Much of teaching revolves around a single question: How do I simplify a complex idea?

This is why education is filled with methods, structures, frameworks, and acronyms. We try to organize learning and systematize thinking.

But when it comes to writing, we sometimes mistake the structure for the writing itself.

Writing cannot be reduced to “rules.” In fact, great writing often pushes against them.

Sentences that spin and turn and twist and dance on and on and on can create rhythm.

Sentence fragments. Short. Sharp. Mysterious.

Sometimes a smoother sound can be created through the use of passive voice.

And sometimes the strongest way to connect an idea is to begin with a conjunction.

After all, could a single rubric fairly measure Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion, or Kurt Vonnegut Jr.?

That is why teaching writing requires two things:

Teach students the rules. Then teach them how, and when, to break them.