Students should understand that…. 1.Writing is a multi-faceted
skill with a wide range of functions and purposes: reflection,
exploration, discourse, creation, and communication. 2.To be
writers, we must be observers of the world. 3.Writing is a
necessary means for clarifying understanding, thought taking
shape. Thought and imagination shape writing, but, too, writing
shapes thought and imagination. 4.Writing is a means of
discovering our feelings and values as well as our ideas.
5.Writing can be play: spontaneous, improvisational, passionate,
in-the-moment. 6.There is aesthetic satisfaction in crafting a
good story, poem, or essay. 7.Writing, through diction, syntax,
organization, grammatical structures, and figurative language,
influences the thoughts, emotions, and behavior of readers; it
is the means by which we earn the participation and empathy of
the audience. 8.Writing well is a necessary life-long skill
owned by each individual, requiring a commitment to patient
reflection, experimentation, evaluatio