So you want to improve your writing? As a lifelong writer of songs, stories, essays, articles, and blogs, I can tell you that improvement is less about technique and more about mindset and behavior. To be a great writer, you must act like a great writer. Easier said than done. But bear with me. With a little background knowledge and a recipe for action, you’ll be well on your way!
History Repeats Itself
Did you know, in the 1960’s it was a major goal of our country to land a spaceship on the moon! We were actually trying to get there before the Soviet Union did. The competition, called the space race, was a complex show of power, technology, and pride. According to the national air and space museum, “The space race became a symbol of the broad ideological and political contest between two rival world powers.” In other words, both countries were looking at the stars with wonder, excitement, and determination! How did that influence schooling? The U.S. decided to boost creativity! They started open schools that allowed students to learn and explore whatever they wanted (Dwyer, 2017).
But not everyone liked this plan. Some teachers disliked the lack of structure; others weren’t sure what was actually being learned. In response, the back-to-basics movement was born. It prioritized the “3 Rs” of a proper education–reading, writing, and arithmetic (or readin’, ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmetic). It declared that all students need to know how to do these 3 things.
Today, we still have debates over open and closed classroom learning. We still want all students to have reading, writing, and math skills. We just think the list of basic skills has grown. Yes, math, but also problem solving. Yes, reading, but not just books. Yes, writing, but not just essays. Don’t forget technology and proper online behavior, how to manage your money, how to care for yourself, and, yes, how to design things like spaceships. That’s a lot! This is why many subject areas have shifted to process skills (how we learn) over content skills (what we learn). When our computers can quickly answer our questions, the ability to sift, sort, analyze, critique, create, and personalize becomes far more important.
The 3 Rs Reimagined
I’d like to propose an update to what we call a basic–ahem, proper–education. I hereby declare the 21st century, post-pandemic, digital age basics of education to be reflection, revision, and resourcefulness. The 3 Rs, reimagined. Notice that I, too, am shifting from content to process.
If we want to be reflective, we’ll need to learn a really big, fancy word called metacognition. That just means we should make it a habit to think about how we learn (Timmons, 2020). Pause and ask yourself: Am I learning? Am I moving in the right direction? Am I making the best use of my time and effort? You might also build in set stopping times (e.g. after 30 minutes) to revisit your goal, look for any gaps or blindspots, and celebrate small wins!
If we want to do something of high quality, we will need to use revision and refinement. In other words, playfully fix things until they're great! This may include working with others or asking for feedback from friends, your teacher, family members, or even a neighbor. We should hold the belief that reflection and revision go hand in hand with deeper learning, higher quality and beauty.
We’re often told to learn from our mistakes. Let’s take that one step further to admit mistakes WILL happen. They are a natural part of tinkering. They assist in metacognition (there’s that big, fancy word again) and they provide the feedback we need to focus our efforts.
If we want to be resourceful, we need to use the many resources that are all around us: books, the internet, artificial intelligence, videos, articles, peers, teachers, etc. We should not be okay with just one source or one piece of feedback.
The section below summarizes the new 3 Rs with tips to get started.
Reflection
Make it a habit to reflect on your choices as you learn, apply, and/or personalize.
- Talk with others
- Keep a journal of your progress
- Use metacognition
- Set and revisit goals
Revision
Grow your first ideas to improve quality and beauty.
- Ask others for feedback
- Use the writing process
- Fail forward (Learn from mistakes)
- Deliberate practice (Focus on growth areas)
Resourcefulness
Use more than one source of information for inspiration.
- What other tools might work?
- Who else can help me?
- Where else can I find this information?
- How else might I achieve this goal?
- Is there room for one or more partners?
Improve Your Writing
Now that we’ve got the new 3 Rs, we can finally ask the burning question: How can they improve my writing? Let’s begin with the writing process:
- Prewrite (i.e. use your resources to gather ideas)
- Draft
- Revise
- Edit (i.e. reflect and revise some more)
- Publish
Notice, the 3 Rs fit in quite well. You need resources to get started and to continue to grow your ideas. You need to reflect and revise your drafts as you inch your way forward. And final steps often involve seeking feedback, double checking your goal, and making sure you’ve written to the correct audience.
