📓 Couch to 5K Writing
Want to improve running? You might consider running first.
Teach Writing Tomorrow addresses major myths and misconceptions about teaching writing. It will move from attitudes to actions and mindset to methods, showing how any teacher, regardless of their own perceived ability or creativity, can teach writing tomorrow.
Note: This post began as an introduction to an upcoming piece. Much like “Breathing Isn’t a Standard,” another working introduction, it stood on its own.
Writing every day mirrors the Couch to 5K program. If you’re not familiar, the Couch to 5K training program moves you from the couch to a 5K in six weeks. The secret? Don’t start with the 5K. Instead, begin with short bursts and gradually increase until you can run the 5K straight through.
Want to improve running? Maybe consider running first.
Writing mirrors running not with alternating days, but how to start from nothing. Regular repeated exposures increase endurance like a bank account gaining interest. Once the method becomes the mindset, many things become possible. Improving at writing requires writing—it requires opportunities.
Improvement isn’t magic: Writing more means more opportunities to improve. Writing never starts perfect, but becomes polished. Something must exist to be polished. This seems like common sense until you consider how many teachers approach writing. Or don’t.
Want to improve writing? Maybe consider writing first. Then write more.
Many teachers fail teaching writing because they start with the 5K’s. Or perhaps they only run 5K’s. And the worst part? They don’t understand why this fails. Students struggle writing because they don’t write often, if at all. So teachers double down and students write even less. Then writing itself becomes unreachable. At least in perception.
Imagine this approach elsewhere: What if athletes only played in competitions? Sports would become unreachable. What if actors performed without rehearsals? Drama would become unreachable. What if artists only painted in galleries? Art would become unreachable. What if musicians only played in performances? Music would become unreachable. And so on.
Then again, when “writing” exists exclusively for testing (and we ignore other mediums entirely), different analogies emerge. Many teachers preach “standards-based” and divorce writing from spelling, grammar, and literature. Apply that to running.
What if athletes ran while moving their arms and legs—separately? Out of synch. What if we divorced the biomechanics and only practiced foot strikes? What if we moved the left leg and not the right? What if we moved our knees but not our hips? What if we practiced cadence without making contact with the ground?
In short, what if we practiced “running” without going anywhere?
Remember: A writing-based English class is like a running-based cross country team.
How do you improve writing without curriculum? Write every day. Write relentlessly. But start small.
Writing is the only foundation to English. By all means: Focus on spelling and grammar and punctuation. You should. But shift your lens. Don’t focus on spelling only or grammar only or punctuation only. Focus on spelling and grammar and punctuation—in context. Write then reflect.
We can’t deprive students of opportunities to improve, then complain when they don’t. We can’t sit on couches and expect improvements running.
Anyways, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, that’s about all I have to say about that.
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✏️ Need a place to start? Check out my ongoing series, Teach Writing Tomorrow.
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