Living Life Twice

Writing ideas swirl round in my head. I live with them for days, sometimes weeks, before they emerge on the page. I frequently wake up thinking about the possible shape of my writing for that day. I woke up thinking about my writing this morning. Later in the morning over a welcome cappuccino, I talked about my ideas –further sorting out took place. -Rehearsal for the writing to follow. I understand rehearsal is critical to my writing. I willlingly embrace it. I know it assists me to clarify my ideas; find my direction.  Playing with words and ideas in the head is such a critical part of the writing process. Think of it like a tumble drier with thoughts and ideas rolling around and around until they are ready to be taken out. Warm and fresh. Mind you, there are times when all that emerges is a single sock of an idea –along with a bit of fluff attached. It looks and feels incomplete. It is writing in need of further consideration. But that’s okay; it may just require further shaping...

‘We have reached the most dangerous part of our lesson young writers’ I announce to the group of students seated before me. I lower my voice and lean towards them. ‘ We must be careful when moving back to our seats to start our writing. There is a danger of being ambushed and taken away from your mission. Do not let anyone distract you from commencing the writing mission you have just discussed with your writing buddy. Someone may try to strike up a conversation that may lead you off course. Who can make it back to their writer’s notebook safely without being drawn away from their mission? ’ They all smile knowingly.   It’s all a bit of a game, but the truth is I want to narrow the distance between the young writer’s intention and action. I want every writer in the room to have the best possible chance to address the invitation page offers, by capturing their most amazing words. So, they need to be aware of the possibility of being distracted from the task they have identified du...

  Understanding Writers With Output Issues Unfortunately kid blamers still exist in some schools. They rationalize the events in their classrooms by informing everyone that certain students are lazy, unmotivated, disengaged. While that may be the individual's perception, the critical question that begs answering is ‘why?’ If a student appears reluctant to write, to read, to participate in general classroom activities- that needs to be explored. It may be an issue external to the classroom, It may also be an issue related to the classroom, or teaching style. Either way, to simply blame the student falls well short of professional responsibility. This issue of output failure is explored in 'The Myth of Laziness' by Mel Levine. Levine argues the desire to be productive is universal but that drive can be frustrated by dysfunction that inhibits optimal output or productivity. Levine explains that difficulties associated with writing are far and away the most telling sign of out...

  A few years back I learnt the term ‘stillpoints’ upon reading a book titled   ‘ Write  Starts – Prompts, Quotes and Exercise to Jumpstart Your Creativity’ by Hal Zina Bennett.   Stillpoint is Bennett’s word for those moments in our lives when we are totally at one with the  now ; we are so  with  whatever we are doing or feeling or thinking that everything else seems to stop. It suggests we are committed to that particular moment in time. In writing, Bennett sees stillpoints as  aha!  moments created when our words strike a special chord. A stillpoint occurs when we express something clearly, authentically and beautifully. It resonates as clearly as the ringing of a fine crystal bell. Sometimes teachers refer to this as writing about small moments, where we linger to write in greater detail. The writer dwells on a moment to highlight it for the reader. The moment is expanded with deliberate intent. It emulates the action of blowin...

Small group, Explicit teaching Explicit teaching has become a buzz word in the education sector in recent times. It is being waved about as a magical discovery. The reality is, -it is not a newly discovered strategy. It has in fact been present in schools, particularly Australian schools for over four decades. Has everyone been using it? Well, no, but highly effective teachers of writing have been successfully employing it to teach the craft of writing for many years. They utilize explicit teaching to guide inexperienced writers about how to write, rather than what to write. Teaching the craft of writing requires the writing teacher to be explicit in their work with students. This occurs when a developmental program of instruction is provided. It occurs when teachers are clear about what it is they want children to learn and when they provide a meaningful, focused program of instruction. When consideration is given to focused learning students are provided with opportunities to make se...

