Getting Back to the Habit of Writing

A little over a year ago I started j-alking (my word for jog-walking...and there's no way you could call this a run). I have a two mile course I jalk several times a week. I'll be honest, staying consistent isn't my thing. I've learned - the hard way - if I don't jalk regularly, however, there's a price to be paid. If I take a few weeks off from this routine, the first several jalks are not easy. For this reason, I've tried to push myself to be more consistent in this part of my routine. It's honestly easier to be consistent than to start over and over again.

Writing is much the same. This month is October so I've made the commitment to improve my writing game (read about my Blogtober commitment here). I want to get back to the regular writing habit I had in place some time ago.

However, just like running, getting back to writing isn't easy. I feel like I'm starting again. Finding topics takes more work than it used to take. Deciding the best way to craft pieces feels like an uphill climb. The sentences don't come easily. I'm also reminded when I stop by blogs to read the writing of others that time and practice matter as their writing shines from their commitment. 

This challenge to get back to writing has me thinking about the learners in our classrooms. What's it like to come back in the fall and get back to writing? How hard is it to write if there isn't time carved out each day to stay in the habit? 

Here are a few steps that are supporting my steps back into writing. As I have reflected on these days back, I can't help but think these steps might matter for the young writers in our classrooms too. 

Getting Back to Writing 

Build a Community: As soon as I planned to reset the habit of writing, I went back to my favorite writing communities. These communities not only help me with the commitment to write, but I also learn so much reading their writing. 

Build strong writing communities within our classroom. (Of course, it's a bonus to build some connections for writers beyond our classroom.) 

Increase Time to Read: When It's time to go back to writing, I find I really push to also pick up my reading. By increasing the amount of reading I am doing, I seem to find the writing easier. It seems when I am trying to write, I pay more attention to the moves the author makes as well as the words selected. Additionally, I find it helpful to read about writing and the process. 

Share videos and snippets from authors who share their writing process. Amp up read aloud and time for independent reading. 

Find Mentors: Anytime I've taken a bit of a break from writing, the first weeks of getting back into the habit are hard. Really hard. I'd like to quit hard. I find searching for mentors for the type of writing I'm trying to do and collecting examples of craft moves I aspire to consider help me get back into the groove.

Select read alouds which can serve as mentors. Find picture books, short snippets, articles and types of text that are within reach for young writers. Read them first and then look closely at the moves the authors have made.

Grab a Notebook: Yep, I can't imagine jumping back in without getting back to my writer's notebook. This is the perfect place for play, mess, and terrible writing - and a lot of it is terrible right now. 

Help young writers start a writing notebook. There's a lot less stress writing in a notebook than on a piece of paper headed to an audience or working toward publication. 

Deadlines, Challenges, and Other Writing Truths

The deadline loomed.

That morning I awoke trying to find the article I would submit for our writing group.  It was to be submitted that evening.  I'd had two weeks to write the article (honestly more), but I had not produced a word.

Here I sat with a deadline and nothing.  I'd try rereading old pieces for revision, but none of them felt right.  I tried starting a few new pieces and none of them took off.

Of course, the challenge wasn't the deadline as much as it was the writing.  I know the problem.  I just haven't been writing as much as I usually do.

Writing is harder when I'm not writing regularly, I find.  I know this, but I have to keep reteaching myself this lesson.  Because calendars.  Because time.  Because work.  Because distraction.  Because excuses.

When I got home that evening, the clock was ticking toward the deadline.  I had to do something.

Tick, tock.  Tick, tock.  Tick, tock.

Once again, I wrestled through a few older articles I had in my drafts folder, but they just weren't going anywhere.  Finally I decided the clock was running out, I had to write about where my feet were right now.  I started a draft that was related to some work I was currently doing.  Still.  Every.  Word.  Was.  Hard.

That's the challenge of not writing regularly.  It's like exercise.  The less you do it, the harder it is.

I've sworn myself back to some regular writing, but I can't help but wonder about the writers in our classrooms.  Do they have the daily time to write?  Do they have the time to play in their words?  Do they have time to write the really bad stuff that hides the gems we can tease out?

