Living Life Twice

  Sentences can be mighty impactful when used effectively. Assisting student writers to incorporate a variety of sentence structures into their pieces instantly improves the quality of the writing they produce. Frequently inexperienced writers produce  short sharp repetitive structures as seen in the example that follows: I have a bike. It is red. I like to ride it. It is fun. My friend and I like to ride in the forest. It is really cool there. We have a good time. When it is time to go home I have to put my bike in the garage. That is where I keep it. The sentences lack variety. The structure of the sentences is similar in most sentences. The sentences lack energy or excitement. Here we are able to teach the strategy of sentence combining using – connectives  to make sentences flow. This improves the fluency of the piece for the reader. We can also teach the writer to use a variety of sentence beginnings .    With varied beginnings the writing is more i...

  A recent question from a teacher prompted me to think more deeply about publishing student writing . She was searching for professional reading that dealt more deeply with the publishing phase of the writing process. My own search revealed that many of the available texts deal more comprehensively with the lead up (revision, editing) to publishing than publishing itself. It doesn’t seem to get the attention that it deserves. Publishing and all it entails is only lightly explored in many professional texts.  I have always believed that when the young writer reaches this important stage of the process, a wonderful opportunity exists for empowering the writer to make some really important decisions concerning the shape and form of the final product.  I had to go back to one of my earliest books on writing- ‘ Writing, Teachers and Children at Work ’, Donald Graves , to find any meaty detail surrounding this part of the process. Reading Graves’ words was like...

A young writer makes plans for layout on post it notes  and publication using the draft of the text to inform  the necessary process . Recently I had the opportunity to work with two groups of keen young writers to assist them to identify and launch a personal writing project . in the process I have been sharing some of mine, both big and small.  I took the time to outline the process followed in each project. I outlined the time each project took and what I discovered in each writing journey. I encouraged these less experienced writers to ask questions in order to build their knowledge of what a personal writing project may require. I wanted to challenge the long held practice that the first logical action after identifying a writing project is to always immediately start drafting. For generations schools have reinforced this approach. It does the young writer a disservice. It does teachers and learning outcomes a disservice too.  I acknowledge, on occasions w...

Author, Annie Dillard says she has to maintain in her head a running description of the present. She needs to call to attention what passes before her. I fully understand how important this rehearsal is to a writer. I am continually in the grip of word storms. They bounce around in my head. Phrases and ideas form and reform continually as I go about this critical pre-writing phase.  Much of this word play remains invisible until it is ready to reveal itself upon the page. Eventually these words, tumbled and reshaped, will spill onto the page and from there further refinement will be undertaken. Non writers will not appreciate this. They will not understand.    Every day the words I hear, the words I see and the words I absorb, sing in my head. Yesterday morning while enjoying breakfast a song delivered the following words. They stayed in my head all day. ‘Let me be close to you So, I can understand Let me be close to you Under your ceiling fan...’ Later in the morning I w...

A student once asked me an interesting question  during a share time ‘What was writing like, when you were in Grade 5?’ Well, it was actually like this… Writing Time With Miss Dungeon In Grade 5 Our teacher Miss Dungeon Would ask us to write She called it- Composition She gave each of us a book A book she called A composition book Every Thursday Straight after lunch Was composition time We all knew this because Miss Dungeon Would stand in front of the class And using her very loud voice That made the windows rattle Announce OPEN YOUR COMPOSITION BOOKS With pencils poised We would sit silently Waiting Waiting Anticipating Until Miss Dungeon Standing at the front of the room Giant like on a raised platform Looked over her spectacles and announced the weekly writing topic- Autobiography of an Ant START WRITING NOW No smile No Frown START WRITING NOW… A few kids began writing Some stared out the window Some froze at their desks And the rest of us stared at the blank white page of our c...

Writing ideas swirl round in my head. I live with them for days, sometimes weeks, before they emerge on the page. I frequently wake up thinking about the possible shape of my writing for that day. I woke up thinking about my writing this morning. Later in the morning over a welcome cappuccino, I talked about my ideas –further sorting out took place. -Rehearsal for the writing to follow. I understand rehearsal is critical to my writing. I willlingly embrace it. I know it assists me to clarify my ideas; find my direction.  Playing with words and ideas in the head is such a critical part of the writing process. Think of it like a tumble drier with thoughts and ideas rolling around and around until they are ready to be taken out. Warm and fresh. Mind you, there are times when all that emerges is a single sock of an idea –along with a bit of fluff attached. It looks and feels incomplete. It is writing in need of further consideration. But that’s okay; it may just require further shaping...

‘We have reached the most dangerous part of our lesson young writers’ I announce to the group of students seated before me. I lower my voice and lean towards them. ‘ We must be careful when moving back to our seats to start our writing. There is a danger of being ambushed and taken away from your mission. Do not let anyone distract you from commencing the writing mission you have just discussed with your writing buddy. Someone may try to strike up a conversation that may lead you off course. Who can make it back to their writer’s notebook safely without being drawn away from their mission? ’ They all smile knowingly.   It’s all a bit of a game, but the truth is I want to narrow the distance between the young writer’s intention and action. I want every writer in the room to have the best possible chance to address the invitation page offers, by capturing their most amazing words. So, they need to be aware of the possibility of being distracted from the task they have identified du...

  Understanding Writers With Output Issues Unfortunately kid blamers still exist in some schools. They rationalize the events in their classrooms by informing everyone that certain students are lazy, unmotivated, disengaged. While that may be the individual's perception, the critical question that begs answering is ‘why?’ If a student appears reluctant to write, to read, to participate in general classroom activities- that needs to be explored. It may be an issue external to the classroom, It may also be an issue related to the classroom, or teaching style. Either way, to simply blame the student falls well short of professional responsibility. This issue of output failure is explored in 'The Myth of Laziness' by Mel Levine. Levine argues the desire to be productive is universal but that drive can be frustrated by dysfunction that inhibits optimal output or productivity. Levine explains that difficulties associated with writing are far and away the most telling sign of out...

  A few years back I learnt the term ‘stillpoints’ upon reading a book titled   ‘ Write  Starts – Prompts, Quotes and Exercise to Jumpstart Your Creativity’ by Hal Zina Bennett.   Stillpoint is Bennett’s word for those moments in our lives when we are totally at one with the  now ; we are so  with  whatever we are doing or feeling or thinking that everything else seems to stop. It suggests we are committed to that particular moment in time. In writing, Bennett sees stillpoints as  aha!  moments created when our words strike a special chord. A stillpoint occurs when we express something clearly, authentically and beautifully. It resonates as clearly as the ringing of a fine crystal bell. Sometimes teachers refer to this as writing about small moments, where we linger to write in greater detail. The writer dwells on a moment to highlight it for the reader. The moment is expanded with deliberate intent. It emulates the action of blowin...