Not only has May meant a return to daily blogging, it has also meant a return to daily walks.  And along with the obvious health benefits of this daily ritual comes the added bonus of daily doses of losing myself within various audiobooks.  My current book, “Envy,” written by Sandra Brown is actually a story within a story.  As one story unfolds, the reader (or in my case the listener) becomes transported back in time as a parallel storyline is revealed in the form of a novel that one of the characters is writing.  And to add one more literary layer, Brown’s main character own a publishing company……so authors, editors, English professors and writers abound.

At one point in the story, as the English professor provides feedback to one of his students, he describes the writing of a fellow student as mechanical.

I couldn’t help but wonder that when we support our students as writers, do we spent too much time on ensuring that the mechanics of their writing is in place.  Form, format, spacing, spelling, grammar and the list goes on and on.

What do we need to do to help our students take their writing from mechanical to magnificent and meaningful?

I’ve started a list….

• We need to model how to write stories that are impactful and full of emotion
• We need to ensure that our students are provided with opportunities to build their background knowledge, so they have real experiences to draw upon
• We need to expose our students to good quality “meaningful” stories and ensure that we are highlighting what moves a story beyond mechanical.

What would you add to the list?

Come write with me….