Living Life Twice

  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...

  Making The Most of Mentor Texts Mindfully and strategically used, mentor texts, present as a powerful tool when alerting the inexperienced writer to a multitude of techniques writers employ to make their writing both effective and memorable. When choosing suitable texts, select examples that you also enjoy reading. It will help heighten the sharing of literary treasure. Choose exemplars possessing specific techniques  and craft moves you would like your students to embrace as writers. Alerting young writers to the power mentor texts possess to inform and enhance their writing, forms an important part of the cognitive apprenticeship we wish them to experience. Consider the following steps when choosing suitable mentor texts Begin by reading aloud the chosen book, for pleasure. This provides young learners with a sense of the text’s totality. The whole story is revealed.  • Reread the book with a specific focus on some different writing techniques used by the author. In...

  This week, I changed over my writer's notebook. Once more with feeling fellow writers... Mixed emotions swirl around me when commencing a new writer's notebook. The prospect of filling the fresh pages brings with it anticipation, presenting as a prospect to be enthusiastically embraced. Honestly, after almost forty years of notebooks, my delight remains undiminished. To see newly generated words spread out across previously unmarked pages, delivers a buzz. The very act of capturing the raw stuff of my writing life, delivers order and a sense of accomplishment to my active mind. The harvesting of words and ideas adds to the energy for writing in this new place. I am akin to the farmer ploughing a new field.  I make a conscious decision to choose a notebook with different dimensions and qualities to its predecessor. Some writers select the same notebook each time a replacement is required. I embrace the notion of change along with the unique shape and form of the potentia...

Going From General To Specific. Young writers benefit greatly when shown how to sharpen their writing by moving from the general to the specific. When they are armed with this important knowledge about writing, it improves the quality of the images that emerge in the mind of the reader. When we know the exact name of something, it brings that item, that thing,  closer to us. It provides us as readers with greater clarity. The fog of uncertainty is blown away. As readers, we are more alert.  ' The bird flew down ' conveys less information than writing, ' The eagle swooped. ' Judy Blume in her book ‘Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing’ uses specific details to describe the materials her characters used to make their school project. 'We keep our equipment under my bed in a shoebox. We have a set of Magic Markers, Elmer’s glue, Scotch tape, a really sharp pair of scissors and a container of silver sparkle.' Notice how the initial sentence is quite general, However, the ...

In 2005, Professor Richard Andrews of York University conducted the largest systematic review of existing studies on the teaching of grammar and found there was no evidence that teaching grammar as a formal stand-alone exercise helped 5-16 year old write more fluently, or accurately. A most powerful and informative finding.  By way of contrast, contextualising the teaching of grammar assists students to understand the role grammar plays in the development of an effective writer. It teaches students to produce writing that is ‘reader friendly.’  What it doesn’t do is divorce grammar from the actual act of producing writing. However, what also needs to be present in our curriculum planning is the awareness of the need to teach students to be meta-cognitive with respect to the writing they produce. Grammar alone just won’t cut through.  We know that explicit teaching of grammatical rules is not necessarily matched by an ability to make corrections. There is no simple relati...

  In the early weeks of a new school year, we would hopefully expect to hear conversations around writing raising matters with student writers, similar in intent to the types of matters listed below. Conversations that prompt thought and produce action. Are you writing about things that matter to you -matters you care most about, matters close to your heart? If your students are writing merely to please a teacher or impress their peers, then this conversation is quite important. We should never embark upon writing we don’t care about. It should matter to the writer. It might actually be a piece they need to write quite urgently because they never want to forget that particular moment/ feeling/ event/ experience. Is there something you are hoping to see improve around your writing this year? How do you intend to achieve this change? Do you know why you are writing about a particular topic/issue/idea? In other words, have you thought about why it is important for you to write about t...

Donald Graves Address, ALEA Conference, Darwin, July, 2022 Donald Graves I am both proud and humbled to be invited to deliver the Annual Donald Graves Address at the Australian Literacy Educator's Association (ALEA) National Conference in Darwin, at the Waterfront Conference Centre, July 2022. Rare air indeed, to follow in the footsteps of previous presenters, Mem Fox, Ralph Fletcher and Robyn Ewing among others. I feel duly honoured by this special opportunity I have been afforded. Most importantly, it presents as a highly valued opportunity to honour the incalculable global contribution Donald Graves' research made to the teaching of writing, as well as his personal impact on my teaching and writing life. My heart sings... Donald Graves was a writing revolutionary who impacted pedagogical approaches to writing, across numerous countries. I very much look forward to shining a light on his incredible legacy -past, present and future. Hopefully, Covid willing, I will get to s...

  At the conclusion of each school year, I feel compelled to write, urging teachers to quarantine a little of their well deserved holidays break time for some writing.  As we rapidly approach the end of another challenging year, my message remains unerringly simple.  If you are a teacher who writes, it is easier  to present as a writer who teaches.  Will you be embracing the challenge of keeping your own writer’s notebooks in 2022? Well, that notebook will greatly 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. It is probably more so following the unerring demands of these Covid years.  The need to tie up a multitude of loose ends prior to school closing for the summer holidays remains.   The final days of school seem to take the longest time of all the many school weeks. School becomes the epicentre of fatigue for both students and staff. I am als...

  We can use our Writer's Notebook in an infinite number of ways to collect limitless entries. Once collected these entries can be used to inform writing projects we wish to pursue -now and in the future.  Here are some random entries from some of my notebooks to highlight the range of entries I gather from my various worlds. Some have been gathered from the physical world. Some are observational,  while others are personal reflections. Inexperienced writers need to be shown all the places a more experienced writer goes in order to add notebook entries. Remember, a writer's process is important.  The question might be pondered after reading such entries-  Why did the writer choose to gather this particular entry in their notebook, and how might it be used later ? I’ve decided I would never make a good pirate, despite my illusions. For a start I possess the buoyancy of a boulder and the thought of climbing up to the crow’s nest gives me nose bleed and wobbly legs...