Living Life Twice

I launched this blog way back in 2008, not knowing where it would actually go. Naturally, I wanted it to provide support for teachers of writing, but it has also served to provide additional meaning and reflection around my own writing life.  I am most pleased that it has continued to fulfill its original aim.  As I write I am aware that close to one thousand posts have been published since I began back in 2008. In this particular post I am humbly sharing some thoughts and understandings gathered along this writing and learning journey I am on. These things I now know to be true about teaching children to become engaged writers… •Writers need to know their stories. They might have to tell them many times or engage in a lot of thinking before they arrive at the writing. Pre-writing, and rehearsal are therefore critical to success. •The teaching of writing needs to be seen through a child’s eyes. Are students writing about their view of the world? Can we ...

    I frequently find myself engaging in wonderful conversations with young writers. It is particularly evident in classrooms where a genuine sense of the writer's agency is apparent. It is the natural consequence of a lot of mindful teaching on the part of those teachers. They display a commitment to building a classroom dynamic that values highly,  student engagement.   These young writers are always keen to share their writer’s notebooks and the various pieces forming across the pages of their notebooks. They display an openness, and a quiet confidence, regarding the direction their writing is taking. Ownership and responsibility are most evident.    In one such Grade 5 classroom a writer informed me her writing concerned  memories of the toys she had when she was younger. She opened her notebook and quickly turned to a page which had a somewhat impressive title emblazoned across the top, - ‘The Headless Barbie.’ She smiled and informed me, '...

Teachers sometimes possess a somewhat limited view of what it is to be a writer. That viewpoint often creates a tension in the classroom. It finds it origins in a lack of self-confidence, limited or negative writing histories, and the challenge inherent in composing for a student audience. These various factors negatively impact and frequently inhibit the incidence of teachers as writers.   Professional development programs are helping to improve teacher confidence and many teachers are taking a lead from their colleagues and adopting a writing persona. However, it generally remains an issue in our schools, both primary and secondary.  It remains imperative for teachers to make both their reading and writing lives visible to impressionable learners. Teachers' identities as writers (or non writers) tend to be highly influential factors in the development of students’ writing identities. The power to influence should never underestimated. Teachers create t...

My earliest recollections of writing are wrapped around the weekly writing topics I was given in primary school. We wrote every Thursday afternoon, immediately after the lunch break. It wasn't even called writing. Our teacher referred to it as 'composition time.' We wrote for about twenty minutes in absolute silence in our 'composition' books. At the end of the allotted time, we handed in our written responses, then waited  a whole week to receive feedback for our labored efforts. It consisted of a mark out of ten and a page of red ink comments and slashes across the page. Then we sat and waited for the next teacher topic to be thrown our way.  We wrote one day a week for twenty minutes. It wasn't much of a writing program by today's standards. It wasn't much of a way to learn writing back then either. I'm surprised we learned to write at all on such a starvation diet. I was just lucky enough to be the kind of kid who was driven to wr...

It is natural for teachers to want students writers to make progress. Unfortunately, it occasionally leads them to wrest control of writing away from students. As a result the methods used in some classrooms to teach writing convince the emerging writer that any control over writing lies entirely with the adult teaching it. The teacher latches onto controlling topics like a bulldog latches onto a bone. This need to control has it origin in their own writing history. Actions are based on limited knowledge of what it means to be a writer. The teaching over emphasises the surface features of a text and is based on a deficit model of writing. It's primarily about the writing, not the writer. The writing is there to be fixed, rather than developed. Such approaches never encourage brave actions on the part of student writers. Every time I work with young writers I take the opportunity to discuss the importance of all of us being brave writers. -Writers who are fearless. Writers unafr...