Achieving Independence Requires Writers To THINK

It has concerned me for some period that too many students approach the task of writing lacking any sense of freedom to explore and manipulate ideas. They experience emotional blocks when it comes to making decisions. A distinct lack of confidence is evident. They ask questions such as:

How much should I write?
Should I use paragraphs?
What should I write about?

-And yet, in other classrooms I gain a sense that the writers are reflective and self directed. They think, they solve problems, they articulate their writing intentions, they take risks and display a strong sense of ownership for the development of the text. The question arises, -What is the root cause of this difference in attitude?

The answer appears to lie in the classroom climate that exists. Frequently, when we dig a little deeper, it becomes apparent that a number of emotional blocks exist. -Blocks inhibiting thinking and prohibiting the growth of independence.

I invite teachers to ask themselves the following questions:

Are my students afraid to take risks, make mistakes and occasionally fail?
Do my students exhibit a strong desire for order and security?
Do my students display an inability to relax and allow ideas to” incubate?”
Do my students fail to embrace the challenge of the writing task set?
Do my students lack the flexibility to make the task their own?
Are my students overly motivated to succeed quickly?
Do my students write for their teacher, or some wider audience?

If the majority of answers are YES, then it may well be that your students have been given the wrong messages, resulting from your own desire to control the learning environment. Without knowing it, you may have been entrenching dependency.

A most interesting piece of data from a study conducted by (Taylor et al., 2001) came from the observational data on classroom instruction. A consistent finding was that the more a teacher was coded for telling children information, the less the children grew in achievement...
This does not mean that teachers should never tell students information; it would be impossible to teach without doing so. However, excessive amounts of “telling,” especially in situations where coaching students to come up with their own responses is possible, may rob children of the opportunity to take responsibility for developing their own skills and strategies.
Similarly, where students demonstrated growth, the more they were coded as actively responding to teacher designed activities. Instead of merely listening to the teacher, these students were observed actually writing more often than other students....

Higher-level questions emerge as a significant predictor of growth. Questions that encourage thinking and reflection. In addition to what teachers teach, findings at the classroom level suggest that how teachers teach is important when seeking to make changes in instruction to improve students’ writing achievement....

As professionals, we must possess the conviction, the knowledge, and the teaching techniques necessary to ensure that every child is equipped with an armory of skills, strategies, habits, and attitudes that may be applied to writing. We therefore need to teach in ways that avoid a fear of audience, where young writers fear harsh external standards. Such fears inhibit risk taking and writing takes on the appearance of being safe and formulaic.

We must develop within our students a healthy sense and preparedness to add, change, and expand their writing. To achieve this, we need to change the pictures they have in their heads regarding revision. Our consistent message needs to be “Revision is the magic behind great writing.” If we don’t work towards this goal, we will continue to witness the premature desire for closure, where the writer exhibits a resistance to adapting the original text in any meaningful way.

We need to work against a sense of isolation among our students. -A solitary feeling deriving from not knowing whether the problems and concerns surrounding writing are common or unique. Problems that arise throughout the writing process needs to be aired and shared, so that concerns can be alleviated, and solutions celebrated. Talking through these issues should be a strong feature of our teaching. Teaching needs to be guided by a desire to Investigate, rather than interrogate. Young writers must be encouraged to articulate their writing intentions, their concerns; to identify their achievements.

Often, we notice a tendency among young writers to create and criticize their writing ideas simultaneously. They begin to self correct and edit even as their creative thinking is spluttering into life. They become sidetracked on achieving the right outcome, rather than the best possible outcome. They work against their own creative energies for fear of making a mistake. The resultant text lacks sparkle or originality.

We need to build in an element of choice when considering writing tasks. Where tasks are consistently ‘assigned’ resistance is often a by-product. Students do not develop a sense of ownership and therefore feel unable to take responsibility for making meaningful modifications or revisions. The student develops a sense that it is the teacher’s responsibility for thinking up the topic or focus. Consequently, they develop an unspoken sense of limitation with respect to what is permitted, appropriate or possible with the writing. They frequently write merely to please the teacher.

When students reach a point in their writing development when they expect to make changes, when they expect order and meaning from the processes of revision and editing, when they understand that thinking and writing are forever linked- then writing will flourish.
For these reasons our students need to know that they are part of a community of learners, each able to demonstrate reflective, creative and critical behaviors in respect to their personal writing development.
The question that emerges seems to be - What do we need to do in our teaching to promote the link between writing and metacognitive thinking?

Who Influenced Your Writing?

When I think about this question, I immediately recall the teachers who influenced my reading...

In grade two, Miss Edwards read to us from Dorothy Wall's classic, "The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill. " We loved it so much we pestered our parents to buy us our very own copies. In grade three, Mr Murphy, who took over from the wonderful Miss Warren read Rudyard Kipling's inspiring story of "Rikki Tikki Tavi" -a brave little mongoose who struggles with the menacing cobra snakes in India. We listened entranced as Mr Murphy skillfully built the tension for his young audience. We craved the next reading installment. The art of the serial story was the spell he wove over us.

In my final year of primary school, Mr Harris, my grade six teacher introduced me to poetry, especially the lyrical ballads of Henry Lawson and A.B "Banjo" Paterson. He shared the vision splendid. We all rleished the opportunity to bellow those famous words- "Murder, bloody murder, cried the man from Ironbark!"

During my high school years John Simpson expanded my view of poetry through the words of Keats, Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth. I have Gerry Noble and Frank Male to thank for introducing me to the words of Shakespeare, increasing my understanding of the classic story teller.

