Living Life Twice

  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...

  Here are five of the most popular  Living Life Twice  posts for 2024. Thank you for your continuing support and interest in teaching writing and all it entails. Here's a chance to reconnect with writing ideas. Ideas you can easily carry forward into 2025. Just click the blue link... Advice and Inspiration For Young Writers After a lifetime engaged in a writing life as both teach er and writer/poet, I offer the following advice to young and inexperienced writers. Advice about developing good writing habits and thinking about your writing in ways that deliver some essential energy to continue writing.  May these words prove of value to you and you approach writing eagerly to write what matters, striving to build confidence and experience as teachers, students and authors. Emotional Responses To Writing Emotional response is critically important in writing.  It’s part of the total package. Our emotional responses manifest themselves in many ways. Sometimes it's t...

  In the early weeks of a new school year, we would hopefully expect to hear conversations around writing raising matters with student writers, similar in intent to the types of matters listed below. Conversations that prompt thought and produce action. Are you writing about things that matter to you -matters you care most about, matters close to your heart? If your students are writing merely to please a teacher or impress their peers, then this conversation is quite important. We should never embark upon writing we don’t care about. It should matter to the writer. It might actually be a piece they need to write quite urgently because they never want to forget that particular moment/ feeling/ event/ experience. Is there something you are hoping to see improve around your writing this year? How do you intend to achieve this change? Do you know why you are writing about a particular topic/issue/idea? In other words, have you thought about why it is important for you to write about t...

W ho were your writing champions as you went through the formative years of learning? Who do you recall as a writing hero; a teacher who promoted writing through their own actions? Someone who inspired you to greater effort and made you want to persist. Sadly, it wasn’t until I reached my tertiary education that I actually encountered such a person. The late Tom McCabe encouraged me to become editor of the college newspaper. He talked about writing in a way that previous teachers had conspicuously failed to do. He re-ignited my passion for writing poetry. He talked with passion and authority about the joy of writing.  He was a stand out champion for writing! I certainly had teachers who stood out as beacons for literature and reading. I recall my teacher in Grade 3, Mr Murphy reading Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi, an adventurous tale of a mongoose and his adversary, the cobra. People such as Frank Harris, my Grade 6 teacher,  who read the poetry of Henry Laws...

In the early weeks of a new school year, I would hopefully expect to hear conversations around writing raising matters with student writers, similar in intent to the types of matters listed below. Are you writing about things that matter to you -matters you care most about, matters close to your heart? If your students are writing merely to please a teacher or impress their peers, then this conversation is quite important. We should never embark upon writing we don’t care about. It should matter to the writer. It might actually be a piece they need to write quite urgently because they never want to forget that particular moment/ feeling/ event/ experience. Is there something you are hoping to see improve around your writing this year? How do you intend to achieve this change? Do you know why you are writing about a particular topic/issue/idea? In other words, have you thought about why it is important for you to write about this matter at this time. W...

'On every page, confidence fights with self-doubt.' David Morrell I continue to hear the term ‘reluctant writers’ when educators describe certain students. It’s a term that causes me a fair degree of discomfort.  When teachers talk of young writers in this manner, they pull up some way short of the mark. The question needs to be asked, why is this student behaving in a way that has them shying away from writing?  Asking ‘why?’ is a key to finding out more about that particular young writer and hopefully what is inhibiting their full participation in writing- their connection to writing. Invariably, what is impeding the writer from experiencing a stronger connection to the writing task is confidence- or rather a lack of it. And if we dig a little deeper it is frequently connected to a poor self-perception in relation to spelling. It may also be the challenge presented by the physical task of writing due to a lack of a fluent writing style. Sometimes it is related ...

The Quest Continues When I find myself working in a classroom where student writers are openly encouraged to think for themselves and to make their own writing decisions, it's hard not to smile. The writing of such students is invariably wide ranging and exciting. Their engagement is clearly heightened. The classroom seems to hum with possibility. There is demonstrable energy in the learning space. As I move about I see student writers choosing not only their topics, but also the preferred genre for their writing. They appear more fully engaged in matching their words to the needs of their readers. They exhibit an authentic sense of purpose and genuine ownership of the writing tasks they have chosen. When you talk with them, they articulate the reasons guiding their actions. These writers are supported in informed decisions. This is most evident. Each writer appears to know what they want to work on and how to approach their own particular writing challenge or project...

Available research data shows children provided with opportunities to write every day begin to compose even when they are not actually writing. In other words, they begin to think about their writing beyond the confines of the classroom.  There is  immense satisfaction gained from hearing students, who upon entering the classroom first thing in the morning announce ‘ I know what I’m going to write about today ’ They indicate clearly that they understand the power of writing. They think as writers do. Unless students have this daily opportunity to write they will not develop the ability to think through their writing. They will not fully understand the process of writing. Donald Greaves suggested that young writers require a minimum of four days per week to write for their own purposes. This, he believed assisted the ‘learning to think’ process to develop. It is therefore important to approach the teaching of writing from the position that students will be provi...

Some years back, I found myself talking to a group of enthusiastic grade one writers who were keen to commence their writing pieces. As they stood up from the carpet to return to their seats, I realized that the spark of imagination that would fire my own writing ideas, had suddenly snuffed out. The students all seemed fired up and ready to create the miracle of meaningful marks on paper. I felt completely blank and could not conjure up a single thing to write about. I was trying to will my brain into action. Writer’s block had descended upon me like a damp, foggy mist. An unexpected intrusion on my normal rich inner world of ideas. A boy stood beside me at this critical juncture and casually announced, 'I’m going to write about the first time I went fishing on Saturday with my Dad.' 'Oh thank you,' I said with a huge sigh of relief. The bemused child looked at me unsure as to what he had actually done. 'You have just given me a wonderful idea for my writing...

  S ometimes there is a disconnect between the issues discussed in the classroom, and the writing students choose to devote their time too. Many of these issues have relevance to young writer's lives and would make suitable topics for writing, but are too often not deemed worthy of their attention. Social action writing is therefore rarely chosen. Writers workshop works best when it is underpinned by student writers having choice of topic and form. Sometimes however the choices they make are informed by their peers, movies, games and television programs and may exhibit all the stereotypes and bias that comes with territory. Sometimes their topic choices are guided by the status it will conceivably attract. Gender stereotypes may also be entrenched in the choices they make. Sometimes their writing choices are limited by experience and a lack of confidence in moving out of a perceived comfort zone. Researcher, Barbara Kamler, 1993 makes the point- 'Young writers do not...