Why We Need to Write Poetry

On several occasions during the ISI this summer we talked about poetry. Sometimes we did some really deep reading of poems, sometimes we were writing our own poetry, sometimes it was a mix of both. I enjoy poetry, at least to some extent. In my classroom we read poems and songs regularly and each student has a poetry binder with their own copies of the poems and songs.

That's about as far as I go however. We don't dig very deep with the poems we read and I haven't done any poetry writing with my students since I switched to teaching first graders. My experiences during the ISI have me thinking about why this is and if I need to make a change.

I think the reason I've avoided writing poetry with my students is a mechanics issue. I work so hard to help my students understand the basics of using capital letters at the beginning of sentences and ending with punctuation that I am hesitant to throw in poetry which flies in the face of those conventions.

After studying poems and writing my own this summer I don't think that's going to cut it anymore. Poetry offers so much to readers and writers in the way of language use, word choice, and phrasing. We need to really study the poems we read and do some writing of our own. We need the freedom to experiment with language and form. We need the push to show rather than tell. All of that will make an impact on their prose writing as well. We can iron out the mechanics eventually.

Defining Writing

Yesterday's post touched briefly on how I define writing. I began to question this early in the summer when I participated (at least to some extent) in ds106. That course had me telling stories through images, sounds, design, and more. It pushed the way I view telling a story or creating meaning. I began to wonder what this could mean for my students.

Then I spent four weeks with brilliant teachers in NVWP's ISI. The room we were in from 9-4 Monday through Thursday and on Friday mornings was a cave. It is a basement room with no windows. The walls were lined with lockers, cabinets, and drawers full of maps and other things used by the geology department. It was crowded. One participant referred to it as a bunker. A friend and I decided before the ISI even began that we would have to do something to make the room feel comfortable and like we belonged there.

We hung up quotes from writers and work we did each day. On the first day we looked at several different short texts in unusual genres and had blown-up versions of each one. Those were hung up for the lesson and remained up til the end. Another day we each wrote haikus on post-it notes. Those went up and stayed up. We made a graffiti wall where we wrote quotes from the summer, said by participants and presenters. Some were serious. Some were not.

We also set up a mind map that said, "What is writing?" in the center. This didn't get much attention. It clearly didn't capture the interest of most of the participants. It went up because that question has been burning in my mind. I still don't have a good answer. If you have thoughts I would love to hear them. If you've read something on this idea I'd greatly appreciate knowing about it.

What does it mean to write something? Does it require paper or a computer? Does it require words? Does it have to convey meaning? Are there other ways to view writing that will still help a person become better at the traditional idea of writing?

Does any of this make any sense?

To Choose or Not to Choose

As I reflect back on the Northern Virginia Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute I have a few big idea take-aways that will directly impact the choices I make as a teacher this year.

The first one that stands out as I reread my notebook from the past four weeks is student choice. I never tell my students what to write. We do study different types of writing (narrative, instructions, letters) and they must write in that genre at some point, but that's the most prescriptive I get. This comes out of a firm belief in the importance of choice, especially for kids.

I still believe that and I still intend to give my students plenty of choice. That said, I also want to do some more structured writing, similar to writing to a prompt. I found myself trying completely new things as a writer this summer when forced into a structure or prompt. I also heard a lot of stories about students who felt a need for this support rather than completely free choice. I'm not yet 100% sure how this is going to look, especially with first graders.

One thing I want to try early in the year is listening to music and drawing pictures. Most first graders can't write all the ideas that come into their heads from the music they hear, but they can draw it. Then we'll put those pictures into their writing folders (or just draw directly into our writers' notebooks) and use them to help generate writing ideas throughout the year.

One possibility is having them pull small items out of a bag and use them in a story or a piece of writing. This will likely require some oral storytelling initially to help generate ideas and organize them. Again, drawing pictures will likely help them tell their story as well.

I also want to think about how to push their composing of writing through means other than pen and paper. I worry that my students become stifled as they try to write all the great ideas in their heads and they can't spell the words and even forming the letters can be such a challenge. I want to make sure creating stories orally or through some of the tools and ideas from ds106 is an option for them.

Oddly enough, my hope through offering some choice and forcing some writing is that they will feel a new freedom as writers. I hope they will discover some new possibilities through what I force on them and it will encourage them to stretch as writers in all the writing they do.

I feel like I should be putting the word writing in quotation marks. For me, more and more, it means the composing of a story or text more than it does the physical act of writing it on paper or a computer. However my students 'write' I want them to be doing so as well as they possibly can.

