Importance of Correctness

As I was looking through the book, Rules of Thumb, I noticed that there are so many rules that students have to learn when they first start to write. These are rules that come naturally to me now. I don’t even think about all of those rules when I am writing. When I was in school all of my teachers were sticklers for correct grammar, but never to the point where I felt as if they were not actually paying attention to the concepts of my writing. Now, I am so happy that they pushed and pushed me because I feel like it has helped me so much in college. I will have other college students ask me a grammatical question that I learned in 3rd grade. Therefore, I definitely believe that the correctness of writing is important.
However, when having your students write, I do not think that you should focus on the grammar. I believe that it obstructs their thinking process. I think that when students are so worried about writing correctly, they are not worried about what they are writing. If they do not have to worry about the correctness of their writing then they will really write what they are trying to say. There will be much more to their actually story than just correct grammar. I do think that if the grammar is completely off-based to the point where the reader does not understand what the writer is trying to say is not okay. I think that the author of this book says it well when he states, “too much concern about spelling, punctuation, and grammar can inhibit your writing; too little concern can come between you and your readers.”
As a future teacher, I think that when I assign a writing project I will have my students write and tell them to not worry about the grammar at all. Then, I will talk to them about their story, not the grammar. Then, I will have them go through and correct their own grammar. Then, turn it in. If it is done that way then the students will be able to write worry-free. Then, they can correct the grammar. I definitely believe that the content is much more important than the correctness of it, but I would want my students to understand that correct grammar is important.