Living Life Twice

  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...

  Let's Turn Up The Volume In Student Writing!   A priority for any writing program should be to progressively build the stamina of young writers, enabling them to sustain their writing efforts for extended periods. The aim is for the writer to reach a stage where the ideas flow freely and the blank page surrenders to a relentless flow of words. We want young writers to view the blank page as an invitation to write, rather than something filling them with trepidation.   The answer lies in the act of writing. Too often young writers become distracted and a gap emerges between their intent and their action. The talking so vital in the pre-writing phase continues into the composing stage and the promise of words not surprisingly, evaporates. There should be plenty of time for talk and discussion when the writer has produced some words on the page. We owe it to the writer to provide such discussion time.   A range of issues may arise to interrupt the flow of...

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...

I vividly recall Georgia,  a young writer, making a gem of a comment during a writing workshop session some time back. A comment that made my heart sing. I had asked students for feedback concerning the writing they had just concluded, and  Georgia  offered the comment, ‘ The more I wrote, the more I remembered .’ Not wishing to conceal my joy, I rushed to the whiteboard and wrote these special words in large letters; identifying  Georgia  as the person being quoted.  Georgia ’s words were a powerful reminder that given the right conditions the developing writer’s ideas take flight! Our little writing community had been focusing on developing greater writing stamina, going deeper into our writing if you like. In consultation with the teacher we had identified a lack of stamina in student writing and discussed the need for them to generate a greater volume of text and to do this we had to improve their ‘writing muscles, in the same way we had deve...

These random writing thoughts are gleaned from various sources connected to my writing life- my writer's notebooks, blogs, Twitter, Facebook. They represent some of my recent writing related activity in these places. Not all these observation as memorable, but they are mine. I collected them. I share them to demonstrate the broad and enduring influences upon those of us who choose to be, teachers who write: _______________________________________ I would hate to live a life so full of time pressures that I couldn't possibly expend the time to return a shopping trolley after visiting the supermarket. You can choose to teach according to curriculum (or school based mandates), adopting a tick the box mentality, or you can teach according to what you know about the particular needs of learners. Without doubt, the difference is significant, the impact lingering! Blindly adhering to curriculum mandates does not make your pedagogy authentic. Let curric...

At the end of each school year, I write, urging teachers to quarantine a little time for writing over the summer vacation period. This year my message remains on song. If you are a teacher who writes, it is easier to present as a writer who teaches.  In recent weeks I have met numerous teachers who have told me they will be taking up the challenge of keeping their own writer’s notebooks. Well, that notebook will need 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. It’s a race to the finish line. 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. I am also aware that on summer’s horizon teachers will have free time to relax and regenerate their energy reserves.  A time fo...

s When the inexperienced student writer chooses to write about topics and ideas that might objectively be viewed as being-lightweight, violent, saccharine sweet or even banal, we must reflect for a moment where these writers draw their inspiration. We tend to write what we know and it is particularly true of our youngest writers.  Despite our very best efforts to expose and influence students in the direction of quality literature and the mindful use of well-chosen mentor texts, (across different genres) we often find ourselves confronting a battle with the strong influence of popular culture and its heady appeal to impressionable young minds. Young learners with limited reading experience often have little else upon which to call.  We therefore encounter see them undervaluing their own ideas; their own lives and experiences as potential for writing. They are more likely to defer to films, video games, television shows and pop music for inspirational uptake.  It is ...

The End Signals A New Beginning Our lives are filled with endings and each one of them enables a new beginning, even the very last one which we all have to face. I have always held true to the saying I first heard uttered by Jimmy Buffett in his song La Vie Dansante (The Dancing Life)- Every stop is a place to start.   The end of this month long writing challenge represents a new beginning. Many writers begin this Slice of Life  Story Challenge with doubts and reservations and finish with renewed self belief and enthusiasm for writing. This is the legacy derived from involvement. The growth of self belief.  This is my 9th year of participation. That means I have been challenged to create 279 life slice stories I might not have realized without the unspoken, inner pressure to respond that accompanies this month of sustained writing.  The strong urge to persist once ignited burns strongly within me each year.  The inner drive to stay the dista...