My job as a writing teacher is to guide my students as they write. I find that asking questions (The Socratic Method) is the best approach. I ask a question and each student answers it for himself on his paper. After everyone has answered the question, we go on to the next one.

What I discovered with this question technique is that the order of the questions is very important. My goal is to guide my students through the writing experience with triggering the censor! I want to avoid setting off writer's block.

To avoid writer's block, I start very small. I start by asking the students to write ONE word.

What happens when I start so very small is that the students relax. Of course they can write one word! Their censor leaves them alone. Their editor stops paying attention. Writing one little word doesn't set off any alarms, so we begin.