The Right to Personalize the Writing Process While Sheltering in Place
Life is not and will never be the same. Our students are at home. They don't have community around them to encourage or discourage their writing efforts, yet this may be one of the most critical times of their lives. Why not capitalize on it?
Are your students writing during this difficult time of at-home learning? What is happening in their homes? What does their day look like? Allow them time to reflect on and write about what they are hearing on TV or from friends and family about COVID-19. Or let them write about anything that is currently occupying their mind. It's a great time for escaping what's going on around them and fantasizing about another, maybe dystopian life.
Regardless, it's time for students to do some writing in the genre of their choice. So many of my students loved writing poetry, and I never allowed enough time for them to really explore what they wanted to express. Now, living in such uncertain times, encourage the expression of feelings through prose and poetry. Encourage students to post on a virtual board and to give feedback to each other on their topics.
Post a list of topics to spur creativity. Expect students to do a piece of writing each week on a topic that catches their interest, and provide time for sharing and feedback with the whole class. Ask for volunteers to share and then have the rest of the class write responses to the writer with questions and comments about their writing. Have them revise with the comments in mind.
There are so many books/websites out there with topics for student writing as well as online resources. Please share with us some of your favorites. One of mine that has been helpful is Prompted to Write: Building on-demand Writing Skills by Meredith Pike and Gerald Fleming. There are 15 chapters of writing prompts and developed introductory exercises.
Now is a great time to share your thoughts about living in a pandemic with your students, but if that is too personal, look for topics online and share with your students how and why you chose your topic. Give them leeway in choosing their topics and have them tell the story behind their choice.
Finally, share with us some of your writing and that of your students. Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Monday, March 23, 2020
4 THE RIGHT TO PERSONALIZE THE WRITING PROCESS
When I first began to instruct students using methods I had learned about the writing process, I insisted that they document/show me the expected steps used in the process – from generating their topic to the published/submitted paper. I think I even had a poster on the wall that identified the steps of the process. Because I valued so much the writing process, I also gave this work a grade.
I vividly remember one of my best writers sharing with me that he didn’t follow these steps. He said that most of the processing he did occurred in his head, and that he then went back and filled in the steps that I expected. I realized that really wasn’t so much different than what I did when outlining had been expected of me. I created the outline after I had written my assignment so that the outline fit my essay. That awareness moved me to ask my students to journal more about their process and to share how they had arrived at their final assignment. This process proved to be invaluable in developing writing confidence.
As Donald Graves shared in A Fresh Look at Writing, “I’ve found that some teachers have misunderstood the writing process. They deliberately take children through phases of making a choice, rehearsing, composing, and then rewriting. Of course, these processes do exist, but each child uses them differently. We simply cannot legislate their precise timing.” Also Spandel shares, “No two writers go about the business of discovering, shaping or sharing ideas in just the same way, any more than they dance or speak or laugh or make love in the same way.” p. 40
Working with students over the years, I know how important it is to share one’s writing process. Whether it be you (the teacher) or other students, we learn so much from each other. I found that from pair/share to small group types of sharing were invaluable in the student developing confidence in writing and in becoming an independent writer. As Spandel writes in her book, “Each person’s process is different, but you don’t know this until you have experimented with all the pieces and parts that go into creating writing.” p. 42
This sharing of our writing process depends so much on the classroom community. Creating an environment conducive to sharing with others takes time. Once I heard a student remark as he left my class, “Well, there aren’t going to be many secrets in this class!” Micki and I are planning to share different techniques/strategies to help create a classroom community, and we welcome your contributions!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
After Micki’s post on The Right to Go Off Topic, we had a request to share the directions for the 3-sheet writing. I don’t remember where it came from originally, but here is my handout:
3 Sheet Writing Activity
Purpose: • Build Community in the Writing Classroom
• Review and reflect on writing process
1. Read a selection…could be memoir or a memorable piece of fiction….or a picture
book… (pre-writing, topic generation)
2. Pass out 3 notecards -- could be 3 different colors.
3. Card #1:Write the name of a person or place or event that comes to mind after
hearing the selection that was read; around the word, write other words and phrases
that are associated with it.(pre-writing, topic generation)
4. Re-read/reflect on your brainstorming: circle one item that surprises or intrigues you.
(pre-writing, focusing)
5. Pair-share (4 min. each)
What is your subject?
