Living Life Twice

My earliest recollections of writing are wrapped around the weekly writing topics I was given in primary school. We wrote every Thursday afternoon, immediately after the lunch break. It wasn't even called writing. Our teacher referred to it as 'composition time.' We wrote for about twenty minutes in absolute silence in our 'composition' books. At the end of the allotted time, we handed in our written responses, then waited  a whole week to receive feedback for our labored efforts. It consisted of a mark out of ten and a page of red ink comments and slashes across the page. Then we sat and waited for the next teacher topic to be thrown our way.  We wrote one day a week for twenty minutes. It wasn't much of a writing program by today's standards. It wasn't much of a way to learn writing back then either. I'm surprised we learned to write at all on such a starvation diet. I was just lucky enough to be the kind of kid who was driven to wr...

When we read like writers we set about gathering information about writing that will form curriculum for our teaching. As teachers of writing, we must ask ourselves: What do I see the writer doing here? Why does the writer do this? Have I seen this particular craft move in other writing What can I call this craft move? How could I try this in my own writing? How could I help my student writers to try this in their writing? The more we practice reading like writers, the easier it becomes to identify elements of writing craft present in the books with which we work. It is a skill that develops with practice. It takes time and regular practice. It requires us to engage in professional conversations with our colleagues regarding a text's potential.That is why such matters should be part of teacher planning sessions. Such texts should be our ticket in. Bring a trusted author with you... In time it has the potential to change the way we read. When we learn to read like writ...

UPDATED July 2021 My earliest recollections of writing are wrapped around the weekly writing topics I was given in primary school. We wrote every Thursday afternoon, immediately after the lunch break. It wasn't even called writing. Our teacher referred to it as 'composition time.' We wrote for about twenty minutes in absolute silence in our 'composition' books. At the end of the allotted time, we handed in our written responses, then waited  a whole week to receive feedback for our labored efforts. It consisted of a mark out of ten and a page of red ink comments and slashes across the page. Then we sat and waited for the next teacher topic to be thrown our way.  We wrote one day a week for twenty minutes. It wasn't much of a writing program by today's standards. It wasn't much of a way to learn writing back then either. I'm surprised we learned to write at all on such a starvation diet. I was just lucky enough to be the kind of kid who was driven...

Next week Australian students in the grades 3,5,7 and 9  undertake NAPLAN (National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy). Before that time their is a need to examine the test writing genre and how it differs from writing as we know it. By conducting this close analysis of the differences in approach we allow students to more clearly see the artificiality of the test writing. It would be helpful to chart these differences, particularly for Grade three students who are having their first experience with the demands of writing to the clock on a given topic (prompt). A Grade three student told me last week that we should not call it a ‘writing test. Instead we should call it a ‘writing challenge’ I liked his attitude and so we began talking about the challenges this type of writing threw our way. We need to look at providing opportunities for students to experience timed writing’ as part of building further stamina for the task. I see the task in thr...

Have you noticed how much things have changed in relation to communicating about holidays? Once, we used to use ink to convey messages on postcards from exotic destinations. We would purchase a stack of them and quickly scribble a note to friends and family back home struggling with their mundane daily events while we relaxed in foreign climes. Sending postcards has diminished greatly as a means of communicating holiday moments it seems. These days more ink travels on the bodies of tourists than they ever expend on the traditional postcard. Tattoos, it seems tell the story of the traveller’s deeds while away. Mobile phone messages, blogs and emails have also stepped up the list as more immediate ways of telling the folks back home how you are passing the days in Paris, Phuket, Florida or Tierra del Fuego. Postcards have suffered the fate of other snail mail forms and fallen out favour with many people, -particularly, younger travellers. The postcard has become passé to these Gen Y tec...

Setting up a writing centre in the classroom is a great idea. However, its a great idea that needs regular commitment and maintenance if its potential is to be realized. Writing centres often become museum pieces if young writers aren’t encouraged to use the allotted space. You know the scene – it looks great, it looks glitzy, but rarely do you see students actually occupying the space. What a waste of a great space! It’s a bit like Nana’s special dining set –constantly admired, rarely used. It may as well be covered in plastic to protect it from stains. A writing centre set up with the requisite supports, such as computer, printer, camera, an assortment of pens, markers, papers, book making materials, writing reminders and ideas, photographs, books on writing, etc provides great stimulus to developing writers. To give this space added appeal young writers need to be shuffled through this special classroom space each day. You could either set up a sign in sheet, or a schedule, so that ...