No Wrong Way to Write by Joshua

No Wrong Way to Write by Joshua - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

Sometimes, all it takes is a few words to define someone forever. In high school, I was asked to write a paper describing where I saw myself in ten years. Being clumsy and unpopular, answers like alone, forgotten, or even dead sprang to mind. Upon deciding that writing such a grim paper would be in poor taste, I asked my teacher for help. With a smile, she offered this advice: “Dream big! Be as creative as you can.” Just eight words, but they were just the eight words I needed.

I sat down to engage in the most epic struggle of all: me versus a blank sheet of paper. Fortunately, the paper did not remain blank for long, as ideas poured from mind to pen to paper. I took my teacher’s advice and wrote the most ridiculous thing I could fathom. In ten years, I penned, I see myself as President of the entire world. From there, I went into detail about how I would take over the world, and in the process I opened the floodgates of my imagination and just had fun, not caring about grammar or word count.

While far from perfect, the paper netted me an A, because my teacher was less concerned with rigid structure and flawless grammar and more about the fact that her struggling pupil was finally opening up. Better grammar and style came with time, and the confidence that came from that A. Had she given the paper a poor grade, a fledgling writer would have been crushed.

Above all else, the teacher makes or breaks a course. In spite of how omnipresent writing is today-everyone is an author, whether it be of a fashion blog, political rants on Facebook, or unpublished poetry-writing essays and research papers are tasks many students dread. I believe the foremost reason for this dread is the teachers, not the subject.

All too often, English teachers hammer their students with a rigid structure. Three drafts, four topics to choose from, five paragraphs, five hundred words, no exceptions. They make writing a chore, not a joy. If the tables were turned and I were an English teacher, I would strive to be better than that. Three rules would be written on the chalkboard in my classroom: write as creatively as you can, write as often as you can, and write as well as you can.

There is no wrong way to write. Writing is all about expressing one’s imagination in innovative and creative ways. I would offer my students the same chance my teacher offered me years ago; the chance to open up and just be creative sometimes. Grammar and style come from time and practice, not from flunking students over run-on sentences and comma faults.

Writing as often as possible is also critical in molding a great writer. Encouraging children to write about something they enjoy every day outside of the classroom is a far better way to improve their writing skills than forcing them to diagram sentences.

Finally, I would always encourage my students to do their absolute best, because that is my personal philosophy in life. No matter what you do, no matter whether anyone else will see it or not, no matter if it’s graded or not, nothing less than your absolute best is acceptable. That philosophy has aided me greatly in life, and I would try to impart it to my students.

But above all, I would teach writing because I love writing, and I love helping others improve their writing. When my little sister was struggling with her English class, she turned to me for help, and one of the proudest moments of my life was helping her get her first A on a paper. I took more pride in seeing her smile and hold up her paper than I did in all of the A+ research papers I’ve written put together. I can think of no greater incentive to teach writing: seeing smiles like that on the faces of my students.