So far, it is evident that the practices of teaching writing are not new or modern. Concepts of structure, persuasion, and even general symbolic expression originated with the first major philosophers and rhetoricians. It’s also clear that the specifics of rhetoric are constantly narrowed down to the most trivial of things like a slight change in font on a road sign or a simple shift in vocabulary.

It’s been affirmed that teachers have, for years, used the same models and structures to shape their student writers in extremely limiting ways. The dilemma, however, is figuring out how to balance between forcing a student to succumb to strict guidelines that only limit their creativity, and stretching them by making them employ new and effective writing tools as a means of persuasion.

With the hope of eventually imparting the knowledge of effective writing to students under me, I would like to learn, more specifically, the difference between enforcing strict, limiting rules in their writing, and actually teaching them the efficiency of language outside of mere creativity.