Different Kinds of 'Knowing' About Writing

South Downs NWP Convenor and secondary English teacher, Theresa Gooda, discovers more about what happens when teachers write together.

The model of NWP meetings is very simple: you meet somewhere, (mostly online at the moment) and you do some writing, along with other teachers. 

The benefits of NWP meetings are difficult to articulate - and I’m very appreciative of writing teacher colleagues who try to capture quite what is so special about them. There’s camaraderie, of course, and there’s something powerful about the collaborative creation in the writing process, and being part of a writing community seems to translate into classroom confidence.

Many teachers who participate talk about it as being ‘transformative’, and I’m coming to understand that the transformation comes through understanding more about the process of writing through the experience and the reflection. I asked my writers at South Downs NWP what it is that they really know about writing from regular ‘doing’ of writing together. This is what they said.

They understand more about:

• The importance of selecting experiences (in prompts and stimulus material) that students can draw on.

• The value of being able to anchor writing to memory to generate rich response

• The power of sharing words together and using them as building blocks, like Lego

• What a benefit there is from the process of hearing your writing read aloud: how it becomes a form of drafting

• How a greater focus on craft and metacognition in relation to writing leads to a far deeper understanding of how language works and richer writing results
  

We tried to go further and pinpoint ways that classroom practice has changed as a result of this different kind of ‘knowing’ about writing. A selection of the ideas:

• Increased empathy: It’s easy to forget what it feels like to write. Teachers could more readily see and celebrate ‘little wins’ with individual students

• Bringing more, and more diverse texts into the classroom to enrich the curriculum

• Introducing shorter bursts of creative writing more regularly: several times a week for most

• A greater use of freewriting, creating an environment where writing is relaxed and not pressured.

• Encouraging students to begin by writing lists of words (rather than starting with the dreaded ‘plan’)

I’m so grateful, as ever, for the experience of writing with reflective teachers - both for the joy of hearing their words but also for insights like these.

It was also uplifting to hear that NWP Islington managed to meet in person last month. Let’s hope that others can follow suit and meet ‘irl’ very soon.

The Significance of Writing Communities in Post-Lockdown Schools

NWP Secretary and Norfolk Year 3 teacher Sam Brackenbury reflects on the challenges - and solutions - for post-lockdown writing.

Writing will be on the minds of many teachers as we prepare in England and Northern Ireland for March 8th, and follow the lead of colleagues in Scotland and Wales who have already begun their phased return.

It is the subject that has seemed to have ‘suffered’ more than most during lockdown and, in some ways, this is not surprising. Learning is often a shared venture, but for writing, the presence of adults and peers seems particularly important for children. To commit ideas to paper and to take enjoyment from doing so they need their writing community.

The pandemic, and the subsequent move to home learning, has shown the value of the writing communities that we foster and nurture in our classrooms. Children need shared writing sessions, that almost palpable energy which comes from writing together. They need discussion with their peers to hear how they bring meaning when interpreting, describing or reflecting so that they can broaden and deepen their own command of language and ways of seeing the world. They need teachers, writing teachers, as models of how to think and act as a writer.

But more than this, they need that unique connection that comes from writing creatively or reflectively together as a group of people. So, as we approach the next few weeks, perhaps we should consider how writing, and our writing communities, might be used to reconnect, catch up and process the past few months. In turn, they might also support academic recovery.

We know that many children may have written very little despite all the effort and thought that has been devoted to designing remote learning. I know this is true of certain children in my classroom. Equally, many children will have experienced writing through typing, either for the ease of teacher feedback as they write on live documents or because parents have found this the only way to engage their children in writing.

Therefore, we might need a means to get pens and pencils moving again!

We should consider how low threat, high investment writing activities would allow children to feel free to choose what they might like to write about. These might be lists or short burst writing opportunities and, as we know our children, we will be aware of what will be safe and appropriate and how much direction to provide so as they are not overwhelmed or limited by the prompt.

Carefully chosen stimuli surrounding concepts such as thankfulness; their home; or themes around hope connected with nature may also facilitate conversations that help to process the impact of being apart from their peers and significant adults. It might be that we decide something light hearted is needed – again we know our children best! At the very least, these could facilitate talk and an opportunity for children to begin to feel comfortable sharing ideas publicly or in pairs and practice essential speaking and listening behaviours that might not have been exercised for some time.

