Bruce Ballenger The Importance Of Writing Badly Summary
Dr. Bruce Ballenger joined the English faculty at Boise State University in 1995. He got a Ph.D. in Composition and Literature from the University of New Hampshire. He got some earlier degrees which include M.A. in English focusing on nonfiction writing, an M.S. in Natural Resources focusing on Environmental Communication, and a B.S. in Population Dynamics. In addition, to being a Professor and a writer he participates in conferences as a presenter, speaker, and consultant (Press). Dr. Bruce Ballenger is an English Professor at Boise State University where he specializes in composition theory, inquiry-based learning, and creative nonfiction. He is an author of seven books. Some of his best-selling books are The Curious Writer and The Curious
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Researcher. Also, he has published more than thirty articles and essays in publications (Ballenger). Bruce Ballenger heard the doctor, colleagues, commentators on the radio, and strangers talk about how students abuse their writing skills. Some people would say that even after four years of high school English the students still cannot write a “perfect” essay. He found that many teachers or Professors can be too critical on their student’s writing. Therefore the criticism makes most students dread writing essays. Sometimes a student may be holding back about what they want to write. Most students hate the thought of writing an essay because they think their writing is going to be criticized or that they will have to start over. Students hate getting their essay back because they never know if it is going to be circled in red with mistakes they need to fix or if the teacher wrote comments in the margin. Ballenger taught his students to write badly to become a better writer. He expresses that when the writing stops so does the thinking. He wants his students to focus only on their writing. He is interested in encouraging thinking than error-free sentences. He wants his students to think about ideas and if they have any mistakes to fix them once they finish the essay. If the teacher is always looking for the “perfect” essay then the student will never end up becoming a better writer. In “The Importance of Writing Badly,” Bruce Ballenger encourages his students to write about how they feel and to not worry if it is not the perfect piece. He means that when you are writing that you should not worry about it if it does not sound perfect, but can continue writing if it does not make sense. When someone is getting ready to write an essay they should take out a piece of paper and come up some ideas to talk about. This would allow someone to start thinking about what they need to include and what they can put in there to grab the reader’s attention. They should just write down whatever comes into their brain onto a piece of a paper and then take their ideas to turn it into a successful essay. When it comes to writing an essay there can be two different writers. One writer tends to brainstorm their ideas and when writing they start to correct all of their mistakes. The other writer will get their ideas on the paper and will not worry about fixing their mistakes until after they are finished. When it comes to writing an essay it can be stressful for some students. The students want to write an essay that will give them the best grade possible. Some students will procrastinate and wait until the last minute to turn in their essay which does not allow them enough time. Then some students get caught up on how long it needs to be, what they need to include, and trying to make their essay error free. This can cause them to not really think about what they are writing and it might not even make sense to the reader. Also, sometimes students dislike writing essays because they believe that all that the teacher is looking for is the errors. Ballenger is encouraging his students to write badly. He wants them to focus only on their writing to make them a better writer. Also, he thinks that if they continue to write essays this way then they will write successful essays. He stated “When I give my students permission to write badly, to suspend their compulsive need to find the “perfect way of saying it,” often something miraculous happens: Words that used to trickle forth come gushing to the page.” He believes that if they just think and write that they will be able to get more onto the page than worrying about how it sounds. He explains that “They can worry later about fixing awkward sentences.” He assures his students to keep writing and get thoughts onto the page and go back later to fix spelling, grammar, and the placement of sentences. My English teachers in High School were exactly like Mrs. O’Neill. Every time I got my essays back they would have circled every mistake and made me feel like my writing was never good enough. Ballenger used an accurate statement when he said that “Most of us have lurking in our past some high priest of good grammar whose angry scribbling occupied the margins of our paper.” Most teachers overlooked what we had written and just looked for grammatical errors. This always made me feel like my writing was never good enough. This discouraged me when it came to writing papers because I always felt like I was just writing to have my essay covered with errors that I needed to fix. After getting so many red markings on my essays I always questioned my writing. In my head, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong and I did not know how to fix my writing. It became really stressful to write essays and I always dreaded when I had to write another essay. When reading other classmates essays I would always look for grammatical errors instead of reading the essay. Ballenger is correct by saying that clear writing matters but it should not be the most important thing when first writing an essay. When someone is writing an essay they should just write down what they are thinking and can always go back later to fix the grammatical errors. After writing an essay it is easier to go back through to find punctuation and grammar mistakes, but sometimes thoughts or ideas might not make it onto the paper. After reading “The Importance of Writing Badly,” I will take Ballenger’s advice to write my essays and go back later to fix the errors later.
A writer will feel as they have more to say when they free write and brainstorm that they will end up having more effective essays. Ballenger stated “And what matters in this journey- at least initially -is not what kind of car you’re driving, but where you end up.” He is expressing that it does not matter how perfect your writing is. He believes that it is the ideas you have and the points you are trying to get across in the writing. It is all about getting to what a writer wants to write about and the process it takes to get there. When writing an essay there really is more to it than just writing words down and making sure the words is used correctly. When someone is having thoughts they need to write them down and just go from there. At first it may not be perfect, but the writer can always go back and change the errors that need to be fixed. Before reading this I figured it was going to be about bad writing and one should not worry if it is not perfect. This made me realize that it is not about how you write, but what you write about and how to get your thoughts across. By the end of writing an essay it will allow the writer to be able to write down their thoughts and they will be able to write an essay even if it is not perfect at
first.