  Realistic fiction is a genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves in schools. It’s there under our noses, yet the writing of other genres and styles is more frequently encouraged among student writers.  It’s perfectly legitimate to use a real life event as a starting point for a realistic fiction writing piece. I have put together some possible ways to use a real event as a launching pad for a fictional piece. Kids also need to know that they can combine aspects of various real life events and mix them into the one story.  Ask students to: Make a list of at least five real life events (funny, exciting, weird, scary) that have directly affected them. Choose one to use as the starting point for their ‘made up’ story. This becomes the impetus for the writing that follows: Find an alternative problem for the characters to solve Change the names of characters. Add additional characters to a real event Change how characters talk, behave or react. Change the setting wher...

  In the classroom while working with fellow educators the goal of helping young writers to develop a genuine sense of their own identity as writers has shone like a bright flame. Children’s writing identities will either thrive or fail to bloom according to what happens with the writing experiences encountered in the classroom.  A teacher brings with them enormous capacity to influence both the personal and world view a child develops regarding writing. With this in mind, the nurturing of writing identity must remain at the forefront of a teachers words and actions every time they enter the classroom. 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 be underestimated. It is therefore important for a teacher to be able to draw from an identity perspective to illustrate how people create new activities, new worlds, and new ways of being through writ...

  Writer identity is constructed with a growing consciousness of how writing actually works and how each writer fits into that space.  For this to happen the most proficient reader and writer in the classroom must demonstrate the decisions and actions that characterize a truly independent, self-directed learner.    If young writers are to feature as risk-takers in the classroom, the teaching they are exposed to needs to be bold and brave. Students will be more inclined to write their way beyond the limits of the comfort zone, if a teacher holds a torch that lights the way. What Donald Graves referred to as an ‘ego force’ is the vital spark driving our young writers to want more from the experience. This energy pushes them forward in pursuit of a stronger writer identity. I fondly recall two Grade 3 writers I   once taught who regularly got their heads together to write poetry on the classroom floor. They became known as the 'Floor Poets' and across that year, an...

    My Personal Journey To Claiming Writer Identity The development of my identity as a writer did not occur as some kind of overnight revelation. It was more like a gradual metamorphosis, resulting from a life-long immersion in writing and responding to the call of words. Words are something I love very much. A major influence in this area was my father who was not a writer, but, someone who certainly loved words and honed the art of playing with them. He was riddler, puzzler with a pronounced ability for wordplay He fostered my close attention to the power words possessed. I willingly took his gift and used it to drive my desire to write, which emerged quite early and never receded.   As a result, I have clung tenaciously to writing as if it were a safe harbour in a storm. Looking back, I was clearly a writer under construction. I just kept writing until the words got better. Many years later, calling myself a writer felt more comfortable. I still strongly recall writin...

  One of the great challenges we face as teachers of writing is learning to observe student writing with a view that encompasses instruction. The trick is to look closely at the writing of an individual to notice what that writer needs and at the same time consider other students who may also be faced with the same direct need in the development of their writing. Patterns of need frequently emerge as you confer with your students. When this happens you may find that you need to develop a teaching focus for the whole class, or a small group. It will not surprise you to learn that this is the perpetual challenge of the Writer’s workshop. Once your students are writing regularly and displaying some stamina for the task, you may find yourself asking the questions – What happens now? What should I do to most effectively move their writing forward? What do I say to them when I join them for a writing conference? It is easy to look at a student’s writing and immediately jump on the mechan...

  An extensive national survey of ‘Writing Practices in Australian Primary Education, Years 1-6 ‘ conducted by Malpique, Valcan, Pasternak & Ledger, and published in May 2022, revealed, among other matters, the following information regarding writing’s links to the home environment and current teacher practices. ‘ Results assessing reported teaching practices to extend writing to the home environment showed that the majority of teachers (64.8%) never asked students to write at home with the support of a parent/guardian.  The majority of teachers (77.4%) also reported that they asked parents/guardians to read/share their children’s written work as infrequently as once a year, or never.  The majority of teachers (63.9%) reported never, or infrequently encouraged writing, as a home task.  Communicating with parents/guardians to discuss students’ writing performance and needs, was reported as an infrequent practice by the majority of participating teachers (71.9%). ‘...