"Why do my teachers want me to write more than one draft?"

Writing assignments used to be something like this: a teacher would come to class and say, "I want a 500-word comparison-contrast essay by next Friday." The students would go away and write something (counting the words, of course) and turn it in. Sometimes the teacher would be helpful and specify a topic, sometimes not. The paper would come in, be marked and graded, and returned to the student. The grade would be recorded in the grade book and that was it - until the next time. Writing was a product, something that you had to make and were graded on, but never taught how to do.

Since the 1970s , a revolution has taken place in what we mean by writing and how we go about teaching and doing it.

Writing teachers see writing as a process. It means that to get better as a writer you need to practice revising and various ways of creating meaning for your intended audience.

In addition, writing is recursive. That means at any point in writing something - let's say a letter - you may get another idea and have to return to an earlier stage to incorporate and develop your idea. This is all part of the writing/revision process.

Writing and pre-writing

One of the first steps in writing is gathering material. It is writing, in the sense that you are putting words of thought to a "paper," but the function of pre-writing is to let you gather material without worrying about issues like organizing or editing your work.

Everyone's writing process is different.  Your instructor will encourage you to be aware of your own writing process (what works for you) and also help you find ways to address concerns about your writing process (brainstorming ideas, organizing, writer's block, revision, research and synthesis of information, drafting, proofreading).