Living Life Twice

  If  we want our students to exhibit curiosity and wonder then like all things related to learning, we need to model those very same behaviours ourselves. If students appear desensitized to their immediate surroundings and seemingly locked in a drone like state that screen overdose brings, then we are charged with added responsibility to re-programme that essential sense of wonder. This can present an immense challenge- but it's not impossible. It is a waste of much needed energy blaming the state of things. This amounts to kid blaming. Negativity breeds more of the same. We can’t complain about disconnected readers and writers if we are not leading the way with our actions.  Every day, in every classroom there are moments worthy of celebration and delight. We just need to be looking for them. Teaching is a performance art as much as anything else and performing with a sense of wonder and amazement becomes part of the deal. Each time we celebrate our wonder and ...

Last week I had the privilege of talking to various groups of young writers as part of the Knox Network Literacy Festival. Their questions were thought provoking and most pertinent.  I have come to appreciate, each writer’s process is unique. Revealing that process enables the writer sharing aspects of their process (as well as those with whom they share) to better understand the influences on their writing. A young writer asked me, ‘When did you begin to be a poet?’ and while I talked about how the process of becoming a poet was something that grew across many years and a host of experiences and influences, there was perhaps one particular experience way back in my Grade 3 year that may well have been a catalyst for what has become a life source for my writing. I recall clearly how my teacher Mr Manzie, asked the members of our class to each write a poem about  Spring-time .  My words that day caught the attention of some of my classmates, who like...

It goes by several names. That brief few minutes at the end of the writing workshop. Sometimes it’s called ‘share time’. Some people refer to it as ‘share out’ or simply “share.” It’s that time at the conclusion of a lesson that all too often gets squeezed out, which is a tragedy, because it represents a critical stage in the lesson, -It’s the finale that’s provides closure to an effective lesson. It’s when the fat lady of writing sings. And the aria is in praise of the writing that has just taken place! Deny her time in the spotlight and you are diminishing the integrity of your writing program. We should never underestimate the intrinsic value of ‘sharing’ writing. It remains an incredibly valuable teaching and learning opportunity. It should be protected within the workshop structure, as one would protect anything of value. For the teacher, it provides an invaluable opportunity to provide feedback on elements of the lesson just concluded. Sometimes it’s a chance to c...