I was schooled by the work of Lucy Calkins. When I first discovered The Art of Teaching Writing (as well as The Art of Teaching Reading) during my graduate work at NYU, my thinking about teaching writing changed immediately and intensely.
As a reluctant writer (and reader) as a young student, the workshop model made so much sense to me. And when I first saw this type of writing instruction in my student teaching placements (a first grade class and a fourth/fifth grade looped class) in the New York City public schools, I was blown away. These students were truly excited about learning about writing, talking about their writing, studying authors of great writing, and sharing their writing. They LOVED writing and while I moaned and groaned when my teachers used to say, "It's time for writing!” these children moaned and groaned when their teacher said, "Put your notebooks away.". It was incredible to me and very exciting as an "almost teacher" venturing into the world of literacy instruction.
Lucy's text became my bible as I implemented a reader's and writer's workshop into my own fourth grade classroom and I saw my students LOVE writing just as the students in my student teaching did. It was magical and also very rewarding as a teacher who, as a student, dreaded writing.
As I continued my "classroom teaching" and began my "teacher teaching", my ideas about the workshop and Lucy evolved. I think this is healthy. I think this is necessary. I think this is what we, as teachers, need to do to be considered professionals and serious thinkers. Yet as I travel across the country in my consulting work, I have encountered teachers in the primary grades who have debated me on the following point:
"Young writers should finish the task of the day (the teaching point/minilesson) and then start a new piece. This is what Lucy says.”
Their idea is based on their belief that Calkins believes that young writers, when "done" with their daily work, should grab a new piece of paper and start something new. Anything new. That this will build their writing stamina and keep them interested in writing. That for them to stay with one idea for a longer period of time will bore them or turn them off to writing in general.
So then I picture in my mind a writing folder with papers strewn all over the place. Papers that have some pictures and some words on them but are never really taken to the next level. Papers that become something to keep them busy during writer’s workshop. And so I ask myself, “why?”. Why would teachers just ask their students to keep writing and writing and writing when most of those pieces will just stay in a folder and/or get stuffed into a backpack and thrown out at home? There has to be a better way to build their writing stamina.
I have seen Kindergartners and first graders generate a number of ideas, choose one and then stay with that one important idea for weeks. They do have more to say about the rollercoaster ride they rode with their father for the first time. They can organize and draft the beginning to their All About book on Great White Sharks and create a table of contents for the start of their book. They will add more vivid verbs, onomatopoeia and alliteration to their poems about the sounds and sights of spring. They know how to edit their piece to make sure that they have capital letters in the right places in the final draft of their List and Label book. They love to create a thoughtful About the Author page, title and dedication for their story about a dinosaur who feels left out at school because he has spikes on his back when all the other dinosaurs are "spineless".
I have seen it happen and never have the students gotten bored, disenfranchised or turned off. It still amazes me, just as it did 11 years ago during my time at NYU, when first graders take one idea and stick with it for weeks to produce a piece of writing that is deep, thoughtful, powerful and beautifully crafted. I KNOW it can be done and WANT it to be done more. My wish is that teachers of young writers will give this process a chance. That they will stop asking our youngest writers to just keep producing pieces to keep them busy but rather ask them to produce pieces of writing that really help them to understand the power of the writing PROCESS.
As a hardcore writing workshop teacher, I always approached writing with the belief that children could and should stay with a piece of writing throughout the drafting, revision, and editing phase of writing. Of course, I had an intermediate grade orientation. When I started to venture into primary classrooms, the beast struck me as a little different. These children were eager to write but when one story was written, they did seem ready to write the next one. If we were writing how-tos,when the how-to ice skate piece was done, they were ready to move on to the how-to brush your teeth piece. I found it very difficult to keep them with one piece for long periods of time...So, I began to investigate this idea a little further and my quest took me to Katie Wood Ray's book About the Authors.
ReplyDeleteKatie and Lucy are colleagues. They've worked together at the project and I have this vision of them having long talks about this very topic because Katie spends LOTS of time in primary classrooms. I get the sense that she understands primary writers better than Lucy does. I credit Katie with this notion of a writing folder vs. a writing notebook filled with lots of first attempts and after I read this book (while simultaneously working in a first grade classroom) it all began to make sense to me. Primary children live in the moment. And for them, every act of writing is an act of stamina building. While we introduce craft and immerse them in literature rich environments, their work as writers is about making books and they want to do that--A LOT! If you haven't read About the Authors, you should check it out. It definitely takes a left turn from Lucy's orignal thinking in The Art of Teaching Writing.
I love Katie Wood Ray and got the chance to see her and speak with her at a session she provided for Dowling students and faculty some years back. When she signed my copy of Wondrous Words I felt like a teenager at a New Kids on the Block concert (I know I'm dating myself now...). She was inspiring, down to earth and reasonsable and really seemed to understand the issues that were facing educators. About the Authors is one book of hers I haven't read but will be sure to check it out before the school year begins.
ReplyDeleteIn the primary classrooms I've been in, I've seen both kinds of "stamina" building. I want to encourage young writers to know that any meaningful project may take time and care and that this may mean staying with sonmeting a little longer to get to that place. I do understand the idea of building stamina through multiple pieces. I just hope that teachers can find a balance of these types of writing as students move from the primary grades into the intermediate grades. I found this video from Katie explaining what we are discussing and I think she thinks the two types are equally important. Check it out when you can. As always, thanks for your feedback.
http://ppsteachersandwriters.blogspot.com/2009/11/katie-wood-ray-on-writing-stamina.html