Z’s Writing Frustration

I was surprised when Z was not frustrated because he had to write a poem, but because he didn’t have the freedom to write the poem he wanted to write in a form of his choosing.

He had to follow a template he found stifling.

I sing the praises of templates all of the time; they are great for reluctant writers, but they can and should be removed for some students.

I spend so much time thinking about how to get writers started, how to boost their confidence, how to encourage them to trust themselves to write, that I forget about writers who do not need that message.

Something to think about when teaching revision

“Revision is talking to others and self about what’s working and what isn’t” (A.C.).

Sometimes it’s hard to get students to think of revision as more than proofreading. Maybe framing it this way is a starting point.

Elizabeth Searle

Elizabeth Searle spoke months ago at my school, but I've been puzzling over a few things she said. For example, she talked about the natural rhythm of writers.

She said something like,"The natural rhythm of writers is on and off and school doesn't always allow for that." She was talking about MFA programs, but the comment could refer to any setting.

I'm always startled when I'm in the summer institute and the person presenting says write a poem. I come up with garbage. I don't write on demand like that. My natural rhythm is definitely off. 
 

Yeah, We’re Teaching Writing Right

Ideas from Help! For Writers by Roy Peter Clark that teachers can (and do) use.


• Keep a notebook, journal, or daybook

• Working on an introduction? Read good leads. p. 104

• Read your draft like a reader would. p. 126

•Talk it out.  “You can draft a story with your voice before you write it down.” p. 175

• Can’t get started on the paper or story? Write a memo, letter, note, journal entry on the topic instead. Read it and save the parts you can use. p. 176-177

• Freewrite. p. 177



I am not implying that writing instruction cannot be improved, but it does feel reassuring when we see that the things we’re doing in our classrooms are validated by scholars.

Let's Stop Teaching Writing: what do you think?

Every now and then you read something and think, Did this author read my mind?

Well, I think Paula Stacey is clairvoyant because I left class two weeks in a row thinking some of the same things she writes about in Let's Stop Teaching Writing: What Do You Think?



Wow!

Image Grammar Student Activity Book by Harry R. Noden

I think Stephen King (I'm listening to On Writing again) is responsible for this, or maybe it’s because I just bought about twenty book that Z has to have for freshman year and I figured someone should read them (Just Kidding!). Anyway, I just finished reading Image Grammar. By the looks of the first sentence above, I guess I need to reread it. Oh, well!

I liked the author’s method of paring grammatical instruction down to what he calls five brush strokes: using action verbs, absolutes, appositives, participles, and adjectives out-of-order.

Noden uses short excerpts from everything from novels and speeches to popular movies and advertisements, and students are asked to imitate the demonstrated technique. The technique of zooming in on a noun and a verb will be useful to students.

I got lost trying to use the templates, but I’m sure good teachers know what to do with them.

I wonder what students think of the “Shalersville University Occupational Inventory of Grammatical Knowledge.” The quiz made me want to learn more about how to teach the "status producing" twenty or so common grammatical errors. Who knows, if I teach them, I might be able to boost my inventory ranking to the $200,000 and above level. If only my earnings would reflect that….

LaRue Across America by Mark Teague

I recently reviewed LaRue Across America on Suite 101. It's such a rich book. I also suggested ways it might be used to teach the six traits of writing. Please take a look at the book's promo below.



Enjoy!

C+C+WD+E =P

I found this formula for a poem in Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools and thought I'd try it: C+C+WD+E =P.

The authors say they got the formula from a book called Patterns.
C+C+WD+E =P means comparison plus comparison plus wild dream plus emotion equals a poem. I chose dreams as my topic, but I'm not sure why.

Here's my attempt when the whole class tried formula poems:

Dreams are stars shining brightly, but vast and out of reach.
Dreams are like rainbows of many colors, bright and promising
dreams of abundance and good health for all.
Dreams are an answered prayer.

My poem is filled with cliches, but I gave my best try. Since it's poetry month, I should get a pass for trying.

Young Writers' Contest

Virginia Center for the Book is offering a writing competition, Letters to Authors, for students in grades 4-12. Guidelines are available at Virginia Center for the Book. The deadline is Dec. 10.

