Setting Up The Writer's Notebook

 

‘Giving young writers genuine choice is the best way I know to create an environment where they can flourish.’

 Ralph Fletcher



 Some suggestions for teachers of writing to consider in regard to using writer's notebooks in the classroom writing program.

• Choice of notebook is the first opportunity to practice choice. Allow each writer to choose a notebook that meets their needs.

• Allow notebooks to move between school and home to create a bridge between the two locations. Encourage writing in multiple locations, at different times.

• Not everything written in a notebook has to be published or fully drafted. Not everything is significant. 

• Respect the integrity of the notebook by not writing in them. Don’t try to control the notebook, otherwise it may well become just another ‘workbook’ in the eyes of the young writer. Its integrity will fade away. It is not assessed or scrutinized. It is nourished and supported as a writer’s resource.

• At all times the notebook should be a place to try things out. Take risks and explore the writing terrain. It should remain a place that’s just a little wild and untamed. A place free of control beyond the notebook owner. Confident writers write honestly.

• If you want to influence the notebook of less experienced writers do it through the sharing of your very own notebook, your own process and your own influences. Mindfully demonstrate how you 'lift' pieces from your notebook to develop into longer, more extensive writing projects.

• Reveal your own territories for writing and invite young writers to explore the writing terrain in order to discover their own. Within those territories reside infinite topics and ideas.

• If we don’t let young writers discover what it is they want to say, we miss out on knowing them.

• The notebook is a place for innovation, but it is also a place to apply knowledge and skills. This is where a teacher continues putting in consistent effort teaching, supporting, modelling, demonstrating, guiding, advising, alerting young writers to possibility. Teachers mindfully apply explicit demonstrations that shine a light on writing craft.

Alan j Wright






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