Introducing Students to A Writing Life

Muriel and I were just talking about how we begin our school year and agreed that we usually waited a couple of weeks before introducing students to writer's notebooks and writer's workshop, but you will know what is the right time for you. Perhaps, you'll focus on writer's workshop second semester or a particular time period during the year, or maybe you've already started. Whatever the case, the next few entries to our blog will focus on the particulars of writing in the classroom.

Of course, because of the pandemic, writer's notebooks may be hard to monitor and collect. I loved the idea of students leaving their writer's notebooks in the classroom, available to pick up before class. This was an excellent way for students to record lessons on writing, do rough drafts, and respond to prompts as well as try out different writing techniques. It was a way for me to check for understanding of concepts presented. As far as grading, if the work assigned was completed, everyone received the same score, and I didn't check /grade notebooks more than once every couple of weeks. Generally, I didn't read most of the entries. The grade was basically for completing the work.

There are many ways to store notebooks in the classroom, but I usually had bins at the front of the room for each class, and students picked them up as they entered the room, so it was available to them when needed. Now, of course, that is not feasible. Even without the pandemic, some teachers and students have preferred online notebooks, journals and portfolios. That is where we are at today. As long as students have access to the internet, and a word processing program, they are set. It will be up to you to help them with storage and organization of their writing so that it's easily accessible. Please share ideas with our readers as to how you have accomplished this with your students.

“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it, slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain.” — Jack London

So, what goes in a student's writer's notebook and how is it used? Again, this can vary from classroom to classroom, teacher to teacher. Jack London is speaking to writers - we, as teachers, are creating writers and introducing our students to a writing life. Some will thrive with the notebooks, others struggle to get a thought down. Over the next few weeks, we will be giving you ideas to get students thinking and writing, ways to take pieces from the notebook into finished essays, and ways to continue building classroom community through writing.

We would love to post some of your favorite websites, uses for notebooks, and ways you use to create a writing life in your students, so stay in touch and let us know what is working for you.

Micki