...And while their respective efforts nurtured my love of reading, gradually assisting me to develop into a life long reader, I don't recall any of them as writers. I do recall years of grammatical exercises and occassional requests for essays or literature repsonses. We spent an interminable time practicing the art of the precis. However, I do not recall the craft of writing being passionately portrayed in the same way that reading was presented.

This is not to say their respective efforts with literature have not supported me as a writer. Collectively they awakened me to the power of language. The seeds they sowed all those years ago have borne fruit. They have assisted me to make lasting connections as both a reader and writer. Sometimes the mention of a single word instantly transports to another time and place when those special teachers helped me to connect with the beauty of those stories, those poems.
I regret that I do not retain memories of them as teachers of writers.

Young Writers Need To Talk

Students need to be encouraged to talk about their personal stories, either to the whole class or a partner. It has been said that in any classroom, reading and writing “floats on a sea of talk.” We must begin by accepting the premise that there is more than one teacher of writing in every classroom and thus promote quality conversations.

Articulating their writing intention, clarifying thoughts and ideas, and practising how they will commence the piece of writing are most valuable undertakings for developing writers. Talk as a pre-writing exercise should not be undervalued. Teachers who rush towards 'silence' do their writers a disservice. Meaningful, focused discussion is exceedingly valuable as a writing lead up activity. This activation of prior knowledge connects the writer to ideas- and ideas are the lifeline every writer needs for survival.

The average student can speak at a rate approximating two to three hundred words per minute. When students tell their stories, they draw on those events with which they are familiar. They quickly become comfortable with their own voice.

When students are able to tell their stories out loud to a supportive audience, it won’t be long until they are keen to write them down and trap them on paper.


Writing Workshop

Aim: To teach students about the value of talk as a pre-writing activity.

Guiding Principle: Writers need to talk about their writing ideas. It helps them to clarify their thoughts prior to engaging in the act of writing.

Mini Lesson: The teacher tells the events of a story to clarify what it is that really needs to be told in a piece of writing. In this way the teacher is providing a model for students to use in clarifying their ideas prior to engaging in writing. Teacher then begins to scribe the opening sentences of a piece of writing.

Pre Writing: Teacher then asks students to work with a partner and share ideas for their own writing. Teacher then selects two students to share with the group their possible writing ideas.

Independent Practice: Students who have decided on their writing topics will be encouraged to return to their desks and commence writing. Those students who require additional support will remain in the meeting area with the teacher.

When all students are engaged in writing, teacher conducts roving conferences and takes anecdotal notes. These notes form the assessment data needed to inform future instruction. During this time the teacher identifies those students who will contribute aspects of their writing during share time.

Share: Teacher and students gather back in the meeting area and review their writing for the day. This is a valuable teaching and learning time. The teacher invites students to share their discoveries and guides the discussion back to the aim of the lesson.

· What did you learn about yourself as a writer today?
· How does talking about your stories and ideas help you as a writer?

Do You Hear What I Hear? -Writing With A Sense Of Voice

Writing with voice is writing into which someone has breathed. It has that fluency, rhythm and liveliness that exists naturally in the speech of most people when they are enjoying a conversation………. Writing with real voice has the power to make you pay attention and understand - the words go deep.

Source: Peter Elbow Writing With Power

Ralph Fletcher says that writing with voice has the same quirky cadence that makes human speech so impossible to resist listening to. It includes dark humor, cryptic asides, and terrific endings. Such writing has energy. It occurs when the writer's personality is captured on the page. Fletcher further reminds us that when writing has real voice, "You can sense the author pulling in close, cozying up to the subject."

Frequently people who are charming in person find it difficult to sound natural on the page. Developing voice in your writing requires awareness and diligence. It also requires a supportive mentor or writing teacher.

When working with young writers we need to assist them to explore their inner voice and helping them to keep that sense of voice intact when the writing goes public. The goal should be to slow down the writing so that each thought or idea receives its due space. By doing this, the writing settles into a comfortable stride so that the voice of the writer begins to find its way into the writing.

For this to occur young writers need the opportunity to write regularly for sustained periods.

We need to teach them to revise for voice. Alert them to the value of reading their writing aloud so that they gain an appreciation of how the writing actually sounds.
• Does it sound like you, the writer?
• Can you hear yourself chatting to a friend?
• Do some parts sound stiff and formal?

Voice is connected to an awareness of the reading audience. To encourage a sense of audience we need to encourage young writers to publish their writing beyond the walls of their classroom.

Voice in writing is connected capturing your personality on paper. Students should be encouraged to select an author they admire and write something imitating that writer’s voice. Such challenges will assist developing writers to add to their repertoire of strategies.

When a writer demonstrates a sense of voice they usually write close up to the topic. There is an intimacy to the writing. As children get older they often lose their writing voice. They become more self critical in terms of their writing and what their peers may think of it. Coupled with increased demands from the outside world such as grading, tests etc it results in writing that is safe. Writing that has yielded to the pressures applied to it. The writer begins to take less risks and the writer’s voice suffers accordingly.


SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SENSE OF VOICE

• Use the strategy of “Show Don’t Tell’ to add emotional impact to your writing. This will inject your feelings into the writing.

• Use the writing strategy of ‘outside/inside’ to inject a sense of tension. It will add emotional energy to writing. Encourage students to write a sentence about the physical world (outside) that surrounds the writing and then balance this by adding a sentence that involves the writer’s emotional state (inside).

• Don’t be afraid to add your opinion to the writing. Opinions give us our voice as writers

• Look at your writing from different angles and present the view with which you are most comfortable. Use humor, sarcasm, seriousness or mystery to project a sense of voice to the subject.

• Being your-self will make it easier to write with a sense of voice. After all that is the voice you know best.

