Honestly, I don't really remember ever receiving any writing instruction myself. Writing always came very easily to me, and I enjoyed doing it, so I probably blocked out the learning part of what I was doing. The only time that I can even recall learning about writing was during my freshman year of high school when we were taught how to structure paragraphs so that our ideas, while different, all flowed together in the piece we were writing. In my opinion, I would have to say that I was taught based on the "empty vessel" model or view of teaching, where I was just filled with information and expected to remember it and use it.
Answering this question from another point of view, up to this point in my teaching/educational career, I have received NO instruction as to how to TEACH writing. I took classes on how to teach Reading and Math and Science, but not Writing. However, within the school where I completed my student teaching, Writing was a major area of focus for all teachers grades Kindergarten through 5th grade. At each weekly staff meeting, ways to improve the writing of all students were shared, discussed, and explored. This opened my eyes as to how much I needed to learn in order to be effective for my students in the area of writing, and so I was constantly asking questions and gathering information on what works, what doesn't work, and what I need to do to meet the needs of all of my students. Of all subjects, teaching writing is the one that scares me the most, however I believe this is simply due to lack of experience, and I have faith that in time, I will be able to conquer my fears and effectively teach writing!!
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