Why did you choose it?
Tell something about the circled word.
(pre-writing,rehearsing)
6. Card #2:Draft the story you have just shared with your partner. (drafting)
Share draft with partner. (PQP)
Is there something I have left out?
What else do you want to know? (conferencing)
7. Card #3: Rewrite story with suggestions from partner. (revision)
8. Share writing in small groups.(publishing)
Reflection:
How might this activity be used with your students?
What might be a motivating text?
Could you incorporate other writing rituals and routines into this process?
A final thought – today I read a Facebook entry from a college professor suggesting that his students keep a journal of their daily routine, etc. during this pandemic as a way of documenting this unbelievable time -- sounds like a good suggestion for all of us!
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
3 THE RIGHT TO GO OFF TOPIC
Frequently when Muriel and I were hosting workshops for teachers of writing, we had a 3-sheet writing activity that always worked to create a personally viable topic to write about. The 3 pieces of paper took writers through the entire writing process, but for me, the first page was the most important - selecting my topic. I knew that if the topic and I connected, I could write a decent essay.
Probably the one thing students struggle with the most is writing to a prompt that has no relationship to their life experience. Frequently, when I gave a prompt, I might find 90% of students writing to it, and yet, there was that 10% that either wrote about something else or couldn't relate to the topic and didn't write at all. Or, there were the students who started out on the given topic and gradually wandered away from it as the topic triggered peripheral ideas that they wanted to talk about.
So, what do we do when we receive papers that don't stay on topic? Spandel suggests bending the rules a bit. Certainly students need to know when and why it's important to stay on topic such as in high-stakes testing. But for classroom assignments, and as we encourage students to write more, Spandel suggests that addressing the prompt be given a low priority on our rubrics.
When we give students flexibility in their writing, they loosen up, their voice emerges, and they create engaging pieces.
"If we truly believe that writing is thinking, then we must let our writers go where their thinking leads them - and as far as it will take them, even if it means leaving the best of our prompts far, far behind."
-Spandel
Frequently when Muriel and I were hosting workshops for teachers of writing, we had a 3-sheet writing activity that always worked to create a personally viable topic to write about. The 3 pieces of paper took writers through the entire writing process, but for me, the first page was the most important - selecting my topic. I knew that if the topic and I connected, I could write a decent essay.
Probably the one thing students struggle with the most is writing to a prompt that has no relationship to their life experience. Frequently, when I gave a prompt, I might find 90% of students writing to it, and yet, there was that 10% that either wrote about something else or couldn't relate to the topic and didn't write at all. Or, there were the students who started out on the given topic and gradually wandered away from it as the topic triggered peripheral ideas that they wanted to talk about.
So, what do we do when we receive papers that don't stay on topic? Spandel suggests bending the rules a bit. Certainly students need to know when and why it's important to stay on topic such as in high-stakes testing. But for classroom assignments, and as we encourage students to write more, Spandel suggests that addressing the prompt be given a low priority on our rubrics.
When we give students flexibility in their writing, they loosen up, their voice emerges, and they create engaging pieces.
"If we truly believe that writing is thinking, then we must let our writers go where their thinking leads them - and as far as it will take them, even if it means leaving the best of our prompts far, far behind."
-Spandel
Monday, March 16, 2020
RESPONSE TO "THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE A PERSONALLY IMPORTANT TOPIC"
Muriel's post definitely shows the beauty of a personal experience shared through writing.