• When you write think about a conversation you would have with a best friend and let that be your guide. That will give your writing a more personal connection.

• Writing is entertainment. If you think your writing somewhat stilted or wooden for the reader, go back and rewrite it!

• Write like you talk. Simply say it aloud and then write it down as you say it.

• Study writers who have a strong sense of voice. Get their voice into your ear by reading their work aloud. Imitate their style. It is an important part of developing your craft as a writer.

• Keep a notebook or journal to explore writing ideas for your-self.

• Participate fully in your writing. Be there, See it happening and experience what you are writing about.

• Write about what is important to you .It will help you connect with it.

• Seek feedback from your readers about those parts of your writing that made them see, hear or feel something.

• Use short strong words to give your writing more impact and precision.


References:

What A Writer Needs, Ralph Fletcher

Writing With Power, Peter Elbow

Breathing In, Breathing Out –Keeping A Writer’s Notebook, Ralph Fletcher

What You Know By Heart, Katy Wood Ray

The Writer’s Idea Book, Jack Heffron

Writing Down The Bones, Natalie Goldberg

Want Better Writing Outcomes For Your Students?

Writing is frequently perceived as the poor relation in the family of literacy skills- neglected, forgotten, and frequently misunderstood. Teacher attitudes are frequently coloured by bad personal experiences when learning to write. As a result, writing is taught, but there is no fond embrace. It's a bit like the way my father always told me when I was a child, 'Eat your vegetables, they're good for you." -He had to say that, didn't he? He did not fully embrace his own words. Time and observation proved that he was a somewhat restricted consumer of the good for you green stuff.

Too many classrooms still adopt a perfunctory 'eat your vegies' approach to teaching writing. The writing program never quite gets going and this may well have its roots in a distinct lack of confidence or knowledge about the needs of writers. It may well be that the students know that their teacher is not totally credible as a writer. If a teacher is a non risk taker with writing, students will be less inclined to take writing risks themselves. There is no trust. There is no shared bond.

More writing needs to be undertaken with students in class. We also need to undertake more of the right kinds of writing. We must not forget what writing is for and we must emphasize its strong links to reading. If we forget writing's essential communicative role, we are depriving students of a powerful and rewarding life skill.

We can do a better job of teaching writing. We know what skilled writing looks like. We know that skilled writers plan, have a sense of their intended audience, that they possess knowledge that they bring to the writing task and that they are motivated.

Part of the challenge for teachers of writing is to assist young writers to develop a repertoire of approaches equal to those we have always taught when considering reading instruction. Our teaching needs to incorporate lessons designed to have a practical and lasting influence on student writing. Lessons that will empower student writers to identify problems, solve them satisfactorily, and increasingly assume greater responsibility for their personal writing. Importantly, our teaching should lead to these young writers embracing the thinking that surrounds effective writing.

To achieve this objective, we need to know our students as writers, and we most certianly need to know something about writing itself. Finally, we must know what to teach about writing that will extend the natural development of writing.

To be confident and articulate about how this writing happens, we must write along with our students. Afterall, would you take piano lessons from a person who doesn't actaully play the instrument they are asking you to embrace?

Without question we need to teach strategies and techniques, but so much of the vital understandings about writing filter through the stories we tell students about our personal writing challenges and how we work resolve them. Now that is powerful teaching!

Bold Teaching And Powerful Writing Go Together

Writing Territories
Nancie Atwell taught me that the range of things we do as writers define our writing territories. They include genres in which we write, or would like to write, or would like to try, subjects we have written about or would like to, and real or potential audiences for my writing. Our writing territories should be packed full of ideas, obsessions, experiences, itches, aversions, and feelings. The writing about these territorial issues has taken me into many forms –poems, memoirs, novels, reviews, literary criticisms, essays, articles, letters, speeches, lists.

My Personal Territories inlcude:
Poetry
Problems
Music and Memory
Travel adventures
Childhood adventures
My parents
Being an educator
Misadventures, mistakes and places beginning with “M”
Family matters/history
Learning about myself
Collecting –books, music, photography
Simple pleasures, tranquil places
Politics
Newspapers

The writing that my territories generate is therefore directed to many different readers: family, friends,self, parents, teachers, the wider community, elected officials. We write to be read. So, from the outset we need to be aware of our audience. This is an essential message for all young writers to hear from those charged with teaching them how to write effectively.

From Territories to Topics
Our writing territories are different to writing topics. Territories are broad and general. Topics are specific writing ideas that grow from within our writing territories.


Listing Ideas and Topics
As a teacher of writing I need to model the way I harvest writing ideas. I need to provide opportunities for my students to harvest their ideas on a regular basis.

Making lists helps. It makes you start noticing things. Writing emerges from the relationship with your life and its range of experiences. The chalenge of the blank page becomes manageable. The notion of a list cuts resistance and enables ideas to be recorded quickly. Developing writers need opportunities to share their lists; their drawings.Regular opportunities to indulge in brainstorming are essential. how do we expect young writers to 'think quickly' if we don't provide oportunities to practice 'brainstorming?' As a teacher of writing, you are not trying to control the writing, you are just recording ideas.
“A writer with a pen and a sheet of paper but with no ideas is like a king with a crown and a throne but no kingdom. They can’t do a thing.”
Bessie Rawitsch

I appreciate Regie Routman's important message, “Teachers need to demonstrate that they are joyfully literate.” …We need to rant, rave and ruminate!

