Emerging Writers

A lump fills my throat as I think about what the upcoming school year has planned for me. You know that feeling you get when reluctant tears just won’t fall? Yeah, that’s me in a nutshell right now. I'm excited to teach writing again, but at the same time apprehensiveness boggles my mind.

For the second year, my principal has assigned me as the fourth grade lead teacher. I am confident that I can successfully be a great mentor and leader, so that's not where my issue lies.  The Scylla and Charybdis is having three new teachers on my team who will be tossed in the fiery furnace with 20-plus students who know nothing about writing. On top of that, these enthusiastic educators are expected to work miracles! How's that for your first year?

My new colleagues know that they have to prepare our great students to be writers, something that's typically not done until these jewels reach fourth grade. This brings me to my next point. Why aren't we successfully preparing our students to write? Why is it that 4th grade students don't know how to compose a sentence or even know that a sentence ends in punctuation for that matter? Where have we, as educators, gone wrong, and what can we do to fix this? It's a team effort, and it starts at the top.

Administrators realize the severity and importance of writing sometimes when it's a tad bit too late. It's when those failing scores come back that they ask, "What must we do?" Well, I'll tell ya-- start writing literacy early! This simple suggestion isn't difficult to understand. Introducing writing at the early elementary level is key to shaping and molding our students to be auspicious learners. Implementing a school wide writing program is necessary if we want our students to be accomplished writers. This program needs to be closely monitored to ensure fidelity. It's not okay for Mrs. Johnson, a first grade teacher, to issue a journal topic once every quarter if the program clearly states that first graders should compose narrative stories monthly. Nor is it ok for Mr. Williams, a fourth grade teacher, to allow his students to write half a page (for what was supposed to be a full expository story) and deem it acceptable. Educational leaders should set expectations for new implementations and reprimand accordingly. Enough about what our administrators should do. How can classroom teachers make the difference? After all, we are responsible for teaching our students and expanding their knowledge. Let’s not fail them.

So you think, “Great! You want me to teach writing, too?” It’s no secret that classroom teachers are swamped with to-do lists, directives and deadlines. The thought of adding another extremity to your already over-crowded daily schedule may seem absurd. But our students so desperately need it. Even if you haven’t been asked to, per se, teach students this beautiful art, will you grant them justice and do it anyway?

Writing is a powerful tool. Not only does it improve students’ penmanship, but “[it] supports development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills” (Carpol, 2013). Through writing, students learn processes, which benefits other aspects of their learning.Planning, organizing, researching and peer review can help students make connections to what they’re learning in their other courses. Research also suggests that writing aids in social and emotional development. If a student is experiencing a life-changing event, writing can help them cope as they release their feelings on paper with their favorite writing utensil. Also, “since writing requires the student to consider audience and purpose, [constant] practice can help the student apply the same considerations to verbal communication” (Carpol, 2013). Second grade HISD teacher, Lena Henton, agrees. “There’s a direct correlation between oral and written development. Often times, students speak how they write. Usually if they have well-developed oratory skills, it carries over to their written linguistic ability.”

In order for students to truly concern themselves with writing, teachers must make it enjoyable. The days of “Class, here's your writing prompt. Now get quiet and start writing“ are long over. For starters, try these creative pre-writing activities from ACTS of Teaching, a phenomenal work that offers educators a comprehensive approach for teaching writing:

• Wet-Ink Writing: Initiate a start and top signal for your students. Inform students that you’re not concerned with mechanics since the purpose of this activity is to increase fluency. Let the students write whatever comes to their mind. If they can’t think of anything, it’s okay for them to write, “I can’t think of anything” until something comes to mind, which normally does since the brain refuses to be bored. Students should write for the (short) time that you have allotted (Carroll and Wilson, 2008, p. 9).
• Trigger Words: Call out a word and have students write down words, phrases, sentences or anything that comes to mind about that word. You may also have different students on different days call out a word for this purpose. Afterwards, students are able to share what they have written (Carroll and Wilson, 2008, p. 10).
• Writing Roulette: Students begin to write a story. A teacher given topic for this activity works best.  After their short writing time is up (no more than 5 minutes), they would then pass their paper to the next person at the table. That person will add on to the story until their time is up. They would then pass it on to someone else who will add to it. Once the paper has made It back to its owner, the student can share what has been written. This strategy helps students learn key writing components such as transitions, voice, style, and tone (Carroll and Wilson, 2008, p. 12).
• Sentence Stubs: Write a sentence stub, an open-ended piece of a sentence that will spark enough interest for writing, on the board and have students finish the sentence and continue with whatever thought it generates (Carroll and Wilson, 2008, p. 13).

These strategies will provoke students to dive into writing with enthusiasm and ease.  I challenge you to use them in your classroom and teach writing even if you haven’t been asked to. Don’t rob our students of their ability to go anywhere in the world through a pen. Mirror Nike’s demanding catch phrase and “just do it.”