I am the first to admit that it seemed perfectly fine to me when I started teaching middle school, ELA, to assign the same topic/prompt to the whole class, that is, until I read Nanci Atwell's In the Middle. The beauty of her students' writing stemmed from her allowing students to choose their own topics but also their own genres! So, while some students were writing an essay about summer vacation, others chose to tell their stories in poetry or in a play. Still others had scrapped the summer vacation topic and were writing about books they'd read, creating science fiction stories or writing letters of complaint to their local government.
Spandel cautions us, however. "We don't want to push our students off a cliff. That's what we do, in effect, when we say, 'Go ahead - write about anything that interests you.'" Some helpful tips she suggests to get started are:
1. Help students understand the differences and purposes of different kinds of writing.
2. Focus on the students themselves. What interests them?
3. Talk honestly about where ideas come from.
Finally, Spandel suggests we do some modeling - perhaps have students assign us a topic and then demonstrate our process by typing it out in front of them. What does your process look like?
In other words, beautiful writing and personal choice comes from a foundation that has been built over time where students understand their choices and what good writing looks like.
Muriel's post definitely shows the beauty of a personal experience shared through writing.
I am the first to admit that it seemed perfectly fine to me when I started teaching middle school, ELA, to assign the same topic/prompt to the whole class, that is, until I read Nanci Atwell's In the Middle. The beauty of her students' writing stemmed from her allowing students to choose their own topics but also their own genres! So, while some students were writing an essay about summer vacation, others chose to tell their stories in poetry or in a play. Still others had scrapped the summer vacation topic and were writing about books they'd read, creating science fiction stories or writing letters of complaint to their local government.
Spandel cautions us, however. "We don't want to push our students off a cliff. That's what we do, in effect, when we say, 'Go ahead - write about anything that interests you.'" Some helpful tips she suggests to get started are:
1. Help students understand the differences and purposes of different kinds of writing.
2. Focus on the students themselves. What interests them?
3. Talk honestly about where ideas come from.
Finally, Spandel suggests we do some modeling - perhaps have students assign us a topic and then demonstrate our process by typing it out in front of them. What does your process look like?
In other words, beautiful writing and personal choice comes from a foundation that has been built over time where students understand their choices and what good writing looks like.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
2 THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE A PERSONALLY IMPORTANT TOPIC
One of the writing prompts I liked to use came from sharing a section of Journal of a Prairie Year by Paul Gruhow. Starting on page 99, I would read a section that begins, “There are certain objects, certain smells, certain sensations that are for me indelibly etched in particular time.“ He then details memories of smells, sounds, sights from each month. As I read the passage, I asked my writers to free write ideas that began to surface for them. This activity often provided starting points for several memories.
Try it: Take a few minutes to jot down smells, sounds, sights that come to your mind for each of the months and then choose one of the memories you would like to share about in writing.
Here is one of my drafts:
I close my eyes and a memory of a typical Saturday night of my youth emerges. It is a cool night, refreshing after a hot summer day -- a night of sun-burned shoulders and crisp sleeveless sundresses.
Cars jockey for prime parking spots on Main Street
Soft filtered jukebox music flows from the Sugar Bowl
A steady stream of “hopeful” teens parade in and out
Last minute customers head into the bakery
A couple of boyfriends sit on the bar stools waiting for dates to finish their
work shifts
work shifts
Palpable excitement of impending romantic adventures fills the air
An idyllic, carefree memory, unburdened by any adult responsibilities or worries – nothing more than who? is dating whom?
Thursday, March 5, 2020
1 THE RIGHT TO BE REFLECTIVE...
Muriel and I talked today about focusing our blog on ideas and books that have worked for us in the classroom...ideas based on our philosophy of writing across the curriculum.
One of the books I used extensively in teaching a graduate class in writing to cross-curricular teachers was, The 9 Rights of Every Writer by Vicki Spandel. This book lays an excellent foundation for all types of writing assignments as well as assessments. The following 9 rights are carefully addressed and elaborated on in the book.