Equally, it is likely that children will have engaged in far fewer dialogic conversations over the lockdown period and such discussions could come from exploring choices of words and explaining a response to a piece of writing, likes, dislike and the connections that have been made. Perhaps we might find that these discussions are easier because the writing is personal to the child. As always, we should remember that when we write, and talk about writing, we bring a piece of ourselves so acknowledging this gift and the bravery of sharing will be essential. Also important will be to remember the right to share only a little or nothing at all, and partake through listening respectfully.

We might consider the role of journals and how they allow the children to invest in the writing process and provide a safe space for them to experiment, invent, make mistakes and, eventually, develop a their identity as writer. This might need to be rediscovered! It might be that we need to simultaneously address handwriting and spelling to help remove barriers that might interfere with writing. There is real benefit to such practice and we know that writing by hand leads to quicker generation of ideas and, for older children, more effective note taking. However, it could be helpful to consider how these might be focused upon discretely and where or to what degree such an emphasis might be placed on these elements so that writing does not become intimidating or stifled.

Throughout these experiences, we as teachers should write alongside our children and think aloud our own writing process and responses to writing. We should model vulnerability and uncertainty, being stuck and revising words, as well as how we are generating ideas and establishing these into phrases and sentences.

Writing has certainly been different over the past few months and it is important to recognise that for some there have been some really positive outcomes from writing at home. Some children will have had many fantastic life experiences and discussions with their parents that will enrich their writing and we might also find that certain children have developed learning behaviours at home that will make them more independent and self motivated. Inspired by the successes of the virtual NWP teacher writing groups, my colleague and I committed to holding one live session a week with our classes and considered how we might use Padlet for the children publish their work. This led to successful writing for many children. I told them how much I enjoyed writing with them and missed this time in class. They returned the sentiment, explaining how they loved the online sessions and wanted to write for longer so I am looking forward to this continuing in person next week.

It is not the entire answer but devoting careful attention to our writing communities could be part of how we appraise the emotional or academic consequences of the pandemic and help the children to reconnect with each other this half term and beyond.

The 'Writeness' of Writing Journals in the Classroom

Secondary English teacher Theresa Gooda writes about the benefits of a writing journal approach, and why right now is a good time to introduce or relaunch them.

I am enthusiastic about the value of using writing journals in the classroom, and have spent time considering how to introduce and develop their role. These are ideas that have been built up over around a decade of experimentation in Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 classrooms (though what I was doing in terms of writing teaching for the first ten years of my teaching career prior to that is anybody’s guess). 

But I was recently asked by a PGCE student about where she might find out more about writing journals, and I was forced to confront what I think I ‘know’ about them - and where indeed I ‘know’ it from!

It turns out, of course, that my thinking is heavily informed by NWP writing, and specifically ideas in Introducing Teachers’ Writing Groups and Writer’s Notebook though there are some other influences in there, too. 

Choosing a notebook

I ‘know’, for example, that students should be encouraged to choose their own notebook to use, or make one, rather than being given an ‘ordinary’ exercise book as a writing journal. In part this is an initial signifier that the journal represents something different from other school ‘work’. It has an identity unique to its writer that denotes something about ownership of the writing it contains. It is the size and shape that the writer wants it to be, not dimensions that have been imposed on them. It is playful. It is the place where students, and teachers, can develop their writing voice and ‘where you can flex your muscles in many different ways’ (Smith & Wrigley, 2016: 52); it is ‘a conversation with yourself’ (Ibid., 53).  

Resistance

I ‘know’ that it is hard to set up initially, and needs to be used regularly if it is to be habit forming. It is sometimes hard to coax students into a new way of working and a new way of writing. Some students are resistant, and not ready to see its usefulness (Ibid., 53). But it is always, always, worth the effort in the end. 

No marking

I ‘know’ that this book should not be marked. If it really is a journal then it is private, and can’t be subjected to the same kind of scrutiny that other school exercise books would. If the writing is truly to be free, then students have to know that I am not looking over their shoulder. I can’t ‘perform’ writing if I am being watched at each stage of the process - my internal editor would kick in before anything really fluent or creative arrived on the page. If I can’t do it, as someone who gets paid to write, how can they? Elbow (2000:134) describes the need for what he calls ‘blurting’ that may, or may not, lead onto something more surprising and interesting. I therefore explain that it is a place where students can ‘blurt’. They can freewrite, brainstorm or do anything else related to writing.  It is informal and no one else has to read it - ever.  There is no need, therefore, to focus on grammar and spelling, unless they are important and you want to. There is no need to be concerned with what are merely ‘secretarial’ aspects of writing (Cox 1994 : 169).  The emphasis is on the ‘writeness’ of the writing, not the ‘rightness’ of the writing.