I use a variety of lists to support the formation of writing ideas:


Once in my Lifetime…
I have seen fireflies in Brooklyn
Visited Venice
Set an emu on fire –accidentally
Slept on Mt Feathertop
Walked on the Giant’s Causeway
Had a haircut in Mooloolaba
Milked a cow by hand
Wandered through the ruins of Pompei
Played kiss chasey

Memories and Moments
• Shovelling snow for the first time
• Nana’s galah
• Being left handed
• Being paid in raison bread
• The great cucumber war
• Picking strawberries for Mr Arrow
• My sister and the Golden books
• Snakes at the end of my bed
• Camping At Yellingbo
• Singing Lessons with Mrs Rich

Childhood Games
• Marbles
• Hopscotch
• British Bulldog
• Giant’s Treasure
• Releaso
• Kick Ball
• Monopoly
• Rounders
• Solitaire
• Four Square
• Brandy

Some Things to Do On the Subway
• Read a Book
• Listen to Music
• Stare at reflections in the carriage windows
• Read the advertising signs
• Play spot the famous look alike
• Snooze
• Imagine you are somewhere else
• Listen to conversations
• Wonder where everyone is going

Writing About “Writing Memories”
Janelle Halbert and the pen
John finally shared his writing
Writers Block –Saved by a six year old!
Distancing yourself from the writing –the 12
month poem
Miss Dungan’s approach to writing
What is your oxygen- mine’s poetry!

A List of Harvested Words…
Shrill
Clamorous
Vengeful
Incoherent
Tumultuous
Impassive
Detestable

Essentially Australian Words…
• Ratbag
• Dodgy,
• Blimey
• Hoo-roo
• Crikey
• Prang
• Moo juice

Harvesting Character Names
Casper Van Doren
Tillis Palmer
Maude Lincoln
Angel Fury
Clifford Cluff
Delroy Hollins
Martin Fluendi
Venetia Valentine
Foley Sims

Overcoming Time Issues
Because childhood and timelessness are synonymous young writers don’t usually keep track of time in their writing. We can assist them through a deeper exploration of writing samples that grapple with time issues.

Magnify the writing focus
Writing becomes more powerful when it becomes specific. Small details assist us to evoke big issues. The bigger the issue the smaller we need to write. By starting with the smallest possible part of a big issue we can create energy for our writing.

Writing Small
Don’t write about poverty, write about the child who crams chicken nuggets into his pocket on Friday when visiting the school cafeteria because the weekend holds uncertainty as far as food availability is concerned. We need to be specific!

How much do I write?

A student asked the teacher, “How long does my piece of writing need to be?” The teacher replied, “As long as a woman’s skirt”
“What does that mean?”
“Well,” said the teacher, “It needs to be short enough to
maintain attention and long enough to cover what needs to
be covered!”

A Writer’s Suffering….
Today I finished my writing
But I may not write again
For now that the words are in order
I’ve run out of ink in my p

Feeding My Reading Life

As an educator and a life long reader I have always been interested in how and why we become readers. How do we develop into readers with rich, personal reading lives?

I find myself reflecting on those earlier years of my life and the journey I have taken to become the reader I am today. Think for a moment about your own reading experiences and see where your reflections take you. Do they inform what you do as a teacher of reading?

Thinking about my reading process helps me better understand the teachers and students I work with and provides many teachable moments to share. This reflection has helped me determine what I want students to discover about reading

I have become more acutely aware of my reading persona in recent years. I know that I read for different purposes and therefore the quality and range of my books vary greatly.

When I have extended time for reading I choose more challenging texts. The extra time enables me to savor the beauty of the author’s words, and to reread and reflect upon the more complex and challenging parts of the text. These extended reading times are usually related to holiday and vacation times or when I have extended traveling times. On these occasions, I love to read biographies and travel books. Shorter travel times mean that I often choose shorter magazine type articles that fit the duration of the travel.

I am a voracious reader of professional books, magazines and related articles. Some I skim read, others require repeated re-readings and note taking. Sometimes these professional articles are read online. They almost always involve reflection.

I also have a stack of books that I ‘intend’ to read that either sit on my desk or are stacked on a shelf in my study. These are the books that I purchase on recommendation from colleagues and friends, reading reviews and my bookstore browsing excursions.

I read when seated comfortably on the couch or close to a window that provides supportive light for my reading experience. I used to like to lie on my bed and read, but as I get older, I find I am more inclined to fall asleep if I start reading in this position. The critical thing for me is to feel relaxed. I do not enjoy it when the reading gets too difficult or my concentration wanders and the meaning breaks down. If I find that I am not enjoying a particular book, I persist, but if my attitude doesn’t improve over time, I am prepared to abandon the book and choose something else to meets my needs as a reader. I need to find just right books.

As I read I find myself constantly visualizing the events taking place. I imagine characters operating in the real world and the relationships they share. I imagine being in the world of the character. There are often conversations occurring silently in my head as I read. I reflect on character’s decisions, I make predictions at all stages of my reading. These predictions are confirmed or altered according to what my reading reveals.

When I come across unfamiliar words in my reading I use context clues to figure out the meaning. I rarely stop and look in a dictionary at that point. I may check in a dictionary after I have finished the reading to confirm the meaning I have developed.
When I find myself zoning out, I go back and reread that part of the text that has slipped past me. Sometimes I reread a passage that has particularly grabbed my attention. I imagine how the author came to construct that part of the text in such a unique and interesting way. I marvel over words that sparkle and jump from the page. Great language that crackles and sparks on the page is a cause for celebration. I love the quirky ways that authors sometimes construct language.

As my life as a reader continues I marvel at the magic those twenty six letters of the alphabet are able to conjure up. To think that those symbols can be put together in an infinite numbers of ways for readers to experience the joy of knowing, is quite miraculous
I love to discuss and share my reading with others. If I’ve really enjoyed a book I can’t wait to share my experience with someone. It’s even better when that person has also read the book that has provided that special buzz.

