Living Life Twice

  Young writers are inexperienced at writing memoir, but there are some significant actions teachers can take to significantly support and enhance the writing they produce… Memoir is detection, the sifting through a million lived moments in order to identify the most memorable ones.  The memoir writer rebuilds a part of their life, piece by piece to share with a reader.  The spark for the memoir might come from the colour of a favourite pencil, the secrets held safely by an old teddy. A first pet.  It might involve adventures in your neighbourhood, the sounds, shapes and smells of your first house, that special tree, your first disappointment, an incident, an accident. A place that holds a story. Just as home is the place we know best, our families are at the centre of the stories we often hold dear. Some of the experiences the writer is having right now may remain with them forever as memories. The challenge for the writer is to capture them in their writing…  ...

Writing ideas swirl round in my head. I live with them for days, sometimes weeks, before they emerge on the page. I frequently wake up thinking about the possible shape of my writing for that day. I woke up thinking about my writing this morning. Later in the morning over a welcome cappuccino, I talked about my ideas –further sorting out took place. -Rehearsal for the writing to follow. I understand rehearsal is critical to my writing. I willingly embrace it. I know it assists me to clarify my ideas; find my direction.  Playing with words and ideas in the head is such a critical part of the writing process. Think of it like a tumble drier with thoughts and ideas rolling around and around until they are ready to be taken out. Warm and fresh. Mind you, there are times when all that emerges is a single sock of an idea –along with a bit of fluff attached. It looks and feels incomplete. It is writing in need of further consideration. But that’s okay; it may just require further shaping ...

  Realistic fiction is a genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves in schools. It’s there under our noses, yet the writing of other genres and styles is more frequently encouraged among student writers.  It’s perfectly legitimate to use a real life event as a starting point for a realistic fiction writing piece. I have put together some possible ways to use a real event as a launching pad for a fictional piece. Kids also need to know that they can combine aspects of various real life events and mix them into the one story.  Ask students to: Make a list of at least five real life events (funny, exciting, weird, scary) that have directly affected them. Choose one to use as the starting point for their ‘made up’ story. This becomes the impetus for the writing that follows: Find an alternative problem for the characters to solve Change the names of characters. Add additional characters to a real event Change how characters talk, behave or react. Change the setting wher...

When writing is taught from the perspective of  'what' to write rather than 'how' to write, the pedagogy tends to become isolated.   Discrete genres end up being taught. A set amount of time is frequently given to each particular genre and as a consequence,learning  silos are created. These specific genre studies are often referred to as units of work.  Student choice is greatly diminished and writing frequently becomes somewhat perfunctory. Under such approaches student voice is sacrificed to assuage the need for the teacher to manage the writing task.  Establishing a neat and tidy writing environment overrides other considerations. Such an approach flies in direct opposition to the ideal of 'independent writing.'  What follows are remarks such as. 'Today we are all going to write an information text.' This approach lessens the chances of a teacher being either informed or surprised by the writers in their care. It frequently results in writing that i...

  'I do believe strongly in being able to teach writing techniques, but it is not a substitute for the knowledge of self and place that the writer needs in order to have anything to write about.' Richard Powers, Poets & Writers Magazine, July/Aug 2000. I read this quote on Twitter recently and it set me thinking. It has implications for all writers regardless of their level of experience.  I began to think about our youngest, least experienced writers, who sometimes choose a writing topic without first considering the matters mentioned in the Richard Powers quote.  I recall a conversation I had with a young writer as I sat among a group of writers as we unpacked their preferred writing topics for the day. She informed me she wanted to write about pirates and i asked her to think about what she already knew about the topic of pirates. I encouraged her to discuss pirates with the other members of the group. During my roving conferencing I noted she was writing about her...

You ’ ve Got Form! Writing choice is so clearly in evidence when the writer is afforded opportunities to decide for themselves the form their writing piece shall take. It is in this headspace the writer is faced with many options. Every writing piece possesses the potential to assume a variety of forms, so it becomes important to choose the form that best suits that writer’s intention. When the writer in inexperienced, it becomes important to support them in making a good decision. More often than not, the writer knows immediately how they want the writing to be presented. When words and ideas bubble up in my mind, it frequently presents as a poem -but not always. Another idea may be perfect as a memoir piece, or a short story. When this happens, I can move into the writing effortlessly. Sometimes deciding which form best suits our ideas can prove a little more difficult. When this happens, as writers we must be prepared to experiment. Try it one way and if that doesn’...