But I also ‘know’ that this approach is controversial. Students may potentially make disclosures in their writing that challenge safeguarding responsibilities. I therefore have a sticker that students put on the inside cover which looks like this:

Choice

I ‘know’ that choice of writing is important (Nagin, 2006). In order to develop their knowledge about writing, students also need opportunities to explore their meta-cognitive thinking in relation to the processes involved in learning to write. It helps then if I write with the students, alongside them in real time, and model mistakes, wrong turns, dead ends. But I also show the bits that I am pleased with, that might develop into something more, modelling that metacognitive dimension.

Sharing

And I know that, after a while, as they grow in confidence, students will want to share their writing, so as indicated on that sticker, I encourage them to share verbally when they are ready, but also to regularly choose something that they have written during one of our writing sessions to develop further and submit as a polished piece - an idea that builds on Graves (2003) who foregrounds the importance of ‘publishing’ during the process of writing, suggesting that for younger pupils this should be one in every five pieces, and for older students one in two or three.  He conceives of publishing as some form of binding which can be checked out from the classroom or school library, but remote teaching has opened up the technological possibilities in far more dynamic and less labour-intensive ways.

So, as many of us in the UK return to full face-to-face teaching from next Monday, perhaps now is the time to launch, or relaunch, those writing journals - after all, our students need a way to make sense of the challenges of lockdown and the trials of living through a global pandemic.

References:

Cox, B. (1994) Writing p169-178 in Teaching English edited by Susan Brindley. London: Routledge.

Elbow, P. (2000) Everyone Can Write: Essays toward a Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing, USA: OUP.

Graves, D H (2003). Writing: Teachers & Children at Work, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Nagin, C (2006). Because Writing Matters. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Smith, J. and Wrigley, S. (2016) Introducing Teacher’s Writing Groups, Exploring the theory and practice.  Oxon: Routledge.

Writing by hand during online teaching

Theresa Gooda, South Downs NWP convener and secondary English teacher, writes about the value of writing slowly with a notebook and pen.

‘I still like writing things out in longhand, finding that a computer gives even my roughest drafts too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness.’

This appears on the first page of Barack Obama’s preface to A Promised Land, the recently-published memoir in which he has attempted an ‘honest rendering’ of his time in office as president of the USA.

It resonated with me straight away.

I too am a fan of the humble notebook and pen, and I encourage fellow writers at NWP meetings to join me in ‘physically’ writing, even while we are meeting virtually during lockdown. Some, of course, prefer technology: a laptop, or even tapping into a mobile phone, but I love the sound of writers writing together, the scratchy noise on paper.

I’m also convinced that there is something about the physical act of hand writing, the slowness of it, that makes my writing better. I’ve never been able to articulate quite why, but I think Barack is onto something - the illusion of ‘polish’ that typed words on screen bring can bring is problematic.

Part of that problem comes from the fact that writing, for me, is always exploratory in the first instance. Whatever kind of writing I am undertaking, whether it is poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, academic or creative (and what, really, does ‘creative’ mean - all writing is surely this), my first marks on paper are a form of ‘working out’. I never know quite what’s in my head when I begin.

What makes writing particularly powerful as a mediator of knowing is, first the possibility it allows for the writer to make an extended, fully worked-out contribution, and second, because of its slower rate of production, its facilitation of a more reflective and self-critical stance (Wells, G. 2001. Action, Talk, and Text: Learning and Teaching through Inquiry. p186)

I came across Gordon Wells’ words while researching something entirely unrelated, but like Obama’s they rang true.

I worry that in our online teaching world we are physically writing less, even if we are typing and tapping away at a keyboard more.

As I plan my ‘synchronous’ and ‘asynchronous’ online lessons, I am forcing myself to find more and more opportunities to invite students to pick up a pen during the course of a session. The chat functions and sticky notes are all great for interaction, but ‘jotting down’ and ‘freewriting’ are important too. I’m also encouraging my students to write in longhand on first drafts and upload photographs of their draft work alongside the final draft to emphasise the sense of process that is easily lost at the moment; to avoid ‘too smooth a gloss’.

After all, if it’s good enough for Obama…

Back to School: September Writing Prompts

Through lockdown and over the summer I have managed to establish some good writing habits. My journal is never far away and, consequently, is bursting full.

Every year, though, September hits me like a train and those writing habits evaporate - generally alongside taking in the first pile of marking. It really shouldn’t be so hard to find the ten or fifteen minutes in a day to sit, reflect and allow the pen to talk to the page, but somehow it always is. Even though I know that it is good me, not just for my energy and well-being but as ever-present, brilliant CPD that will make a difference in the classroom.

