Teaching students how to write a composition that is well-written and well-edited but doesn't sound stale is an uphill job in most English programs.

Typical English class students haven't much interest in their writing topics to begin with. If they have to revise, they lose even what little interest they had. The result is usually snoringly dull prose.

Teach a writing process that minimizes rewriting and energizes composition. Teaching students how to write a composition that is planned better and rewritten less reduces essay fatigue for both students and their teacher.

Did you notice that I used composition two different ways in the previous paragraphs? Your students may not realize the question "what is composition?" can have different answers depending on how the word is used in its context. See the reading-writing thread for ways you could use that fact for a vocabulary lesson.

Minimize rewriting at planning stages

You can minimize rewriting by teaching students a strategic writing process that incorporates formative self-assessment at the end of every stage of the writing process prior to composition.

Since pre-writing activities like drafting a thesis statement or writing skeleton™ do not involve writing paragraphs, students don't regard changes to them as rewriting. They are just fixing things.

Students typically do not regard planning activities as part of the writing process. In fact, they don't believe you are teaching writing at all until you begin teaching them how to write a composition.

Energize composition in speed drafts

The real secret of how to write a composition that is both well-planned and spontaneous is speed drafting.

For a short work, like an essay, speed drafting means writing the paper at a single, hour-long sitting without referring to the plan.

Writers can speed draft longer works, like term papers, in sections. Again the writers should limit themselves to working with an amount of material they can physically capture in an hour and write without without referring to their plan.

How to teach speed drafting to students

Have Joshua and Caitlin determine their theses, marshal their support, find their evidence, and set it all down in a comprehensive plan.

Then give them an hour to write the essay without reference to their notes. Set the composition time a day after they finish their plans and after they've had some rest and relaxation, so they are not already frazzled.

Composing fast without reference to notes is the key to recapturing a sense of spontaneity in material a writer has worked with repeatedly.

You can suggest they begin their composition session by scratching a keyword outline. Chances are good that even if they are panicky and cannot recall something, once they begin to write they will remember.

An hour is long enough for most people to concentrate on a complex intellectual task without a break. For some students, an hour is too long to sit. You'll need to watch students and adjust to what they can physically handle.

Time pressure makes students focus their attention. The challenge of beating the deadline energizes the students' writing. As a result, their composition is fresher, more spontaneous, than writing that's been rewritten a couple times.

Sounds terrifying to you? Perhaps it is. But fear is a great energizer.

Practice de-fangs the monster

Just so you don't scare students to death, you'll want to expose students several times to this part of learning how to write a composition.

Whenever possible, I have students do the composition during a class period so they can see how much they can produce and so they can see improvement in their ability to handle the timed writing.

Kindly remember this is a strategic teaching-learning activity aimed to regaining spontenaity, not an essay test. You might have students turn in their work so you can check it off as done, but they should get it back the next day so they can revise, correct, and edit their compositions.

Additions to the comprehensive plan

When students sit down to speed draft, they flesh out their plans by adding four elements.