Living Life Twice

  A s far back as 1976 the legendary Donald Graves was writing and railing against what he called the ‘Writing Welfare System’ where student writers become dependent on their teachers. G raves   strongly opposed teaching of writing where the teacher controlled all phases of the process and consequently controlled the writer’s voice. I t concerned Graves that student writers felt an implied pressure to make their voices the same as their teachers. All authority for the writing rested with the teacher. In such circumstances  Graves  observed, the student writer relies entirely on the teacher’s decisions regarding: The need to write When to write What to write To whom they should write How to write How the writing should be judged   G raves  noted that teachers were seldom aware when they were encouraging thinking that closely matched their own. They were unwittingly extinguishing divergent thinking and originality. I n such circumstances the student writer ha...

  As inexperienced writers, students  frequently need extra guidance to develop that essential momentum and confidence necessary for successful writing. They are learning to trust their teacher, their surroundings, and their classmates. They are learning to trust their own ideas and make decisions about their writing intentions. There is a lot with which to contend. It takes time to adapt to  routines and expectations  What does this teacher expect of me as a curious learner?   How do we as teachers assist students to gain trust and develop momentum as writers? it requires an approach that employs a gentle leading forward. A supportive educator who offers a guiding hand and beckons the inexperienced writer to join them in the learning journey. A journey of discovery. A journey aimed at increasing ownership across time.  Used appropriately, Writer’s notebooks allow developing writers to make stronger connections to their immediate world . The harvesting...

Some years ago while conducting a writing workshop demonstration, with a group of Grade 4 writers a young writer suddenly burst out in the middle of the 'tuning in' phase of the lesson, 'Wow, I just realized there's a hole in our laundry wall and its been there for about three years and I don't know how it got there!'  There was a pause, then laughter slowly bubbled up within the group.  The writer apologized for her unannounced declaration, so I asked, Why do you think that memory suddenly came up like that? What sparked it? She wasn't sure what had summoned up the hole in the wall right at that point in our lesson. I urged her to continue thinking and maybe consider it as a writing prompt in the hope the memory recall might lead to something more substantial. Sometimes our recollections are prompted by a word trigger. A connection is made and the mind kicks into overdrive in dredging up the memory -be it false, accurate or incomplete. Such spontaneity is c...

  Revision is a phase of the writing process frequently ignored and commonly misunderstood. Because it is misunderstood, it is often afforded scant attention –glossed over. Yet,   it is in the revision phase that the writer has the greatest opportunity to lift the quality of the writing.   It is a chance to polish those raw words. Too often when inexperienced writers revise a writing piece, it simply involves changing the surface features of the writing- spelling and some rudimentary grammar. Sadly, the content may remain unaffected by the visit. The notion of adding, changing, deleting and reordering the language fails to impact the overall quality of the writing. A great opportunity to upscale the writing goes begging. The writing process is one of problem solving. Writing is recognized as a cognitive exercise. Therefore the ability to revise is significant for every single writer. It assists the writer to more clearly assess their own words, clarify thoughts and i...