as a writer.