Nurturing Developing Writers

Over the years I have enjoyed growing fresh vegetables in my own garden. Lettuce, tomatoes, capsicums, cabbages, beans, peas and the like have all graced my garden plot at various times. I have even found room for the much maligned brussel sprout -not a lot of room, but enough.

I discovered early on that if I wanted my lettuces and cabbages to develop strong, succulent hearts, or my tomatoes to be juicy, when I bit into them, then I needed to invest time and effort in their development. I firstly had to plant them in fertile soil. I had to nurture their growth with adequate amounts of water and sunlight. I also had to protect them from weeds and pests. Sometimes I had to prop them up with stakes for support. It was vital not to allow them to wither and die.

It's the same situation when it comes to developing young writers. Their development requires much care and attention. They need nutrient care to sustain their growth. - and just like the plants in my vegie patch, I have to devote my energies to getting rid of the bugs that may potentially threaten their development.

Young Writers Need Daily Practice

As a teacher of writing I want my students to come to the realization that there is a real purpose to the writing we all do. I want them to understand that through writing they can gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. I want them to understand that through writing they can communicate with a specific audience across time and space. I want them to understand that through writing they can find a voice for their thoughts and ideas and that their writing efforts are valued.

To achieve these goals I accept that my students need adequate time and space to develop as writers. Available research data shows that when children are provided with opportunities to write every day they begin to compose even when they are not actually writing. In other words they begin to think about their writing beyond the confines of the classroom. As a teacher I have always gained immense satisfaction from hearing students, who upon entering the classroom first thing in the morning announce ‘I know what I’m going to write about today’ They indicate clearly that they understand the power of writing. They think as writers do.

Unless your students have this daily opportunity to write they will not develop the ability to think through their writing. They will not fully understand the process of writing. Donald Greaves suggests that young writers require a minimum of four days per week to write for their own purposes. This, he believes will assist this ‘learning to think’ process to develop.

It is therefore important to approach the teaching of writing from the position that students will be able to write independently. This needs to be supported by consistently exposing writers to models of good quality writing and literature. The links between reading and writing need to be constantly reinforced. By drawing these links it supplies
a rich source of ideas for all young writers to tap into, as the need arises.

Teacher attitude is vitally important to the success of the writing program as well. If students are to be ‘risk takers’ then the teacher must be prepared to take the lead in this respect. This means that as the teacher you must be willing to write for and with your students.

I believe I add authenticity to my writing program when I write alongside my students. It adds ‘credibility’ to the messages I give them about writing. By my actions I demonstrate that I value writing as a craft.

As a teacher of writing my primary responsibility is to show my students how to write and how to develop the skills necessary to make improvements in their writing. I accept that this takes time and so I patiently guide and support this development by providing daily writing opportunities within a predictable classroom environment.

I gradually move them towards independence as writers by teaching them how to assume increasing responsibility for such aspects as topic selection, revising, editing, proofreading, publishing etc.

In the classroom it is critical to incorporate the teaching of reading and writing into a daily literacy block of at least ninety minutes. These complementary aspects of language need to be taught in a manner that highlights the contribution that one makes to the other.

It is a fact that when children have the opportunity to write on a daily basis they have little trouble choosing topics. It becomes part of the process to ponder the next ‘hot’ topic for their writing. It comes back to teacher expectations. If you have great expectation of your students in respect to their learning in general and their writing in particular, they will rise to meet that expectation.

And it follows that if children are expected to choose their own independent writing topics we can therefore expect more of their writing. After all, they have ownership of the writing.

If, on the other hand we are constantly choosing the writing topics for our students, or otherwise exerting control over their writing then they will write to fulfill that particular curriculum requirement, but their writing will probably lack an essential honesty. Is it not better for your developing writers to come to know that writing is a medium through which their strongest feelings and emotions can be expressed?

I still have strong memories of my Grade five teacher imposing a weekly writing topic on the grade. I recall with little joy writing about ‘My Life As A Pen and “Autobiography Of An Ant’. She prowled the room as we wrote on ‘her’ topic of choice. The ‘composition’ books were collected at the conclusion of the allotted time, taken away and corrected When they were returned the following week they were covered in red ink where she had vigorously corrected our writing. There was no other feedback apart from a mark out of ten. We only found out what was wrong with our writing. There was never any attempt to build on what we knew about writing. All her effort on correction was largely a waste of time.

My early experiences as a writer are what motivate me to provide explicit feedback and support at every stage of the writing process. Young writers need to feel that their efforts to develop as writers will be valued. By doing this, each child is more likely to achieve what it set out to do when they commenced writing.

I introduce the writing session, by modeling or sharing some aspect of writing. It is a chance to highlight specific aspects of writing. On occasions, I might introduce the session by conducting a shared writing activity, or an innovation on text. I encourage my students to follow the writing style of authors that they admire. It provides a framework so essential for developing writers. .

When a writing session reaches that part where the children ‘go to’ the actual writing I move about the classroom connecting with them, conducting brief conferences and ensuring that each writer has what they need to settle into their writing. They may be at different stages in their writing, but my observations will be used to guide my comments during the share time at the conclusion of the session. I make notes, both mental and written to assist me. When my students are all settled into their writing I frequently sit among them and write in my own notebook. The room takes on a quiet, productive, calm as the writing takes hold of the room.

