Living Life Twice

Nothing influences a child’s attitude to writing more than the choice of topic. If the child is given control over topic choice and if the teacher displays genuine interest in that choice, then there’s usually no limit to the effort the young writer will make. Young writers who are given this power soon develop confidence in choosing appropriate topics for their writing. They are engaged in thinking and preparing for the writing that will later spill onto the page. Occasionally I hear teachers lament, ‘They’re (meaning inexperienced writers) not good at choosing something to write about.'  The logical response is, ‘What can you do to assist them to improve this aspect of their writing processes?' Actively teaching the inexperienced writer to make good choices, showing them how to identify a suitable focus for their writing, and harvesting ideas are excellent places to begin.  Topic choice is an inexact science. It takes time and practice to better understand wha

I vividly recall Georgia,  a young writer, making a gem of a comment during a writing workshop session some time back. A comment that made my heart sing. I had asked students for feedback concerning the writing they had just concluded, and  Georgia  offered the comment, ‘ The more I wrote, the more I remembered .’ Not wishing to conceal my joy, I rushed to the whiteboard and wrote these special words in large letters; identifying  Georgia  as the person being quoted.  Georgia ’s words were a powerful reminder that given the right conditions the developing writer’s ideas take flight! Our little writing community had been focusing on developing greater writing stamina, going deeper into our writing if you like. In consultation with the teacher we had identified a lack of stamina in student writing and discussed the need for them to generate a greater volume of text and to do this we had to improve their ‘writing muscles, in the same way we had developed their reading muscles a