But the writing process shows draft-revise-edit as if it’s a one-and-done, step-by-step process. It’s not! The way to turn good writing into great writing is hyper attention to detail. You need to dance between prewrite, draft, revise, and edit like they’re swirling around in a tornado! For example, think about how you might use a thesaurus.
Imagine a character is lost in an unknown city and needs some help getting home. Your first sentence as the author of the story might be:
Option 1: The woman nervously asks a friendly stranger for directions.
If you look up “nervously” in a thesaurus, you will find the words anxiously, restlessly, and apprehensively. Given that she’s lost in an unknown city, “anxiously” would add some urgency and “apprehensively” would add some hesitation. But “restlessly” doesn’t seem to fit.
Option 2: The woman apprehensively asks a friendly stranger for directions.
If you look up “friendly” in a thesaurus, you will find the words helpful, attentive, receptive, and sympathetic. Pick one, or maybe none! Maybe the type of stranger will be told later.
Option 3: The woman apprehensively asks a stranger for directions.
These are options. There isn’t a right or wrong. Think about the picture that’s formed in your mind as you read option 1 versus option 3. For me, option 1 shows a nervous person asking a kind person for help; option 3 shows a hesitant person asking an unknown person for help. Option 1 leaves a lot of unanswered questions: Is she always nervous? Is the stranger always kind? Option 3 feels more in the moment–the woman is hesitant because she’s lost and needs help from a person she’s never met.
Whichever option you choose relates to your style. Because great writing involves making choices that you, personally, like. It’s being playful with words, sentences, tone, and impact as you tell your story. As an added bonus, great writing also leads to improved reading! Using resources to gather ideas, replace words, and slowly edit your story into something special involves close, thoughtful reading that’s bound to grow your vocabulary and knowledge. That’s why we need to devote time and energy to–you guessed it–the new 3 Rs!
Improve Everything Else
Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”. That means having a good idea is nice, but it’s the process by which you grind out the final product that matters most. The new 3 Rs ensure you understand that process as you improve your writing, reading, or anything for that matter. It’s a mindset. It’s an understanding that quality requires commitment. Mistakes become opportunities for growth.
If you’re still not sure, think about what your writing looks like without the new 3 Rs. Maybe you’re sitting at a desk, staring at a blank page, not knowing where to start. Maybe you’re copying and pasting an essay made by an AI bot. Maybe you're working alone, frustrated that your first try isn’t very good.
In all of these made up scenarios (or possibly real ones), the 3 Rs are missing. Writer’s block is a resource issue. AI essay writing lacks the reflection and revision process needed for quality, beauty, and style. Being frustrated on your first try is ignoring the writing process. That first draft is amazing for what it is; a seed that needs reflection, revision, and resourcefulness to grow!
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how to improve your writing, your learning, and your final products. This is a mindset and recipe for action that you can use any time you’re doing work you care about. If you happen to have a teacher who also understands the new 3 Rs, even better! But ultimately you are in charge of your education. So take a deep breath, give yourself ample time, and get to work!
References:
Clear, J. (n.d.). The theory of deliberate practice. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory
Dwyer, D. (2017, March 27). Open schools made noise in the '70s; now they're just noisy. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/27/520953343/open-schools-made-noise-in-the-70s-now-theyre-just-noisy
Forbes Human Resources Council. (2019, August 23). Failing forward and why it’s ok. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2019/08/23/failing-forward-and-why-its-ok/
Graves, D. (n.d.). All children can write. LD Online.
https://www.ldonline.org/ld-topics/writing-spelling/all-children-can-write
National Air and Space Museum. (n.d.). What was the Space Race? Smithsonian Institution. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/what-was-space-race
Timmons, A. (2020, October 14). What is metacognition and how does it help us think? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moment-youth/202010/what-is-metacognition-how-does-it-help-us-think
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