At the conclusion of our daily writing session, I bring the class together and encourage the exchange of writing experiences. Two, or three students share their writing while the remainder of the class plays the role of attentive audience members. They are encouraged to respond by asking questions that support the writer to further develop their written piece. I then encourage general sharing that includes talk about those strategies used during writing that proved helpful, or experiments that didn’t quite work. I may ask a child to share an aspect of their writing practice that I noted during my roving conferences. This could involve their use of leads, effective use of words, genre selection, problem solving strategies, or aspects related to setting, characters, voice, dialogue etc.

All the time I am working at building the climate surrounding our group. My aim is that they come to see themselves as a community of writers. I know that through the creation of a safe, predictable, and supportive environment, where learners are free to experiment, that the most educationally fulfilling things will begin to occur.

When A Teacher Is Joyfully Literate

Whether we are babies learning to talk or engineers learning to build bridges, our best learning resource is always someone who has previously mastered the skill we require and who will act as a model for us to follow.

Therefore, of all the things that teachers need to know, possibly the single most important idea for any educator to hold onto tightly is this: If you want your students to read and write with passion you need to model it for them.

Never forget to let your students know that you are a reader. Let them ‘catch’ you reading and talk to them about what you read when you are not at school. Let them know that you truly value your ability to read.

Your credibility as a reader will depend on your knowledge of children’s literature. Being able to recognize quality literature will develop as you read the very books that children need to be exposed to in the classroom and beyond. Your reading research will enable you to recommend titles to your young readers with some authority; confident in your ability to match the reader with the most appropriate book to suit their learning needs and interests. The issue of discussing books with students is easily facilitated by asking a single, yet important question ‘Well, what did you think? After all, thinking about what they have read is at the heart of the literacy process.

At other times, you may be able to collaborate with your students as they work through a literature response or writing project. Your capacity to talk about books increases with your exposure to them. If your students know that you borrow and buy books, they will be more inclined to follow your lead.

To encourage your students to become risk takers as they write, what better way to support their development than to demonstrate your own willingness to write. This shows that you value the craft of writing, that you understand the challenge of the blank page, and that you have the courage to expose your ideas through writing. Your willingness to share the accounts of your life experiences with your students may make the difference for your young writers.

There was a time, in the now distant past when this type of modeling was less crucial. Lots of children saw their parents reading on a regular basis, writing letters to distant friends. These were the days before television, computer games and other techno wizardry. But today, many of our students are growing up in home environments where there are no books, no magazines, no diaries, no journals and no letter writing. You, the teacher may be the only model that a student has for developing as a literate person.

This is an awesome responsibility. Therefore to put your writing program on a realistic foundation, it is vital that you allow your students to see you, their teacher, as a reader and writer. Otherwise don’t expect great things from them. Importantly, if you don’t rate it highly enough to engage in it, they’ll quickly figure out that there’s little in it for them.

The Magic of Mentors

You are not alone out there…
As teachers of writing we are surrounded by lots of authors we trust, respect and who are readily available to assist in the important task of developing young writers. By allowing these authors to become mentors you afford students the opportunity to acquire the craft of writing through exposure to a variety of writing styles. Share the information you have gained from reading relationships developed with authors you admire. Share willingly, the lessons you have learnt from your trusted mentors. Encourage students to investigate specific aspects of the work of these mentors. Encourage them to imitate the style of these authors. In time we should guide our students towards identifying favourite authors of their own.

The more we focus on the work of these mentors, the more we come to realize the critical importance of reading to the development of writing. If we choose texts carefully we enable the writing of others to influence us in the development of our writing knowledge.
Young writers are unconsciously skilled in the use of literary models. They frequently make use of these models in their writing. The challenge for teachers is to make them consciously aware of the important things that writers do. This requires us to engage in the deliberate act of drawing their attention to craft strategies, to text structures and features, to story elements, literary devices and related terminology when they write. We need to examine their writing carefully to assess the ways in which their writing begins to incorporate these vital signs of development. This careful examination of student writing, informs the direction our instruction needs to take.

The immersion stage of any writing unit needs to be viewed as an absolute non negotiable. Students must hear and read for themselves a range of books written in a particular genre before they can be reasonably expected to participate in the act of writing in that genre. They need to be encouraged to examine closely, aspects of the text under review and to note their respective discoveries. This immersion and examination is the foundation that holds up the writing to follow. At the same time students are becoming familiar with a genre, their teacher needs to become a partner in learning, sharing his or her own observations and discoveries. Celebrating new learning creates an energy that propels the writing to follow to even greater heights. This is the wow factor in play.

The deliberate use of authors as mentors will enhance the writing curriculum. Students who are consciously skilled in the craft of writing will be more likely to transfer these strategies to their own writing. Exposure to effective models of literature, coupled with explicit teaching and ample support and practice provides writing outcomes that greatly enriches the writing experience.
As we all know, knowing about something and being able to apply it effectively is both energizing and fulfilling. It is amazing how attitudes of seemingly reluctant writers change when they experience a measure of success, and all because a caring teacher structured the learning in a mannner that enabled a successful writing experience to take place.

