Does The Writing Process Improve Verbal Intelligence?

Does The Writing Process Improve Verbal Intelligence?

Introduction

I wanted desperately to learn to juggle, probably because my dad was trying to learn. I felt like he was approaching the whole act as a science and I saw it as an art form. My father continued to destroy fruit in the house every winter for three years until he finally gave up. His act was painful to watch. I had a feeling he was making it harder than it was, so when he gave up juggling, I started. I used rolled up socks and practiced in the privacy of my bedroom. I never gave up but I never caught on.

In 1987, I attended the Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs and was lucky enough to observe several jugglers in a circle. Forgetting the rest of my family, I became engrossed in their act. What they were doing was beautiful. After a long while, one of the older jugglers approached me and asked if I would like to try. I told him I had been trying without success for a number of years. What he said to me was, "When you go home tonight I want you to write about juggling and the problems you are having." Thinking that was the oddest advice I had ever received I walked away wondering aloud, "And who would I write to?"

In 1992, I happened into an antique shop in Parkville, Missouri and came across a book of memoirs. A daughter of a South Missourian had put together a vast collection of her mother's writings and correspondences with family and friends throughout the years. She did this after her mother had passed away. Turned out that the owner of the shop was that daughter and we talked about writing and memories for several hours. She told of her mother's need to write to help her think. Also, of her need to assemble the book to help her learn of a woman she knew so little about.

I bought the book and read it in one day. My next purchase was Bird by Bird, with Radical Reflections close behind, and the list goes on. The more I read the smarter I became of my world and therefore the need to record my thoughts. Journaling became important.

I began teaching later in life. During my first year, I shared the joy of writing with my fifth graders. My students were allowed to thumb through some of my journals and I read parts of others. Writing enabled me to mull over and examine my ideas carefully, to explore their implications and to create new ideas. I wanted desperately for those fifth graders to appreciate writing as much as I did. It didn't happen. My students did not see themselves as writers. Some people like to write. Although they may not enjoy every moment, they get pleasure from various phases of the activity itself and from the product they finally produce. My students were not like "some people" they hated journaling thinking they had nothing worthwhile to say and lacked the ability to say it. They thought my life was more interesting.

Writing to learn

William Zinsser, in his book Writing To Learn states, "It is not necessary to be a "writer" to write well. Clear writing is the logical arrangement of thought; a scientist who thinks clearly can write as well as the best writer" (viii). Interesting. Perhaps what my students were struggling with was thinking clearly about what they wanted to say. If they wanted to write about a family trip, they needed to think clearly about that trip and let the writing develop. "...professional writers don't expect to find everything [they] want to write already in [their] head before [they] start...It is in the process of writing that new ideas are invented, developed, and clarified" (Rosenberg, 1989, p.73). I see my own problems with writing. I expect what I want to write to be already in my head. Maybe, that is why revision is difficult for some people.

Another piece of advice comes from Zinsser, "...we write to find out what we know and what we want to say" (viii). Writing and thinking and learning cannot be separated. One cannot happen without the others. Writing is not a special language that belongs to a select few. "Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly--about any subject at all" (Zinsser, 1988, p.11).

There is a driving force that sometimes gently and sometimes not so gently guides us all toward intellectual growth. This is a common force within all humans. It is the innate tendency to create and maintain a harmonious relationship between the self and the environment. Darwin called it survival of the fittest, Freud called it hedonism, and his follower Maslow popularized the term self-actualization. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget coined the term equilibration to describe this naturally occurring phenomenon and said, "It is the innate tendency to organize one's experience so as to assure maximal adaptation to the environment" (Piaget, 1981). In very simple terms, the phenomenon is man looking for a better fit between himself and the world (Bandura, 1982).