Living Life Twice

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.’  Free writing time generally focuses upon the time given, rather than the actual writing that may be involved.  For this reason free writing time is little more than a tokenistic gesture. It lacks gravitas, for its purpose is often ill defined. It is offered in the misguided belief that such an allocation of time provides sufficient investment in supporting and engaging young writers. It fails to enshrine authentic writing practice, selling young writers short. It's an example of fickle literacy. When a writer chooses to write 'freely' in order to discover what it is they want to say, they may pursue the drafting of a piece to determine what is important, by trying out ideas. Here they are trying things out with a purpose in mind.   Doling out occasional periods of 'free writing time...

 'Agency is about having control over your choice of writing topic and ownership over how you go about writing it. Agency helps create a culture of writers with self determination.' Ross young and Felicity Ferguson 'Real World Writers-A handbook For Teaching Writing With 7-11Year Olds' Across the years I have worked with many teachers who constantly strived to provide young writers in their care with a genuine sense of agency. They worked respectfully to develop a classroom culture where every writer was encouraged and supported to make informed decisions regarding writing projects they wished to pursue. Many of these teachers were operating from this position before the term -agency, ever came into vogue. Agency produces great results. Its presence leads to the  successful production of meaningful writing pieces. Writers with a strong sense of agency frequently exceed expectations, improve their academic outcomes and exhibit increased engagement and motivation for writ...

It always concerns me when student writers approach the task of writing, lacking any sense of freedom to explore and manipulate ideas. They commonly experience emotional blocks when it comes to making decisions. A distinct lack of confidence is evident. They ask questions of their teachers such as: How much should I write? Should I use paragraphs? What should I write about? Is it okay to write about...? The term 'independent writing' is an accepted phase within the writing workshop, but a closer examination reveals the writing taking place at this point is all too frequently, independent in name only. All too often young writers can be observed working on an assigned writing task and the questions they ask indicate they are a long way short of being independent and self directed. This scenario suggests  the whole notion of independent writing may require a significant rethink in such classrooms. -And yet, in other classrooms I gain a sense that the writers are ...

At the conclusion of each school year, I write, urging teachers to quarantine a little time for writing over the summer holiday period. As we rapidly approach the end of the 2018 academic year, my message remains unerringly simple.  If you are a teacher who writes, it is easier  to present as a writer who teaches.       In these final weeks of the school year numerous teachers have informed me (without prompting) they will be embracing the challenge of keeping their own writer’s notebooks in 2019. Well, that notebook will benefit from some early feeding and the summer presents as a potential feast… I am aware of the level of exhaustion that exists in schools at year’s end. The need to tie up a multitude of loose ends prior to school closing for the summer holidays is paramount.  The last week of school seems to take the longest time of all the many school weeks though. School becomes the epicentre of fatigue for both students and staff. ...

Writers must be readers –avid readers. They must also carry within them an enduring love of words and remain keenly interested in how other writers write as well as noticing what they write. For these reasons I scour book shops for books about writing and writers. It is where I found, ‘Writing The Memoir’ by Judith Barrington. A book which aims to provide a practical guide to the challenges and dilemmas in crafting a writer's own true stories.  In the book, the author makes the point that in order for the reader to care about what you make of your life, there has to be an engaging voice embedded in the writing –a voice that captures a personality and breathes life into the words. The author further states that memoir requires that the reader feels spoken to. A sense that a conversation is taking place becomes central to the success of the writing. This is such pertinent advice for those of us who teach writing.  It is a reminder that voice remains a critical element of...

We can help student writers discover the real purpose for their writing by discussing the matter of who we write for. Yes, it is important to establish a sense of audience. Yes, it is important to understand the needs of your readers. However, as Jane Yolen reminds us in her book, ‘Take Joy,’ the only constant in your life is you . As teachers, we must alert student writers that the first audience for their words are themselves. They are the first reader.  As teachers we must demonstrate our understanding of this important fact when sharing our own writing with students.  Whether writing from the perspective of the child you were, or the adult we have become, we initially write to satisfy your own needs.  It is imperative to explain to the less experienced writer how we write about those matters that grab your interest. We write about things we find intriguing, things that make us think.  Teachers sometimes tell students to write about what they kno...

I have never been a fan of the term, reluctant writer . I firmly believe all kids want to be able to write with ease. What the hesitant writer needs to build is, confidence and self-belief. Every teacher at some time has to struggle to help a student overcome self-doubt about their abilities. To grow confident, self-directed readers and writers requires a lot of teacher investment. When teachers create a classroom climate that encourages risk taking, values mistakes as a learning opportunity and works consciously to build trust, students begin to engage with greater certainty.  Children who experience positive learning experiences feel successful and supported. When a learner has such experiences a greater energy surrounds that person. Blaming kids and labelling them reluctant does nothing to address the reasons for the student’s behaviour. Where the teacher controls most aspects of the writing from topic to genre, there is little incentive to buy in. Choice...

How do we teach developing writers to independently use the different elements of craft that are discussed and taught in lessons? We begin by honouring the reality that terms like voice, sentence fluency, and writing with detail are descriptions of where we want our students to be, not next steps on how to reach those goals. We need to identify specific elements of craft when assessing student writing samples and use such revelations to help plan instruction that is both relevant and timely. If we adopt this approach to planning curriculum action we are able to teach students the specific craft techniques that will move them forward as writers.  Katie Wood Ray in her book, Wondrous Words provides an excellent guide for examining a text for its potential to teach craft elements to developing writers (See below) As teachers of writing we must develop a concrete process for noticing craft in writing so that craft lessons can be planned and developed Craft lessons based ...

  My earliest memories of writing are entwined 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 an entire 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 write in pl...