Upon my arrival to work in New York, a friend and colleague, Michael Collins alerted me to the author, Jerry Spinelli. To that point in time, I had no knowledge of Spinelli’s writing. Michael spoke glowingly of Spinelli’s novel, Maniac Mage e (Newberry Medal Winner 1991) and suggested I might find it great reading. Trusting Michael’s judgment I immediately purchased a copy of said title and commenced to read it. I was immediately drawn to the story, and its central character, Jeffrey Lionel Maniac Magee. I was also drawn to Jerry Spinelli’s writing. He instantly became an author I wanted to get to know better. I sought out other titles, such as Wringer, Star Girl, and Milkweed. Over time, I grew to trust this writer. I began to notice elements in Spinellii’s writing that I could use in my own writing and share with other teachers and their students. Spinelli became a partner in my role as a teacher of writing. As a mentor, Jerry Spinelli shared aspects of his writing craft with me. I noticed his effective use of repetition, the use of short punchy sentences that added variety to his writing. I noticed how effectively he used the strategy of ‘show, don’t tell’ in his writing as evidenced by the following extract from Maniac Magee:
…Amanda cried. She tore a magazine in half. She punched the sofa. She kicked the easy chair. She kicked Bow Bow, BowWow went yelping into the kitchen. “See!” she yelled at the front door, “See what you made me do, Jeffrey Magee! Jeffrey Maniac Crazy Man Bozo Magee!”

Jerry Spinelli has become a trusted friend, a mentor and a fellow teacher of writing. His writing provides innumerable curriculum opportunities for me to explore and bring to the attention of students and teachers alike. We can learn so much from each other if we take the time to read as writers –to envisage the possibilities for developing the craft of writing within our students.

Spinelli's books are never far away when I am planning to teach students about writing. I have added Jerry Spinelli to my list of trusted authors and mentors. When it comes to the task of teaching writing, I am surrounded by writing friends. I am not alone out there…

Observing My Own Writing Habits

I love to write. I need to write. Sometimes I find it is like an addictive force. I find it calling me back if I stay away for too long.

I write at a computer situated in my study. I am surrounded by my favorite books. The support of my fellow writers is close at hand.

Writers need to be observers of all things that happen around them. From the smallest insect scurrying across the path to a huge storm blackening the sky, writers need to watch and try to understand the ways of the world in which they live.

My writing ideas come mostly from such things as childhood memories, conversations with children friends and family, things I have read or seen, places and events. on one occasion I accidentally set an emu on fire and this strange and embarrassing experience became part of a story I then had to write.

I often find myself making mental notes thinking, " That might make a story" When I write poetry a single word or a phrase might just be the spark for a poem. I have always enjoyed playing around with words and language. I have to admit that poetry is my favorite form of writing. Ideas come to me because I am constantly seeking them out. Ideas then start to multiply and the more you use your ears, your ears, your brain and your heart, the greater the store of ideas you have to select from.

Very few writers can begin to write without having spent a lot of time thinking about what it is they want to capture on the page. Sometimes your head feels like a tumble dryer of ideas. They go round and round until they are ready to emerge.

When I develop a character in a story I usually put them together based on people I know or have met at some stage in my life. Sometimes they are composite people. I imagine them in real situations doing real and unreal things.

As I write each draft of a piece of writing I read it back to myself, aloud so that I can hear it like a reader would hear it. With poetry it is important for me to hear the rhythm, the music of the words if you like. Sometimes I leave my writing for a few days, weeks sometimes, then revisit it to find out if it stills sounds right or whether I need to polish it further. Sometimes I change a large part of the writing and sometimes I might change just one word.

I mostly write at night and prefer the house to be quiet so that there are few distractions. When the writing flows easily from my mind I feel fantastic. When the writing causes problems or is moving slowly, I take a break and distance myself from the computer. I might walk along the creek or the nearby beach or change the activity or talk to someone and forget about writing for a while. I know it will be there when I return and often the problem has sorted itself out while I’ve been away.

Who do I write for? I write firstly to please myself. I write because I can, and I write because it gives me pleasure. I love being able to play with words and being able to put them into my very own shapes. If I share my writing and someone else enjoys it that just adds to my pleasure as a writer.

The Urge to Write

A Cambodian man was very poor in his youth. He had barely enough money for food, let alone paper on which to write. Problem was, he had fallen in love with a young woman from a neighboring village. He longed to be able to write to her and share his feelings.

Every morning he would get up before sunrise, sneak down to the riverbank and write love letters in the wet sand. When the young woman came down to the river to wash clothes later in the morning she would read his words of love.

A young girl from the Bronx in New York was given a writing assignment for homework. After school she walked home to her family’s apartment only to discover that the electricity supply had been cut off because the account had not been paid.

It was winter time in New York and darkness arrived early. The urge to write was strong and so the girl walked out into the street and sat under a street light to complete her homework as requested. The girl had the perfect excuse for not writing, but the writer within refused to be denied.

Writer’s write; in notebooks, on scraps of paper, in the wet sand if necessary.

Memories of Red Pen People

It was said that Ms Dungan dipped the end of her strap in vinegar so that it stung even more when she belted you across the palm of your hand. Mr. Smith called his strap the ‘Accelerator’ He had actually written the word Accelerator along the side of this friendless strip of leather. He called it the Accelerator because the very sight of it made students work faster. Yet, it was Ms Dungan’s strap that everyone talked about. It was a legend among straps. At one end it had a double layer of leather fastened by a metal pin. The extra layer of leather added extra sting when it made contact with tender young skin. That’s what her students reckoned anyway.

The students in Miss Dungan’s class never actually spied her dipping that dreaded leather strip in vinegar, but that didn’t stop the endless talk and the rumors. What everybody did know was that when Miss Dungan swung that leather strap it never failed to inflict immense pain on the victim. You could hear it whoosh through the air as it slammed down on an outstretched palm. Sometimes it came crashing down three times depending on Miss Dungan’s mood on that day. The rest of the class would sit in stunned silence, glad that it wasn’t them. Some cried, some whimpered, others just stood there with pain etched across their faces, determined not to give in and cry. It would take quite some time before the pain and the throbbing subsided and your hand felt normal again.