The End (of the ISI): Thoughts Mostly for Myself

I have done more writing in the past four weeks than I believe I have ever done in such a period in my life. Not as much of that writing has been here as I would have liked. It is important to write publicly, at least for me. Whether or not anyone reads it doesn't really matter. Putting my writing and my thinking out beyond me pushes me to think deeper and to take things a step further.

I was a co-director for this summer's Invitational Summer Institute (ISI) for the Northern Virginia Writing Project. Last summer was my introduction to the ISI. I wrote some about it then, certainly more than I managed to do this year! Last year was an absolutely amazing experience and gave me a passion for the writing project that kept me involved throughout the year and brought me back this summer.

This summer was even better. We were a much larger group, more than double last year's size. Fifteen amazing people last year and thirty-two this year. When everyone is fabulous, having more fabulous people makes it better.

A typical morning at the ISI starts with thirty minutes of 'morning pages.' Just silent writing. I did a terrible job of continuing that throughout this past year and I'm aiming to do better this go-round.

After that we had demonstration lessons. Every participant gives an hour and fifteen minute demo lesson about writing. We had lessons on revision, mentor texts, multi-genre writing, persuasive writing, using rhetoric in writing, poetry, tone, journalism, nonfiction, voice, and more. Each morning we would have two of these demo lessons before lunch.

After lunch we had guest presenters (people who had done the ISI in the past and had stellar lessons to share), conversations, or our writing groups. We met in writing groups of about five people twice a week for the entire afternoon. We brought writing to share and talk about. At the end of the ISI we create an anthology with work from everyone.

I plan to do some serious reflection on this year's ISI and what I gained from it over the next week. My 'morning pages' (which might be written at 7:30 at night) will be a post about my thinking. I have a composition book full of writing from morning pages, demo lessons, and conversations to review. I think there's gold in there if I'll just take the time to sift through.

State of the Profession as Seen by NVWP Teachers

We are now a third of the way through the Northern Virginia Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute (ISI) and I have not blogged about it at all. I've done a ton of writing, of course, but not here. One of my goals on the very first day was to blog about it twice a week. I set that goal to help myself reflect. So far I have failed. All I can do now is to give it my best from here on out.

Yesterday we did a round robin State of the Profession. We moved all the tables back to sit in a circle (more like a really big oval, there are thirty of us) and each person shared their greatest concern or challenge. It could be focused on their school, their district, or even broader. Whatever is speaking most strongly to them.

We're teachers from first grade through university, private/independent schools and public ones, teaching students from all socio-economic levels, countries of the world, and colors of the rainbow. In spite of all our differences we felt great connections around the group.

Here are some of the comments that struck me most strongly (in the order shared):

• fragmentation - lack of ongoing conversations between colleagues and across age levels
• negativity - we need to focus on solutions and positive thinking
• lack of control professionally and the sense that we've relinquished that control
• inability to focus on teaching because of the myriad other demands on teachers
• need for community in a school, ownership and vision
• too much emphasis on grades
• inequity for students
• national perception of our profession
• need for teachers to model life as learners
• culture of complaint - complaining about the teachers who taught our students before us
• need for meaningful collaboration
• need for classroom to be a safe place for students - physically, emotionally, and intellectually
• parental expectations for students and for teachers
• narrow definition of success in our society
• teacher exhaustion
• goals constantly changing from administration at various levels
• need to support children in our society - food, safety, support in all ways
• need to question more, to ask why we do things
• student proactivity vs. parent control - students do not take action due to parents doing so for them

It was a powerful time. Everyone listened in silence to everyone else. In spite of the focus on concerns and challenges it was not whiny. In fact, many people included things for which they are grateful about their school or district. I feel blessed to be spending four weeks learning with these amazing teachers. I firmly believe that our profession would be in a much better place if every teacher had the opportunity to engage in this sort of collaborative learning experience with dedicated colleagues. 

How about you? What is (are) the greatest challenge(s) facing you as a teacher?

Coming to a Close

Tomorrow will be the final day of the Northern Virginia Writing Project (NVWP) Summer Institute. Before these few weeks I had only a passing knowledge of the National Writing Project and NVWP. Thanks to Bud the Teacher I was at least familiar with it and interested in learning more.

