Writing is Thinking

A little while ago I posted that one of my professors urged me: "Don't think. Write."

Yet in my literacy class, our mantra is "Writing is thinking." Engaging students in writing - any kind - is to get them to actively think about a topic. Their writing does not need to be perfect - grammar and spelling are not the focus. Instead, the idea is that if you have a student write about something, however informally, they need to think about that something to be able to do it.

After hearing both (seemingly conflicting) concepts, my first thought was, "Ok great. Which do I believe?" But the truth is I believe the two can exist in unison. I think the idea behind "Don't think. Write." is just to get ideas on paper. Just let your fingers move and allow the ideas to pour out. In this way, of course you need to think about a subject, but not get bogged down in whether your answer is perfectly worded, spelled, and punctuated. In doing so, students are inherently thinking through their understandings, beliefs, opinions, ideas, thoughts, etc., without the inhibition associated with worrying about how their writing sounds or what other people will think of it.

So really, it's: "Writing is thinking. But don't think, ok? Just write."

...Or the other way around? Ah anyways... you get the idea!