When we aren't writing regularly, our young writers can struggle to get words onto a page.  If we aren't writing regularly, we can find ourselves trying to push them through their struggle by giving them graphic organizers and strict guidelines for pieces.  We can find ourselves wondering where their passion is in their writing, where the voice is hiding, why they struggle so much to write.

Time isn't the solution to strengthening our writing, but it certainly is the first required step.

I didn't quite make the deadline, but I wasn't far behind.  (Yeah, I need an occasional deadline to push myself forward.)

It did remind me that the best way to make writing easier is to write often.

So here I am.

Lessons from Writing: 5 Questions to Help Young Writers Find Their Own Process #sol18 week 2

For the month of March, I'm participating in the Slice of Life Challenge on my other blog:  Merely Day by Day.  Writing every day isn't easy, and I'm learning some lessons I want to remember when I sit beside young writers.  Thanks to the team at Two Writing Teachers for pushing me to be a teacher who writes, and helping to grow my reflections.

These lines caught my attention as I visited Mandy Robek's post, Fumbling, on day 2 of the Slice of Life Challenge:

"I think I've learned the benefits of using my notebook during the day, along the way.  It's a spot to hold my thoughts until I can embrace them with intention."                                  - Mandy Robek, Enjoy and Embrace Writing

As I read posts from other writers during the Slice of Life Challenge, it isn't uncommon to see a participant write about the challenges they are facing.  There are the days the idea bucket is empty.  There are days our writing goes out into the world without the polish we would like it to have.  There are days when the voice of the writing doesn't feel quite right or the craft doesn't seem to take the message to the place we'd like it to go.

It isn't uncommon to hear someone write about their process.  Participants in the event talk about where they get their ideas, crafting techniques they've discovered, new types of writing they're trying, or the way they're playing with words.  It's not uncommon to read posts about participants' favorite writing spaces, times, or tools.

This is my seventh year participating in the challenge to write 31 days, but this might be the first year I have felt I've found a rhythm to this writing.  This year, I've decided to write my posts the day before I post them.  I get up at about 5:30 in the morning, reread the post I started the previous day, complete some quick revisions, and then post it for the day.  I then spend some time drafting the post for the following day.  This habitual rhythm has certainly helped me to feel less overwhelmed by the requirements of writing every day.

Mandy talks about using her notebook to collect ideas during the day.  She finds this helpful in her writing.  I, too, love a notebook, but I find that I never have it with me.  This year, when an idea strikes, I either go into Blogger and start the post with a quick five-minute write or I open voice recorder to record my idea at the moment it hits.  Most often, ideas come in the day when I don't have time to write so voice recorder has really come in handy.

As I interact within the writing communities I belong, I've learned that everyone has their process.  I love to listen to people share their process as it often helps me to reflect and to be more intentional in my own way of writing.

Helping Young Writers Find Their Process
As I listen to adult writers talk about their work, I can't help but think about the young writers we are shaping.  Do we allow students the opportunities to find their own their process or do we assign the process?  Do we allow students to find their writing territories or do we tell them what they will write about?  Do we acknowledge that the writing can be hard or do we expect perfection in every piece?  Do we allow students to find the structure and craft of each piece of writing or do we give them formulas for completion?

Here are some questions for helping young writers find their process and rhythm as writers:

1. Where do writers find their ideas?  This is a little different than what do writers write about.  This talks about memories, books, conversations, daily events, and maybe some good eavesdropping.  
2. How do you collect your ideas?  Often we're in the middle of a piece of writing when we get an idea for another piece of writing.  How do we capture those ideas before they are gone?  Writers do this in a variety of ways, especially now that we have digital possibilities.  Of course, the notebook is still a favorite for writers.  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has a site called Sharing Our Notebooks that is full of possibility to share with students.  
3. How do you grow your ideas?  This is a topic often shaped by opportunities and challenges.  Some people sketch, some web, some research, some list.  These possibilities are often driven by purpose.  Additionally, when do you revise?  Some writers revise as they work; others work to get the idea onto paper and then return for revision.  How do you strengthen your lines and words?  
4. Where do you like to write?  During a school day, young writers have very little say in where they write, but that doesn't mean they can't make some decisions about their spaces.  Providing alternate seating, allowing writers to write on the floor, creating quiet spaces, and maybe even just pulling out a picture and a favorite pen can help to create an atmosphere for writing.  Additionally, digital spaces may allow writers to carry their reading beyond the school day and write in their favorite spaces at home.  
5. How will you use your time as a writer?  In classrooms, having a regular daily time to write is essential.  If young writers know they will have time to write each day, they can begin to collect ideas.  Writing every day is essential, but isn't always easy.  Allowing writers to be in different stages of the process, knowing the process is not linear, and understanding that writers may take a short break from a piece to grow a burning idea all provide flexibility for the writer. 

Young writers need the opportunity to find their own process.  If we truly want our writers to write with purpose, to develop their voice, to utilize craft, to move their audience, we have to let them write.  

Lessons From Writing Series

• Week 1:  "You Should Write About That"

On Bad Writing

This morning as I got ready for our day with the Columbus Area Writing Project I was reminded of the hard work we ask students to do every day.  I've appreciated having time to write each day and know this is a habit I need to hold onto after we finish our days in the project.

Knowing the day goes better if I start with a plan before I arrive, I searched for what I wanted to write.  The conversation with myself wasn't going well.

"I've written everything I can think of in the last two weeks," I commiserated.

"How will I think of something?" I whined.

"How many more days do I left?" I wondered.

During the school year, I sit down most every Saturday morning to put words in a space.  Sometimes during the week I manage a few other writing moments, but Saturday is really my writing day.  As I move into summer my writing picks up a bit, but I still choose my moments.  If I am feeling it, I sit down.  If I'm not, I don't.  (I know the problem with this, but I might as well be honest.)

Today, however, I need something to write about.

One of the best things about going through the writing project is I'm being reminded of the hard work we ask students to do every day.

Every.

Day.

As I got ready, I thought about the pieces I had completed.  Having the time each day makes me write, but it isn't always easy.  I'm sure I have some writing which would have slipped past me without making it to a page if I hadn't been given the time to sit down.  However, I also have a lot of bad writing.  A LOT of bad writing.  In two weeks, I've written a piece or two that has some possibility.  I've managed a sentence or two that might make me pause, but mostly I have a lot of bad writing.

My experience has me thinking about the expectations we have of our students.  Are they realistic?  Do real writers produce nothing but writing that gets better each day?  I doubt it.  I'll bet authors have a lot of bad writing too.  Do we allow students the time for bad writing?  Do we expect every piece to be better than the last one or do we make room for the messiness?  So when the school year begins I'll be thinking a bit more about bad writing and its significance in mining the gems that could become powerful pieces of writing.

Literacy Connection: Celebrating with Ruth Ayres

"It's a journey we are on.  We are always taking steps, backing up, starting again."  Ruth Ayres

Celebrations
Celebrate!  It's a word one can easily get behind.  Ruth Ayres came to Central Ohio's Literacy Connection to share her thinking about celebrations in writing.  (My "Celebrations" Storify collection of tweets is here.)  Ruth reminded us that celebration is the very thing that ties us all together.  In her example, she talked about the stitches on a quilt.  These stitches keep the quilt together much like celebrations hold the work we do as writers together.  Ruth shared five important messages about celebration:

• The writer is more important than the writing.
• Writers celebrate throughout the process.
• Learning, growing writers are the goal.
• Personalize writing process is important to writers.
• Everyone has a story to share.  

Celebrating Process
It seems that one of the advantages of celebration is the opportunity for implicit teaching.  In these early days of workshop it is not possible to "teach" everything young writers need to know.  However, if we celebrate the small steps of writers, students may begin to see the way authors work.  This is also helpful as writers don't always have the same process, and young writers need to know this.

