"Good" Writers

Can any student free of learning disabilities become a "good" writer?

When I think of writing, I think of an art form that can be taught to any and every student. However, I made it a point to call it an art form because it is these types of skills that can be mastered, which might not be attainable for every person. Take myself for example, I enjoy writing and conveying the thoughts I have; however I do not believe I am an excellent writer, but do consider myself to be a "good" writer. This leads me to assume the answer to this question is in the mind of the beholder and their own individual opinion on the definition of "good."

Does good mean you are the best writer in the world and have a million best-selling books?
In my mind this question does not have anything to do with being a good writer. Yes I believe that any student free of learning disabilities can become a good writer in a sense that they will have the skills and tools necessary to complete an assignment or task if asked to do so.

Writing Experiences

In kindergarten, I remember learning to read and write basic words and phrases. In 3rd grade, I remember learning how to write in cursive. In 5th grade, I remember taking my first writing SOL test. In 8th grade, I remember having to write a dreaded writing prompt for placement into English classes for high school. I am now 20 years old and a junior in college which means throughout my learning career I have been a part of many writing classes and experiences. However, the writing classes I remember the most are from my years in high school.

In the classroom, children are taught the basic bare minimal structures of writing starting the first day of school. First, sentence structure is learned with the basics of needing a noun and verb. Slowly children learn to add adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc. Later, when learning the concept of paragraphs, children learn that it is necessary to have a beginning, body, and conclusion. All of the details in between are filled in through experience and practice with writing. As writing is used in every course a student begins to get more and more practice with it and develops a wider knowledge of the subject. However much people want to believe that writing should be universal; it is not the case from my perspective. This is even due to a simple fact that there are certain styles of writing, MLA versus APA, which different individuals prefer.

From my various experiences, I prefer to be taught the essentials and then take the approach of trial by error. This enables the students to be free to make mistakes and although they may be penalized a small percentage for them they will be shown their mistakes and encouraged to correct them in the future. This was the approach taken by my Research and Analysis teacher in 11th and 12th grade and I felt as if she was the teacher that opened my writing perspective. For example, at the beginning of the semester we were made to complete a grammar assignment where we had to learn a list of 50 grammar rules she had compiled and present a project including all the rules. In the beginning, I thought the assignment sounded like a huge waste of my time; however I very seldom found myself making those grammar mistakes in my writing assignments.

In the future, I am going to be the teacher having an influence on my students and their writing perspectives. Hopefully they will be able to think back to the times they had writing assignments in kindergarten, 3rd grade, 5th grade, etc. and I will be a part of those memories. Every student learns differently and therefore every assignment can be interpreted differently. I hope I am a teacher that is able to convey the essentials and help to enhance those in my students’ writing assignments.