Researcher. Also, he has published more than thirty articles and essays in publications (Ballenger). Bruce Ballenger heard the doctor, colleagues, commentators on the radio, and strangers talk about how students abuse their writing skills. Some people would say that even after four years of high school English the students still cannot write a “perfect” essay. He found that many teachers or Professors can be too critical on their student’s writing. Therefore the criticism makes most students dread writing essays. Sometimes a student may be holding back about what they want to write. Most students hate the thought of writing an essay because they think their writing is going to be criticized or that they will have to start over. Students hate getting their essay back because they never know if it is going to be circled in red with mistakes they need to fix or if the teacher wrote comments in the margin. Ballenger taught his students to write badly to become a better writer. He expresses that when the writing stops so does the thinking. He wants his students to focus only on their writing. He is interested in encouraging thinking than error-free sentences. He wants his students to think about ideas and if they have any mistakes to fix them once they finish the essay. If the teacher is always looking for the “perfect” essay then the student will never end up becoming a better writer. In “The Importance of Writing Badly,” Bruce Ballenger encourages his students to write about how they feel and to not worry if it is not the perfect piece. He means that when you are writing that you should not worry about it if it does not sound perfect, but can continue writing if it does not make sense. When someone is getting ready to write an essay they should take out a piece of paper and come up some ideas to talk about. This would allow someone to start thinking about what they need to include and what they can put in there to grab the reader’s attention. They should just write down whatever comes into their brain onto a piece of a paper and then take their ideas to turn it into a successful essay. When it comes to writing an essay there can be two different writers. One writer tends to brainstorm their ideas and when writing they start to correct all of their mistakes. The other writer will get their ideas on the paper and will not worry about fixing their mistakes until after they are finished. When it comes to writing an essay it can be stressful for some students. The students want to write an essay that will give them the best grade possible. Some students will procrastinate and wait until the last minute to turn in their essay which does not allow them enough time. Then some students get caught up on how long it needs to be, what they need to include, and trying to make their essay error free. This can cause them to not really think about what they are writing and it might not even make sense to the reader. Also, sometimes students dislike writing essays because they believe that all that the teacher is looking for is the errors. Ballenger is encouraging his students to write badly. He wants them to focus only on their writing to make them a better writer. Also, he thinks that if they continue to write essays this way then they will write successful essays. He stated “When I give my students permission to write badly, to suspend their compulsive need to find the “perfect way of saying it,” often something miraculous happens: Words that used to trickle forth come gushing to the page.” He believes that if they just think and write that they will be able to get more onto the page than worrying about how it sounds. He explains that “They can worry later about fixing awkward sentences.” He assures his students to keep writing and get thoughts onto the page and go back later to fix spelling, grammar, and the placement of sentences. My English teachers in High School were exactly like Mrs. O’Neill. Every time I got my essays back they would have circled every mistake and made me feel like my writing was never good enough. Ballenger used an accurate statement when he said that “Most of us have lurking in our past some high priest of good grammar whose angry scribbling occupied the margins of our paper.” Most teachers overlooked what we had written and just looked for grammatical errors. This always made me feel like my writing was never good enough. This discouraged me when it came to writing papers because I always felt like I was just writing to have my essay covered with errors that I needed to fix. After getting so many red markings on my essays I always questioned my writing. In my head, I could not figure out what I was doing wrong and I did not know how to fix my writing. It became really stressful to write essays and I always dreaded when I had to write another essay. When reading other classmates essays I would always look for grammatical errors instead of reading the essay. Ballenger is correct by saying that clear writing matters but it should not be the most important thing when first writing an essay. When someone is writing an essay they should just write down what they are thinking and can always go back later to fix the grammatical errors. After writing an essay it is easier to go back through to find punctuation and grammar mistakes, but sometimes thoughts or ideas might not make it onto the paper. After reading “The Importance of Writing Badly,” I will take Ballenger’s advice to write my essays and go back later to fix the errors later.
A writer will feel as they have more to say when they free write and brainstorm that they will end up having more effective essays. Ballenger stated “And what matters in this journey- at least initially -is not what kind of car you’re driving, but where you end up.” He is expressing that it does not matter how perfect your writing is. He believes that it is the ideas you have and the points you are trying to get across in the writing. It is all about getting to what a writer wants to write about and the process it takes to get there. When writing an essay there really is more to it than just writing words down and making sure the words is used correctly. When someone is having thoughts they need to write them down and just go from there. At first it may not be perfect, but the writer can always go back and change the errors that need to be fixed. Before reading this I figured it was going to be about bad writing and one should not worry if it is not perfect. This made me realize that it is not about how you write, but what you write about and how to get your thoughts across. By the end of writing an essay it will allow the writer to be able to write down their thoughts and they will be able to write an essay even if it is not perfect at
first.