Characters Who Write

Below is my effort to begin compiling a list of books for youth that include main characters who write. I welcome your help. Some people say these books, or  Mentor Texts, can be used to teach budding writers craft.

Anholt, Laurence. (2006). Seven for a Secret.
Ruby and her grandfather exchange letters about the changes in their lives.

Cleary, Beverly. (1983). Dear Mr. Henshaw.
Leigh Botts writes letters to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.

Muntean, Michaela. (2006). Do Not Open this Book.
A pig doesn’t want readers around until his story is complete.

Pulver, Robin. (2010). Thank You, Miss Doover.
Jack learns to revise.


Watt, Melanie. (2007). Chester.
The author wants to write about a mouse, but Chester has other ideas.
- - -. (2008).  Chester's Back!
Chester gets to write a story his way.

- - -. (2010). Chester's Masterpiece.
Chester has writer's block.

Woodson, Jacqueline. (2006). Locomotion.
Locomotion writes different forms of poetry.
- - -. (2009). Peace, Locomotion.
Locomotion writes letters to his sister.

Which books am I missing?

Golden Lines

"Criticism to be of value must come before publication, not after."


~~Catherine Drinker Bowen Biography: The Craft and the Calling, p. 62

Spilling Ink

Spilling Ink has three parts and a total of thirty-one short sections and an appendix. Though there are two authors, Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter, only one pens each section. The authors interview each other in the end which reveals interesting information about how they got started as writers.


The “I Dare You” activities seem like they’d be useful in my classes. My favorite so far is the one on page 29 that helps you get to your character’s heart desire. Here are the steps:

1. Ask students to list things they want (e.g., a million dollars tax free, to sleep in everyday, to play the X-box until eyes bleed, even on school nights).

2. Pick one thing on the list they want the most (e.g., to play the X-box until eyes bleed, even on school nights).

3. Jot down three or four ways (encourage creativity) they could obtain the item (e.g., get straight “A’s” and try to use this as leverage; play the X-box while parents are working late; play the X-box when your parents think you’re doing homework).

4. Write a story in which a character wants the item and tries to get it several times, but can’t.

What about you? How do you teach students (or your children) to develop stories?

Getting Started with Spilling Ink

Getting started on a piece of writing can be tough. As I mentioned before, Po-jacks can help. Anne Mazer, co-author of Spilling Ink, might know something about Po-jacks. During her early days as a writer, she’d meet with a writer friend and practice writing. Mazer recalls, “Using a line of poetry, or a random sentence as a jumping off point, we wrote as fast as we could” (Spilling Ink, p.35).


She goes on to say she never thought much about this process, but eventually she used it to write a poem that inspired her to write The Oxboy.

I do what I call false starts. I think I got the term from one of Andrea Lunsford's books when I taught at Norfolk State, but I had been doing it since high school but didn’t have a name for it. With false starts, I simply start writing the piece as if it is the draft, stopping periodically to reread, throw out, and redirect. I also use this blog as a form of writing practice (and as a huge learning log where I record discoveries about reading and writing).

What about you? How do you get started on a piece?

July 22 at the SI

We had a Share Fair (Hunefeld 2009) at the end of the Summer Institute. The Share Fair was designed to give the Fellows an opportunity to share and learn from research uncovered during the Summer Institute.


These words pushed their way through my mind while the Fellows discussed their research:



Screenagers LMAO Digital Natives Digital Immigrants Culturally Relevant Teaching PAR Affirmation Online Courses Picture Books Faction Working Portfolio Writing Workshop Facebook: Friend or Foe Interactive Notebook Problem-based Learning Fibonacci Poems



Hunefeld, Ross. 2009. “When teachers are the experts: How schools can improve professional development.” Education Week 29.10: 24-25.

*What Is Your Most Compelling Reason for Teaching Grammar?

At the Summer Institute, we got riled up about whether we should teach grammar.


Should we teach grammar in schools? Who should teach it? When should it be taught? Does teaching grammar improve students’ writing?


We all yelled out our reasons for feeling the way we did, but I'm still clueless.



*Yes, I shamelessly stole this title from an old English Journal article. I'm sorry NCTE, but this is exactly what our Summer Institute debates were about.