The victims of this foul punishment always turned out to be boys, for it was forbidden to strap the young ladies. What Miss Dungan did with the strap went by the name of corporal punishment, and at that time schools used it regularly to impose discipline. It was lawful to use a strap, or a cane to inflict pain on students who broke the rules and it was very easy to break rules.

When one entered Miss Dungan’s classroom you were left in little doubt that she was in total control. The desks were arranged in precise rows and every student had an assigned seat from which they were not allowed to move during class time. If you left your seat without permission you risked punishment, and punishment usually meant the strap. On occasions she would move to her own desk open the drawer and lift out the strap so that it was in clear view of the class. This was a sign to one and all that she was becoming twitchy.

Miss Dungan loved to stand at the front of the class on a raised wooden platform that extended across the entire width of the room. With her back to the chalkboard she controlled her troops like a mad general. Most of the time she prowled the length of the platform, carrying a wooden ruler precisely three feet in length. She frequently used this piece of wood to frighten inattentive or unsuspecting students. It never paid to look disinterested, or to day dream in Miss Dungan’s classroom. If you did, you stood an excellent a chance of being launched part way to the moon.

That ruler would come crashing down on the desktop with thunderous intent. The poor child receiving this thunderclap would either leap clear into the air, or instantly wet themselves. Some just quivered and shook, others burst into tears. Some just put their hands instinctively to their ears in preparation for possible repeat crashes.

Miss Dungan was not only the meanest teacher around, she was also by far the tallest woman we had ever set eyes on. When you looked up from your desk, which wasn’t all that often, she appeared to go on forever. Her legs were thick like tree trunks and she wore flat, tightly laced, sensible shoes. She only seemed to wear suits of heavy woolen material in muted shades of grey and brown. On top of this huge, body sat an enormous head. Her hair was a nothing sort of color, grey flecked, which she tied in a tight bun. This only served to make her face more fearsome-A face that looked like it was perpetually seeking out a bad smell. Her eyes alone could send messages that made the entire class continually nervous. In so many ways Ms Dungan was an unattractive package. Every day we got the clear impression that she hated being there –in that room- with us.

All through the day she hissed at the class sending shockwaves through her Grade 5 students. As she prowled the aisles between desks her fingers jabbed and poked any student who came under notice. It was a signal to work even harder. She grilled us on grammar rules and she drilled us on our times tables. She reduced us to quivering jelly when we couldn’t provide automatic responses to her quick fire questions. It was even worse if your answer just happened to be –heaven help you - wrong!
‘Wrong, wrong, wrong!’ she would bark. As if by some chance we had failed to realize our diabolical mistake. ‘When are you going to learn?’

By far the worst thing Miss Dungan did was the weekly writing lesson. Every Thursday afternoon she would announce ‘Get ready for composition.’ We would obediently take an exercise book labeled ‘Composition ‘from our desks and sit waiting silently for the weekly writing topic. Standing on the platform, Miss Dungan would draw herself up to her full height and announce, ‘Today, I want you to write a story called “Autobiography of an Ant” ‘

That was all the explanation we were given. No discussion, no questioning, no modeling –just the huge shadow of Miss Dungan towering over us as she prowled the room urging us to ‘Start writing!’
‘Hurry up lazy-bones. Get a move on! ‘was the only encouragement she offered.
We wrote in silence for the next twenty five minutes. When she slipped by your desk without bothering you, it was if a shark had glided past and you had been spared a chomping. The silence was occasionally punctured by Miss Dungan bellowing ‘That’s not how you write it, you foolish child. Don’t you remember anything I’ve taught you about subject and predicate?’ We would brace ourselves for the ruler slam that often followed such an outburst of displeasure.

At the end of our writing time Miss Dungan would bellow, ‘STOP WRITING NOW!’ -And every pen in the room would freeze. We would then pass our books to the front row desk and Ms Dungan would collect them. They would sit, piled high on her desk, – a monument to our unnatural pain and suffering.



Almost a week would pass before our composition books were given back to us. Opening them was a further dreaded moment in our miserable existence. Heart rates would quicken in anticipation of Miss Dungan’s appraisal of our writing efforts. We hated the red ink invasion of our work. We hated the comments in the margin that told how inadequately Miss Dungan believed we had performed, we hated the crossing out of our hastily attempted words, and we dreaded the mark out of ten circled at the bottom of the page for all the world to see. The saddest thing of all was that we had begun to hate writing. Many pages looked like blood had been spilt. Miss Dungan frequently pillaged the pages of our books with her rampaging red pen.

And so it continued throughout that year. Miss Dungan handed out the writing topics and we did our best to survive. One week she gave us the topic ‘My life as a Pen’ and I thought about Miss Dungan’s pen. -the much feared red one, and for a moment I figured I might write about it. Then I thought about my safety and how much my family might miss me. I eventually decided to write about an anonymous fountain pen that ran out of ink and gave up trying to write.

In the end we all survived that year with Miss Dungan, but I have never forgotten what she did to us. I was determined that if I ever became a teacher I would never treat my students the way she treated us in that grade five year. I would never approach writing like she did. I also determined that I would never use a red pen to make such scarring marks on my students work.

More than four decades later and more than thirty years spent as a teacher myself, have never changed my determination to be the antithesis of Miss Dungan when working in classrooms. I guess you could say that for me, Miss Dungan was an unforgettable teacher.

This is not a New York story for it happened in a time and a place far removed from the big apple. Yet it was my experience working as an Education Consultant in New York that dredged up this old school memory. I entered too many classrooms in that city where I encountered teachers who sent a slight shiver down my spine. Teachers, who like Miss Dungan all those years before gave the distinct impression that they didn’t care all that much for kids. They are the red pen people and they too leave their mark on young minds.