Living Life Twice

As another school year commences here in Australia, an increasing number of t eachers are taking up the challenge of becoming teachers who write. As proof of this notion, they have committed to maintaining their own Writer’s Notebook.  If your writing life is just beginning to develop you may appreciate being alerted to possible types of entries. Notebook entries one might gather when starting out. Entries,  that will serve as examples to share with their students. Entries that will show students how you as their teacher interacts with the world. Once the writing habit forms, you will no doubt develop a greater sense of independence and self direction when it comes to collecting notebook entries. By then you'll hopefully be carrying multiple pens and seeing writing ideas everywhere you look.  If, for some reason you are experiencing trouble on the writing launch pad, maybe these ideas might prompt your thinking. They may spark a connection to a to...

     I have lost count of the number of times I have urged educators to mindfully share their literate lives with the students in their care.      The importance of being joyfully literate, as intially espoused by the late New Zealand educator, Don Holdaway, coupled with the critical nature of sharing our reading and writing lives with the students in our care, cannot be overstated.       When it comes to teaching, we must be in the stream with your students,. We can’t stand on the bank imploring them to swim faster! Our efforts must intially go into assisting them to remain afloat.       When we share aspects of our reading and writing selves, it adds extra depth to our humanity and strengthens the connection to what we are demanding of them. It makes us eminently more credible…      These remarks lead me to thinking about my personal situation as both reader and writer.       I re...

  Here are some matters that have arisen from my ongoing work with the presentation of 'The Young Writer's Program.'  This initiative is a joint collaboration between PETAA (Primary English Teacher's Association of Australia) and the Victorian State Government.  The program aims to support young writers (Primary and Secondary) who have demonstrated aptitude and/or interest in writing. The program also aims to assist teachers to more adequately engage writers in the classroom writing program.  The matters identified might form the focus of further conversations or investigation within a school writing program. They may inform planning.  Hopefully, they will shine a light on writing actions that might serve to push writing development to the next exciting level.  I present these observations in no particular order. They are laid out for your consideration. I have been documenting my observations across several presentations of this excellent program.  If...

  Writers  Collect Writing They Admire   Writers need to read extensively. They often read a wide variety of things and are frequently drawn to words and ideas written in particular genres, styles and forms according to their individual interests and writing projects. Writers frequently collect different kinds of writing. Why? They harvest these extracts, quotes, words and works for amusement, inspiration curiosity and fascination. Writers often closely study such pieces in order to develop their own writing; their own technique and ideas. The point I’m making here is that it is quite legitimate to collect such words in your own writer’s notebook. By doing this, you allow yourself and your words to be guided and inspired by writers you admire. Hopefully the words nestling beside your words encourage you to strive to emulate your writing mentors. For many young writers, the thought of collecting examples from writers they admire might never have crossed their minds. ...

This is a message for teachers. Teachers who teach poetry, Teachers who wish to teach poetry more effectively. Take a wander through your school's library and take a closer look at the poetry collection. Have a really good look at the assembled books. Take some books from the shelves and open them and examine the poetry within the covers. If what you are seeing is a  collection of dated, unattractive titles and there doesn't appear to have been any additional texts added to the collection in over a decade -or possibly longer, then it's time to morph into a Poetry Warrior! Don't get me wrong, there may well be some great poetry hidden away within those tired looking covers. It would be sad not to bring some of that treasure to the attention of your probationary poets. However, it's time to begin agitating for more books to be added to the collection -and fast. Something contemporary. Something more relatable to the many worlds young readers inhabit. It becomes diffic...

  Some Writing Conversation Starters To Consider: Here are a collection of possible prompts to initiate a writing conversation. The questions we ask young writers should aim to evoke a response that sheds light on the writer's process and thinking. Hope they help you in your important work as teachers of writing and teachers of writers...   Tell me about a part of your writing that you really like   Can you tell where your writing could be improved?   What do you need help with? What do you need to work on to make it better?   What kind of revisions have you made?   Why did you write about this topic in this way (genre/style)?   Why is it important to you to write about this topic/subject?   What writing strategy did you use to lift the quality of your writing?   Tell me one you have learned about good writing that you will continue to use in your writin...

  In this collection of stories, writers talk about the authors they revered as children; the stories and poems that  shaped their own work. A teacher I was working with as a literacy consultant, once boldly announced, ‘ I don’t want my students to know anything about my life. I am just here to teach.’  The comment disturbed me on a number of levels. It represented no sense of the need to bond with students. I had the impression the teacher was simply a forlorn imitation of a living, breathing teacher. When we make the effort to bond with students, we consciously humanize ourselves. We connect with our students more effectively when we provide insights as to how we operate as lifelong learners. In order to do this, we need to give something of ourselves and that requires an emotional commitment, not just the rolling out of curriculum. It continues to surprise me how many of my colleagues conduct secret reading and writing lives. Literate lives hidden from their students a...