Khavan Writing

Khavan Writing
Originally uploaded by indi.ca

I loved this picture, originally posted by Indi Samarajiva on Flickr, of this child writing so earnestly.  The setting is beautiful, but he is not taken by his gorgeous surroundings.  He is intent on getting his words on paper.  He is dedicated.

And no one is telling him he's holding his pencil improperly or spelling words wrong or that he should have put a comma here instead of there.

Instead, his expression is pure and concentrated.

How do your students look when they are writing?

If they don't have this look of pure concentration and dedication, stay tuned.

Who are you writing with? Pt 1

Yes, notice I said "with"?
Um-hmmm.
I don't mean you have to be writing at the same time.  Although if you are a home-school mom and you are  working one-on-one with your student, I think it would be a great idea for you to write at the same time as your student.

However --

I also operate in the real world, and I know that most times we'd all LOVE to have the luxury of sitting down and writing, but we just can't.  More on that another time.

Anyway --

Writing with your young writers simply means that you don't consider yourself the high and mighty know it all teacher.

Please, please -- if you get anything out of this blog, it's this:  we're all IN-PROCESS!  None of us is perfect, and none of us should act like it!  If your students see a "perfect" teacher who wants nothing but perfection in return from her/his students, you'll get a big fat ZERO from them.  At least in writing.

As a teacher, we have to walk beside our students and feel their pain.  We have to be their guide.  We have to show them how to think their way through their writing.

In the end, if you follow the ways I will lay out for you, you will be amazed at the rich creativity you will see in your students' writing.  I guarantee this.  I put my career behind this.  It's almost formulaic, and yet so many have overlooked this way of teaching.

Pardon my passion.
But stay tuned.

So, you're going to write with kids?

And maybe you have no idea how in the world to do it! Maybe you're feeling WAY out of your league!

It's ok. You're in good company.

We've all felt way out on a limb with the very same assignment.

I've worked with kids for many years, and my first advice is

BE PATIENT!!!

But what does that mean, exactly?

It means, first, lower your expectations. You are not going to read The Great American Novel when they bring you their first attempt at writing.

Good, you're snickering. You're relaxing a little.

Because that's what you need to be, as a writing teacher -- relaxed.

If you are all tied up in knots, what do you think these kids are going to be?

Believe me, kids can read us better than we read ourselves. It's weird.

So relax. Tell yourself that Rome wasn't built in a day.

And then sit down. Take a deep breath.

Remember that whatever your hang-ups are about writing, if you are working with very young children, the chances are VERY GOOD that they don't have ANY hang-ups about writing -- yet.

So don't put them there. Don't tell those kids they have to be perfect writers.

Because they're human.

Just like you.

Stay tuned.