Because our month of lockdown prompts proved so popular, Jeni Smith has been busy putting together another series of ideas to carry us all through September and the start of the new year.

Jeni explains how important it is to find that space for our own writing:

Writing is often the thing that we set aside for other things, for other people. We make appointments for the dentist, to see an anxious A level student, to help a colleague. Make an appointment with your writing. If you have a calendar write it in there. Colour code it. Put it on your phone and set the alarm. You need only fifteen minutes. If that is all you have between one thing and another, set a timer just short of the time you have available and get going.

The prompts for September are a mixed bag. Most of them should just set you going for a fifteen minute workout. Some may grow into something more extended so you may not wish to do a new prompt each day, but continue from where you left off. Many of the prompts have your professional life as a teacher in mind. I am inviting you, if you are so inclined, to use writing to reflect on your teaching. You may find you use just a few prompts over the course of the month. Many can be revisited daily. In the end, they are only prompts. Use them however you wish. You may even find that you use them as children do when they tell you they are bored. After you have listed a number of things they don’t want to do, they suddenly say, ‘Oh, I know what I’ll do.’ Go ahead!

So, no excuses. Keep your writing habit going through the new term, or cultivate a new one.

What writing has done for me

Sam Brackenbury reflects on his NWP writing experiences

Prior to this year, I had found it difficult to commit to regular writing; meaning, aside from note taking and planning, I only wrote when attending a writing meeting each month. Work and keeping up with friends or family had prevented a habit forming but this year I have managed to keep to writing at least four times a week in the evenings, which has been extended to almost every night during this period of lockdown!

The spaces I use for writing depend on the weather and the task at hand.  Usually, I’ll write at the centre of the house or out in the garden facing the apple tree and blackberry bush, always surrounded by background noise and the quiet goings on of others so that part of my brain that refuses to rest is slowly guided into stillness and focus.

The writing for myself is usually splurged and instinctive, responding to thoughts, words or prompts. In the best moments, I tend to keep my pen busy in the knowledge that the act of writing will eventually help me produce the words I need: an established idea, a thought explored or a turn of phrase I am happy with. It is often messy, with asterisks or shapes signalling revisions and after thoughts, and rarely will I look back at a piece of writing a day later. Once it is written it is written!

When in groups, the writing I enjoy most is the creation of lists. I like the free-writing and the many directions this takes your thoughts before the discussion of words, listing and listening; enjoying the connections and sounds as collections are shared.

The wonder when a random run of words incidentally creates something interesting, funny or poignant is always magic.

The best lists always include carefully chosen words, based on sound, shape or personal meaning, or highlight the hidden magic in everyday language, never the fabled ‘wow words’. Much of this is in the performance of a word or phrase as the words that are used.

When writing at length or by myself, I find memoir by far the most interesting and successful form of writing. I think this is because there is always something specific to latch onto, something about good food or “A time you have itched (physically or metaphorically)” for instance, which helps you start. For me, memoir also guides my brain and thoughts to link the past events to present matters through the people, events or sentiments in each piece. It might be something trivial, usually surrounding a want for food, or something more meaningful like something to be done or avoided, a connection to re-establish or a useful reflection to guide future decisions.

Having recently committed to setting aside time in the week to write for myself, I want to try and continue to do so consistently. I know that the act of writing improves the teaching of writing so I hope I can sustain the habit in the knowledge that this will enrich my practice.

Writing teachers has formed a key part of my professional development for the past six years. Just as the act of writing stimulates writing (Elbow), the act of writing with other teachers develops your teaching of writing and your role as the chief facilitator in a community of writers. The sessions improve your awareness of the complexities and emotional investment that come with creating, meaning that you are more empathetic when listening, appraising and establishing routines for critique. A ‘thank you’ has always become a custom response at any level of critique after so all contributions feel valued and I endeavour to explain how an idea has made me think or feel as often as possible. This level of sensitivity extends to offering how much someone might like to share, even if it is usually the whole piece! Equally, word and sentence level discussions exploring how words work together occur almost daily so that children get regular opportunities to orally compose and explore whilst recognising the strength in shared composition. Until recently, I found these functioned best in shared or guided writing however a small project involving paired writing with rather young writers demonstrated that the climate . Attending writing meetings contributed to developing the courage to let the children go, believing they could talk well, splurge and then refine independently just as we had done so when together.

