In classes I was told no. Don’t use contractions. Don’t share opinions. Don’t use sarcasm in your writing. Don’t exaggerate. Basically, I have been told to hide my voice and be as objective as possible in my writing. This pattern started early on in middle school and it wasn’t until I got to college that I was able to use my own voice again, only to discover that I had nearly forgotten how. Thus, the idea that all academic writing needs to be objective is to me the most devastating bad idea about writing that I have heard so far. As an English Education major, writing is of the utmost importance to me, and I believe that writers must first recognize the importance of their own voice before they can produce good writing.
I have been fortunate so far this semester to read a lot of academic writing that has not been confined to being completely objective. In other words, the authors have mattered! In my English textbook and Teaching Writing textbook authors like Elizabeth Wardle, Doug Downs, and Penny Kittle use their own experiences in life and in the classroom to show how to become a more impactful teacher and how to teach students to improve their writing.
When considering what is good writing, I am most concerned with whether writing fulfills its purpose, whether it meets my expectations, and whether or not it is thought provoking and clearly communicated. I believe that all these objectives can be met while a writer also uses his or her own life experiences within a paper along with his or her own unique voice. One of the ways in which I hope to encourage my future students to explore their life experiences and voice is through the use of a writer’s notebook. I think that a writer’s notebook is a powerful tool that will enable students to recognize that they have valuable things to say. I know that in my experience, I spent a lot of time in high school only writing to answer predetermined questions, none of which inspired much creativity or motivation. This type of objective writing can be discouraging to students, and often the feedback that students receive about this writing tends to stress adherence to grammar and writing conventions that can limit a student’s imagination and willingness to take risks in their writing.
Finally, I think that encouraging writing to be subjective will actually enable for more credible and genuine writing. When students can bring their own background into an academic setting, not only does their writing become more personal, but they are also able to learn how to write with authority and confidence.
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