Po-Jacks

Today at the Summer Institute, I learned the term Po-Jack. I think the phrase was coined by Eddie, though I’m not sure where it originated. The term comes from two words: Poetry and jack, as in to rob, steal, heist, lift; I guess you get my point.


The teacher takes a poem by a published author and encourages the students to “jack” a line and do one or more things.

Use the Po-Jacked line to

1. create a line of one’s own;

2. serve as an epigraph of one’s own poem inspired by the jacked line; or

3. create something somewhat new by deleting or rearranging some of the jacked poem.

In any case, Po-Jacks are a great strategy to help students who are reluctant poets. While Milner & Milner’s Bridging English may call this imitation or using templates, I prefer the coarseness and humor of Eddie’s term, and perhaps your students will, too.

What’s your favorite writing tip?

At the Summer Institute, Dr. Igloria talked about the presence of lyricism and narrative in every genre. I tried to take what she said and find the tips/ideas I needed to hear. Granted, I might have misinterpreted her and the tips may only make sense to me, but I want to remember them, and will be happy to hear what others think. What’s your favorite writing tip?


1. Take from reality and make it something other than what it is.

2. The power of poetry is its compression.

3. Unexpectedness is important when you write. Make a connection with the reader and then make them think about the topic in a different way. (So the piece should have aha moments.)

4. Every line in a poem has to do work. The second line has to be more powerful than the one before it. The lines have to beg questions.

5. Line breaks occur when there is a break in thought, a break to amp up intrigue, a break to create surprise. The breaks have to be there for a good reason.

6. Every pause or stanza in a poem has to earn its keep.

7. Catalog poems offer image after image; one thing after another.

8. Look at pictures in the news; look for triggers in news reports. These things might allow me to say something new.

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

I’ve been reading a number of books about writing this summer, and I keep coming across quotes from Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, so I decided to read the book. Here’s one of my favorite Golden Lines from The Writing Life:


“One of the few things I know about writing is this:
Spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now….Something more will arise for later, something better.” (p. 78)

This became so real to me a month ago. I was writing a profile of Allison Whittenberg, but I wanted to save some of it for a piece I wanted to work on later about her writing process. The profile wasn’t working because I was hoarding, holding back. In the end, I had to “spend it all,” and I’m glad did.

July 19 at the SI

In the beginning of her presentation at the Summer Institute, Dr. Igloria had us do an activity that I know as 2 Truths and a Fib. I learned it while preparing to teach a content area course. The idea was to use the activity to help students think about what they read and then discuss it. You can also use it to test vocabulary understanding. I learned today that I can also use it to talk about writing.

Here’s what we did. Dr. Igloria asked each of use to write down one true statement about ourselves and one lie. I wrote, I have three sons, and I workout everyday. Even though I do not look like it, the second statement is true. Hey, I didn’t say I workout long and hard.

Anyway, she put all of our statements in a bag and read a few. We were asked to determine the fib and to identify who wrote the statement. While doing this she said things like, How do your minds work when we piece together a story? What is the credibility of the statement? Why do we lend our ear to certain statements? How does this activity suggest impressions or observations about how our minds gravitate toward story? How do our minds wrap around statements that might not be true, but we want to contextualize them?

Hey, how do you use the 2 Truths and a Fib activity?

Potluck Writing at the SI on July 16

We’ve always had potlucks at the Summer Institute, but we’ve never written pieces about our food before. Sharing writing at the potluck was fun. We cried and laughed as we listened to each other’s pieces. I wanted to write something simple like the PB&J sandwiches I had decided to bring.

Here’s what I wrote while sitting under the hairdryer:


Lately, I’ve been thinking about all of the wonderful things my grandmother left behind:
Grapevines;
Rose bushes;
Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners;
Churning ice cream;
Making jelly; and
Me.

I finally narrowed it down to this, but I shared both the hairdryer piece and this haiku at the potluck.

Though a simple snack,
peanut butter and jelly
brought back grandma’s love.

I wanted to write a haiku because I had just finished reading Sorta Like a Rockstar by Matthew Quick and it has lots of haikus in it.