My talked about the critical but endangered practice of building in time for kids to choose the books they read. Today鈥檚 piece focuses on student choice in writing; next week鈥檚 will explore choice in math.
Writers in Progress
There鈥檚 a metaphor in Zen Buddhism of a traveler walking in a light mist. She doesn鈥檛 even realize she鈥檚 getting wet, but suddenly she鈥檚 soaked.
That鈥檚 the kind of impact Writer鈥檚 Workshop has on young writers. A child in my class will write a phenomenal piece, something he or she wasn鈥檛 capable of even a few months earlier. When I look closely at the piece, I鈥檒l see several mini-lessons from the past weeks incorporated into that single story or essay.
A 3rd grader named Manuel had started the year with stories that just included a few sentences. In December, he wrote a five-page epic titled 鈥楥arlos and Tony鈥� about rival racecar drivers. Here鈥檚 an excerpt :
Long Beach had a snack shop that was abandoned. The beach had sea turtles and crabs that were dead. The beach looked like a graveyard. The water was like blood dripping from the earth. Carlos challenged Tony to a race. The announcer said, "Everybody start your engines." The engines sounded like lions roaring. Tony whispered, "I will win this race."
Carlos crashes his car, and Tony comes to visit him as he recovers from the crash.
Tony stepped out of the car. Carlos's grandpa said, "It can't be. You were stolen. We thought you were dead." Carlos said, "Are you saying he's my brother?" Carlos and Tony pulled out a ripped photo. They put it together. The two photos matched.
Manuel鈥檚 story took shape from his imagination and experiences, from his interest in racecars and the time he spent in California. But when I read his piece, I saw five separate mini-lessons we had done that year, ranging from using similes to describe a story鈥檚 setting (鈥淭he beach looked like a graveyard鈥�) to using an object that鈥檚 critical to a plot twist (the ripped photograph.)
My favorite definition of grit is 鈥減erseverance plus passion.鈥� When we provide students with more choice about what they write, their perseverance and passion both tend to increase.
Manuel worked for days on his story, then spent hours revising it, because he was able to choose a topic that ignited his imagination. My job was to strengthen his craft as a writer, not to tell him what to write about.
Why Writer鈥檚 Workshop Works
A rule of thumb for limiting teacher talk-time: most kids will focus on a teacher talking for the number of minutes that matches the child鈥檚 age. For five-year old kindergartners, the teacher has five minutes; for my 2nd graders, I have about seven. After that, the students may roll around on the rug and pass notes, or they may glaze over with a simulation of attention, but their concentration will begin to waver.
When I started teaching, I wasted part of that seven minutes telling the kids what to write about each day--the same vapid journal prompts teachers have been etching on the chalkboard for years, ranging from, 鈥淵ou find a wallet with $50 in it鈥� to 鈥淲hat if you could have any pet in the world?鈥�
One problem with that approach is that if we use our talk-time to tell kids what to write about, we don鈥檛 leave ourselves time to teach the actual skills that will make them better writers. Once I implemented Writer鈥檚 Workshop, I began to use my seven minutes to convey some aspect of grammar, mechanics, or the craft of writing--mini-lessons on irregular past-tense verbs, using sensory details to describe a story鈥檚 setting, or creating features of informational text like captions, headings, and diagrams.
When kids make the decision of what to write about, they鈥檙e a lot more engaged in the act of writing. My students had to incorporate each day鈥檚 mini-lesson into their writing, but they could apply that lesson to any topic drawn from their interests, imagination, or experience.
Lacey, who wanted to be a vet, could do her 鈥淴-ray diagram鈥� of puppies in a mother dog鈥檚 womb, then write about dogs鈥� life cycles. Ricardo, who was obsessed with cars and trucks, could do his diagram of the inside workings of an engine, then write about different types of monster trucks.
Soon our half-hour of writing time was virtually silent, every child鈥檚 entire attention focused on the piece they had chosen to write. Their ability to work independently left me free to conference with kids one-on-one or in small groups, along with choosing some students who had skillfully integrated that day鈥檚 mini-lesson to share their writing during Author鈥檚 Chair.
Ralph Fletcher鈥檚 lays out the nuts and bolts of how to make the model work with students ranging from kindergarteners to 8th graders. His books and provide mini-lessons that are a great resource for the Common Core ratio balancing narrative and informational text.
A Gradual Magic
Teachers talk too much. Students don鈥檛 talk enough, and they don鈥檛 get enough opportunities to make choices about what they read, write, and create.
There鈥檚 something gradual yet miraculous about watching a child like Manuel become a skilled writer. We can鈥檛 take credit for our students鈥� brilliance and imagination, any more than a gardener can claim to have invented pumpkins. But we can do plenty to nurture their abilities, and it often begins with trusting them to choose what to write.
Our job is to teach our students useful skills that make their writing more effective. Their job is to draw on their memories, experiences, and imagination, then to put something into the world that wasn鈥檛 there before.