In these four weeks I have learned much about myself as a writer, myself as a teacher, and just myself in general. The only one of those I had anticipated was the teacher one. I expected to do a lot of writing throughout this institute but I had no idea how much that would mean to me as a writer (or that I would even ever say 'me as a writer'). I have written poetry, narratives and essays this summer. That doesn't sound like a huge range but one of those narratives was from the perspective of a camera. I have tried new things as a writer - something I haven't really ever done independently and of my own initiative.

We are a small group this summer, something I actually think is pretty positive. We have been able to get to know one another well in this relatively short time. I have learned from every other person involved in this institute and I hope to continue to do so. Discussing big ideas in writing, literacy, and education in general with elementary, middle, high, and higher ed teachers has been amazing. They have broadened my thinking simply by sharing their perspectives.

If you are unfamiliar with the National Writing Project, check it out. Chances are good there is a writing project in your area.

Be Back Soon

I've got so much flying around in my head these days (thanks to the Northern Virginia Writing Project Summer Institute, various readings, and tweets from Constructing Modern Knowledge) but no ability to get any of it out coherently.

Our fridge stopped working a couple of days ago and my back problems have come back with a vengeance in the past few days. So, I hope to have both those things under control soon and be able to refocus.

Initial Reflections on the Northern Virginia Writing Project

I’m participating in the Northern Virginia Writing Project Summer Institute at the moment. It runs for four weeks, full days four days a week. So far I’ve been through three days and I’m exhausted. It is a good exhaustion.

Our days are pretty structured. We begin each morning with 30 minutes of ‘morning pages,’ writing time. Everyone just writes. I’ve never dedicated that kind of time in my daily life for writing before.

After that we have two presentations. Every participant does a presentation on something about teaching writing. We chose our topics, which allowed us to focus on things about which we are passionate. The presentations are scheduled to last just over an hour. They involve a lot of writing, participation and discussion. We’ve had five so far and they’ve all been fairly different. Wonderfully so.

After that we take an hour break for lunch. I’ve noticed, after just three days, that it isn’t really an hour. First of all, we’ve often run over from the morning presentations. Secondly, we all tend to talk to one another and discuss our thinking from the morning before remembering we need to eat.

Twice a week, after lunch, we meet in reading and writing groups. These are groups of five people who all bring their own writing to share and discuss. We spend time reading each others’ work and discussing it. We might share how we felt as readers during it, lines or phrases that really struck us, or ways to improve the writing. This is about two and a half hours of our time. So far we’ve only done it twice and it was powerful.

In my reading and writing group I’ve taken some poetry. I don’t tend to write a lot of poetry and I certainly don’t share it often, but I started a project years ago that I’d like to work on and hopefully finish. So far my group has not only significantly helped me begin revising two poems but they’ve helped me look at my poetry differently and I’ve begun revising others.

Other afternoons, when we aren’t meeting with our groups, we have outside presenters or group discussion time. We’re a small group this year, there are only about twelve of us. That’s about half the size of the group in past years. I’m grateful for this. I’m looking forward to really getting to know everyone in this institute and being a smaller group makes that easier.

There are teachers here from all levels. I think, as a first grade teacher, that I teach the youngest students. There are third and fifth grade teachers, middle school and high school teachers, and a couple of teachers from our local community college. It is so amazing to have all of those perspectives. I believe it is easy for teachers to do a lot of learning while staying within their comfort zone. I could read and talk only with elementary educators and not even begin to exhaust the resources available to me. However, I would be missing some important ideas and perspectives if I limit myself in that way. So it is a goal of mine to spend a lot of time talking to those teachers not working in elementary schools.

Ironic

I have the great luck this summer to participate in the Northern Virginia Writing Project Summer Institute (a piece of the National Writing Project). It's something I've wanted to do for years but it either hasn't worked in my schedule (during our years of being on a modified calendar) or I haven't been able to make the finances work. But this summer we made the scheduling work (with many thanks to my mom for help with the kids) and my principal found funding. I'm thrilled.

I still don't feel like I fully know what I'm getting into, but I know it will be fabulous. It will be four weeks of full days of writing and talking about writing and teaching. In all the ways I define myself, writer has never been on the list. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the next few weeks.

One piece of the Summer Institute is preparing and presenting on a topic of our choice. I've decided to focus on the power of audience - looking at how audiences beyond the teacher can motivate and support kids in their writing and learning about writing.

Somehow it appears I'll be presenting first, just half an hour into our first day together. So, if you have any tips or thoughts for me, please share!

*I've been meaning to write this post for several weeks now and haven't managed to do so for a wide variety of reasons. It seems like it should be easier to write about writing. Hence the title.