Ruth reminded us to "honor growth" by finding the little steps along the way.  She asked, how do we honor the growth of writers in different parts of their journey?  When you have two pieces of writing sitting side by side from two writers in very different parts of their journey, how do we honor each?  This really made me pause to remember to not just celebrate the writing that matches the strategies we are learning or the pieces that look just like first grade pieces should, but also to honor and celebrate the next steps of writers in earlier stages of their journey.

Most of all, celebrations help us to shift our thinking toward what children can do.  Celebrations help us to look at next steps and begin to see the places where young writers are trying to step into new understandings.

Share 
Ruth talked a lot about partnerships.  As I listened I realized much of her thinking about partnerships also is true about our time sharing and talking about our writing.  For me, share time is essential to our workshop.  There isn't a day that we do not take time to share at the end of our work together.  It is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful places to create a common language about writing, to share next steps, to learn to work like a writer.  However, it is also the part of the workshop that I struggle to improve.  How do I help students to give other writers supportive feedback?  How do we move beyond "I like" language to "I noticed you..." language?  How does ownership remain with the community and not just through my orchestration of this time together?

Share Should (adapted for share from Ruth's thinking about partnerships):

• Give specific feedback 
• There's energy there 
• They lift each other up
• The writing being lifted up 

Students need to know, "We are a community that talks about writing...like this.."  I'm thinking this focus on celebrating writing may help to make these changes.

Ways We Currently Celebrate
Listening to Ruth I realized I do more celebrating of product than process.  (Yes, surprised me a bit.)

• Reading our writing in share circle
• Moving work to our "growing writers" bulletin board (has first piece and best piece)  
• Publishing work in Educreations, ShowMe, or Explain Everything to share with larger audience
• Tweeting links to digital pieces from our class account @snowleopards1M

Changing Celebrations
These are a few ways I want to change celebrations so they are more about steps in the process.  

• Celebrating Writers:  celebration the steps of all writers --- moving beyond steps of first grade writers to steps of each writer across the process.
• Graffiti Wall:  Stella suggested a wall where great lines and words from student writers are collected
• Tweeting Writing Process Tips:  taking words of student writers as we confer and tweeting their smart thinking about the writing the process
• Celebrating Self:  not really sure how this goes exactly, but Louise Borden reminded me that writers celebrate their own small steps in lots of ways.  How can I help students to find their own celebrations?  

How do you CELEBRATE young writers?  

Thanks to Ruth Ayres for an inspiring and energizing day of learning.  

Telling Your Story in Pictures: A Visit from Christopher and Jeanette Canyon

"A journal gives us a place to explore our thoughts and develop our ideas in many ways." Christopher Canyon

On Monday illustrators, Christopher and Jeanette Canyon, visited our school to share their work.  It was interesting to get a glimpse into their process and learn about the very different way they both tell stories with pictures.

My students were fascinated by the work of Jeanette.  I think she had them at, "I use kitchen tools to make my illustrations."  Jeanette then showed the students her studio and the myriad of kitchen tools she uses to work with polymer clay.  It was interesting to see how she works with color and shape to create her illustrations.  It was interesting to watch her blend colors, sculpt shapes, and then create a page.

Jeanette Canyon also shared her research process for illustrating her book, Over in the Ocean:  In a Coral Reef.  Since she needed to know about a coral reef to create her illustrations she started by reading.  Then she went to the coral reef to study the creatures that live in this habitat.  She took pictures and then came back to decide how to best make these creatures for the pages of the book.  You can learn more about her process here.

Christopher also shared his work as an illustrator.  He talked about how he uses his notebook to practice his ideas and drawings.  He showed students how he draws a character in many different ways before beginning to work on the pages in a book.  Christopher Canyon, in addition to other work, illustrated a set of books based upon the songs of John Denver.  He talked about how he sketched his pages and using watercolors in his illustrations.  He shared how he experimented with different papers, different types of paints, and different techniques to find the best way to illustrate the books.

The Canyons reminded students to have fun creating and sharing stories.  Reminding students to share stories in all kinds of ways.  My students decided they wanted to add a post about the visit to our class blog.