What Every Writing Teacher Should be Teaching (The Occam's Razor Solution to effective writing instruction) Many years ago, on a summer break from my elementary school teaching position, I visited the caves in Lascaux, France with my wife and a small group of tourists. As we entered, the cave was very dark and none of us knew what we were about to see. As the guide turned on his ultraviolet light, our eyes adjusted and we suddenly saw, inches away from us, hundreds of cave paintings on the walls near where we stood. Countless bison and primitive scenes were scratched on the walls throughout by various scribes. There was a dual quality of beauty and crudeness to each of the works that surrounded us. In truth, none of the paintings, at first glance and without context, would qualify as worthy of being hung in the Louvre. Yet, as my fellow tourists and I looked at those paintings, everyone was awestruck and overwh...