Exploring Personal Writing Projects With Young Writers

Personal writing projects provide the inexperienced writer the opportunity to make some genuine, meaningful choices:

They become the epitome of the saying-‘Writers make decisions.’

They choose-

Their own topic/issue

Their own genre

Their own purpose

Their own process

Their target audience

They have the opportunity to write in their own way, driven by their own goals and intentions. The chosen project benefits from replicating processes writers enact in the wider world. That way it will be grounded in authentic purposes.

 It is important to note that a personal writing project does not equate to the allocation of ‘free writing time,’ where the writer is given a small portion of time to write ‘creatively,’ in the mistaken belief that this provides sufficient investment in supporting and engaging young writers. Such an approach pushes personal writing to the edges of the curriculum in terms of its importance. Such an approach is tokenistic, offering little sense of genuine agency for the developing writer.

In consultation with a more experienced writer, their teacher, the young writer identifies and negotiates the length of the project- Days? Weeks? A term? This brings into play the reality of progression points and deadlines and the use of check in groups to monitor progress and provide targeted support.

It is important not to lose sight of the distant goal. If the student writer retains a clear vision of where they are heading with the project, it increases the likelihood they will seek out and accept writing advice during conferencing. Allowing young writers this sense of agency, does not mean accountability is reduced in importance. The writer is held accountable for the choices they make and the teacher must work to support the writer to achieve their individual writing goals. During a personal writing project the teacher is charged with nudging the developing writer to bolster their capacity for self-regulation.


Gathering ideas from writer's notebook entries

The provision of adequate writing time and resources needs to be factored in to the writing workshop sessions. It is not unreasonable to discuss how some of the writing may take place in settings beyond the classroom in order to reach a successful outcome. Writing in different settings challenges the myth that writing only happens in school.

Each writing session should be seen as an opportunity for the young writer to identify process goals for that session. Articulating intentions makes it more likely the actions will take place and the project will move forward as expected.

Personal writing projects are an important component within a writing curriculum. They deserve equal status and value as that accorded class writing projects. They provide an opportunity to enhance writing relationships. The inexperienced writer learns to problem solve as a writer, develop craft skills and internalize process skills. Such understandings become part of that writer’s armoury.

When the starting point for writing is to commence with what children know, have personally experienced, heard, witnessed, read, or are keenly interested in, motivation and investment can be harnessed in ways that make the project more likely to succeed. The writer is more likely to care. Engagement and persistence become more evident.

The majority of inexperienced writers frequently charge towards drafting their writing once they have identified  a personal writing project. Experienced writers rarely start with drafting. They frequently invest time in getting ready to write. A significant amount of rehearsal can occur.

The challenge for teachers is to assist young writers in seeing the value of this type of investment. Let’s stop giving the message that the first logical action after identifying the project is to always start drafting. For generations schools have reinforced this approach. It does the young writer a disservice.

Reading as research

What Writers May Do To Prepare For Their Writing Project?

·         Take photographs of the subject or theme

·         Visit a library to research

·         Research using the internet

·         Research from personal reading

·         Reread older writer’s notebook entries as research

·         Visit a museum, or a place of significance

·         Interview someone with related knowledge

·         Find out more about a particular culture

·         Record a conversation with an expert

·         Imagine being a particular character in different situations and locations

·         Gather related artefacts /ephemera

·         Read books on the chosen topic, a time period, a person.

·         Read lots of different texts to discover How you want  to write about the subject

·         Talk to other writers, make notes

·         Visit a setting with connections to the project

·         Gather opinions

·         Make lists of ideas, memories, potential titles

·         Write/ask questions

·         Draw to clarify and visualize ideas and concepts.


Discussing previous words to find new ideas


    For young writers to envision how writing works, they need to be able to see how authors engage in a range of writing related actions, beyond actual writing. These pre-writing strategies are critical to the eventual outcome of the writing project. Such processes are not bound by age or genre. Young writers are capable of doing these things too.


Some Questions That Might Be Posed

·         Who could you talk to in relation to this writing project?

·         What could you read that is similar to what you wish to write?

·         Where could you go to find out more about your chosen topic?

·         What could you collect to assist you to be successful in this project?

·         What did the writer need to know in order to write this book?

·         What do you think the writer might have done before they started to write?

·         Where do think the author got the idea for this book/poem/article?                 

·         What do think we would see in the author’s own notebook?

Pre-writing -discussing characters

·         A successful writing project needs some time devoted to rehearsing, researching, gathering, thinking, and then doing the writing. These actions assist the writer to develop a clear vision of where they want their project to end up. A writing project needs to honour the critical role pre-writing strategies play in moving the writing towards a successful outcome.

TThe young writer needs to come to an understanding regarding the way a writer’s notebook helps the writing grow. Teachers can support children in their pursuit of personal writing projects through the application of the following mindful actions:

   Quarantine daily, sustained writing time for young writers:

·         Teach craft and process lessons

·         Share how you, as a more experienced writer, generate writing ideas

·         Teach text structures and features of a range of genres in reading workshop

·         Share your writing and your own writing process

·         Share how your writer’s notebook informs your own writing projects

·         Highlight a variety of publishing possibilities

·         Confer with writers and offer advice and assistance with goal setting

Check In Group to monitor progress.

If you still need convincing, with regard to personal writing projects, a number of writing studies reveal that better learning outcomes were achieved when children engaged in self-chosen writing projects, as opposed to writing tasks regulated by others. (Brophy 2008)  (Garrett and Moltzen 2011).

 

Alan j Wright

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livinglifetwice/

References

Brophy, J. (2008) Developing Students’ appreciation for what is taught. School Educational Psychologist 43 (3) 132-141

Fletcher, A (20160 Exceeding expectations Scaffolding agentic engagements through assessment as learning, Educational Research 58, 400-419.

Garrett L and Moltzen R (2011) Writing because I want to, not because I have to. English Teaching Practice and Critique, 10 (1) 165-180

Young R and Ferguson F (2021) Writing For Pleasure, Theory, Research and Practice, Routledge Publishers

Wood-Ray, Katie (1999) Wondrous Words-Writers and Writing In The Elementary Classroom,  NCTE Publishers

 

 

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