I have always thought of myself as part of that school that says, "Writing cannot be taught." I think we can teach basic grammar and the fundamentals of writing a sound sentence, but when it comes to the writing, this is between the individual and the paper.
I think of writing as an art. You can teach someone how to shade, to outline, to watercolor, or use oils. But can you mold that student into a Monet or a Van Gogh? Probably not, unless he or she has the gift. I believe it is the same way with writing. We can teach the student a system of codes, but we cannot make the individual write beautiful prose if the talent is not present.
Until I read the article on Post-Process theory, I don't think I had the vocabulary to articulate this point of view. Now I believe I have always thought of writing as what Kastman Breuch calls an "indeterminate activity." This is part of what makes writing and teaching writing so difficult. We have no way of predicting how the students will write or learn.
I agree with Breuch that we, as teachers, should encourage writing as an act of interpretation and emphasize the presence of the reader. We can arm our students with the tools they need to recognize their individual talents, but it is ultimately up to them to harness their gift.
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Even though I am not a creative writer, I agree that writing is an art form. Instead of painting with oils or water colors, we paint with combinations or nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on. Until this class, I really don't think I thought about writing and its purpose and place, which is probably naive on my part. But back to the point, we can tell students "how" to write, but we can't make it an art for them; it's something they must learn to appreciate and mold.
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