1. The Right to be Reflective
2. The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic
3. The Right to Go "Off Topic"
4. The Right to Personalize the Writing Process
5. The Right to Write Badly
6. The Right to See Others Write
7. The Right to be Assessed Well
8. The Right to go Beyond Formula
9.The Right to Find Your Own Voice
Taking a look at #1, The Right to Be Reflective, seems almost like a given, but in reality, how much time do we give students to quietly reflect on a topic before they write about it? Spandel suggests giving students some quiet time and "expressing and modeling" our own need for quiet time to write. This definitely means that when students are writing, we're writing as well. Try it for a short time, at first...maybe 10 minutes, maybe a little less. You know your students. Keep the class silent, and set a timer. I've found that not everyone writes the first time, but once this quiet time becomes part of classroom routine, everyone eventually joins in.
What to write about?
It helps if you've had a provocative reading or discussion ahead of the writing. Or perhaps you've brought in something to examine. (This works across the curriculum - ELA, Science, Social Studies, Art, etc.) In any case, there is a jumping-off point for students to think about and put their thoughts on paper. Students are also very interested in what you write about, so at the end of the time, give students a chance to share what they've written with a partner and perhaps a few with the whole class - including your own.
By giving our students quiet time to reflect and write on what we are studying, we are validating their thinking, and thinking leads to success in writing.
Next time: The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic.
Muriel and I talked today about focusing our blog on ideas and books that have worked for us in the classroom...ideas based on our philosophy of writing across the curriculum.
One of the books I used extensively in teaching a graduate class in writing to cross-curricular teachers was, The 9 Rights of Every Writer by Vicki Spandel. This book lays an excellent foundation for all types of writing assignments as well as assessments. The following 9 rights are carefully addressed and elaborated on in the book.
1. The Right to be Reflective
2. The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic
3. The Right to Go "Off Topic"
4. The Right to Personalize the Writing Process
5. The Right to Write Badly
6. The Right to See Others Write
7. The Right to be Assessed Well
8. The Right to go Beyond Formula
9.The Right to Find Your Own Voice
Taking a look at #1, The Right to Be Reflective, seems almost like a given, but in reality, how much time do we give students to quietly reflect on a topic before they write about it? Spandel suggests giving students some quiet time and "expressing and modeling" our own need for quiet time to write. This definitely means that when students are writing, we're writing as well. Try it for a short time, at first...maybe 10 minutes, maybe a little less. You know your students. Keep the class silent, and set a timer. I've found that not everyone writes the first time, but once this quiet time becomes part of classroom routine, everyone eventually joins in.
What to write about?
It helps if you've had a provocative reading or discussion ahead of the writing. Or perhaps you've brought in something to examine. (This works across the curriculum - ELA, Science, Social Studies, Art, etc.) In any case, there is a jumping-off point for students to think about and put their thoughts on paper. Students are also very interested in what you write about, so at the end of the time, give students a chance to share what they've written with a partner and perhaps a few with the whole class - including your own.
By giving our students quiet time to reflect and write on what we are studying, we are validating their thinking, and thinking leads to success in writing.
Next time: The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic.
MORE ABOUT ME, MURIEL THOMPSON...
I am a former director of the Minnesota Writing Project (MWP), a National Writing Project site, which I helped to establish at the University of Minnesota in 1990. At the university I also co-coordinated the College in the Schools Composition program for several years. In addition, to teaching language arts at Burnsville High School, I served several years as the department chair and was actively involved with the district’s curriculum work and staff development programs. Throughout my career I have been actively involved in several educational organizations and continue to be extremely interested in encouraging effective literacy instruction.
Early in my academic career, I was fortunate to be selected to participate in a summer writing program in the Twin Cities. This experience fueled my passion for teaching writing since I had little or no previous instruction on how to meet the needs of my students. From that experience I continue to seek out additional programs that would strengthen this area of education. When the opportunity to create a site at the University of Minnesota for the National Writing Project, I was excited to be asked to participate. Since that time, I have been actively involved in providing staff development through MWP summer workshops and school inservice programs.
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