It is these writerly conversations, and a focus on the process of writing over product, that has had the biggest transformation on my practice and ultimately the outcomes for those I teach – those that can be easily measured and those which are perhaps more difficult.

Teacher writing groups also demonstrate how we must think carefully about task design, being mindful to find aspects that are open ended and allow children to play, self-embellish and invest. This awareness is developed through listening and partaking in the appraisal of an exercise when writing alongside adults, discussing whether the brief was too open or pitched well and aspects that led to blank spots. These thoughts translate well into the classroom as you design learning opportunities, becoming aware of how much structure you should offer and recognising the need to balance exercises that are structured and those invite complete ownership over an extended period of time.

The conversations are another powerful aspect of joining a group. It is an opportunity for honest reflection about how writing works in our individual schools and classrooms, to find antidotes for problems with cohorts or strategies for adding in what you know works amidst the constraints of the curriculum. In this way, it can help you self-select aspects of your practice that could be improved.

Attending a group regularly reminds me of the need to include more low stakes, high investment opportunities as I know from the experiences of fellow attendees that these are powerful in allowing children to develop their own sense of voice and perceive themselves as a writer. I also know through anecdotes from group members that I need to write more regularly alongside the children as well as teach, so that they see this development as important.

It is very hard to summarise the value of attending to someone thinking of joining but, once started, you just know it is good stuff. It feels right and though you might not wish to replicate the exercises themselves in class, the process of writing, perhaps rediscovering writing again, is invaluable and unbelievable informative for teachers of all stages and levels of experience. Through attending, I would hope that the children I teach see me as someone who is passionate about exploring and playing with interesting words or phrases; choosing these carefully so that a listener appreciates how they were thinking, creating pictures and feelings. That a writer is a good listener and I am someone who carefully, sensitively appreciates their written work and shows it has value. I would hope they would see I value the development of their own written voice as important.

I hope the reach and influence of the project grows tremendously. The sessions are valuable to experienced and newly qualified teachers as they help to develop those who attend in different ways, the way that they need at that time, and this manifests in the learning opportunities they deliver to young people. This might owe to mimicking an activity used during a session or encouraging a way of thinking and being when writing after attendance over time. Consequently, the NWP could play a really key role in re-shaping the understanding and conceptualisation of writing in schools across the country, resulting in a teacher-led change to how it is taught and experienced in the classroom.

Sam has taught throughout KS2 across two schools since completing his PGCE in 2014. Currently, he is a teacher and Senior Leader in a two-form entry Primary in Norfolk, where he is responsible for a Year 3 class and English provision across the school. He is a secretary for the NWP.

National Writing Day 2020

Here at NWP we shall, of course, be celebrating and supporting National Writing Day, which takes place on Wednesday June 24th this year.

The underlying principles of this celebration of writing absolutely accord with NWP aims. In particular, the idea that students feel what it’s like to be a writer, and get on with doing writing. Young people can develop their own voices by choosing what they want to say and how they want to say it. National Writing Day gives students the impetus to write, first and foremost, for themselves.

Free resources and ideas are available from First Story here, and the BBC will be promoting National Writing Day in all their daily lessons on the 24th. With many schools having extended their opening beyond vulnerable children and the children of key workers now to Reception, Year 1, Year 6, Year 10 and Year 12, this could be a great way to kickstart writing in the classroom once more.

Let us know what you are doing in the classroom for National Writing Day.

Why join a writing group?

NWP co-chair Emily Rowe explains how she first joined the project - and the power of a writing group.

“I first came across the National Writing Project when I was training to be a primary school teacher at the University of East Anglia. Through attending Writing Teachers groups firstly at UEA, then Ipswich and now recently with my fellow schools in our academy trust.

“I have found my teaching of writing in the classroom to be enriched through my own experiences of writing within a community of teachers. I have grown to understand the delicate nature of learning to write and how the experience of writing for yourself enables you to understand and teach writing at a much deeper level.

Writing from February 8th NWP Meeting at the National Portrait Gallery

“Most importantly, I’ve seen first-hand the impact that this has had on my pupils. I find the sessions invigorating – with space to experiment with my own words and to also consider how activities and ideas can be adapted to suit the needs of the children in my class. I particularly enjoy meeting with teachers who work with a range of children from Early Years to A-levels, of whom all give and take from the sessions in equal amounts. It has been the most influential form of CPD during my three years of teaching, with each session I have attended being led by the co-founder of NWP – Dr Jeni Smith.

“It can be hard to explain to teachers why they should come along to a Writing Teachers group, particularly if they are not from an English background and feel nervous about the prospect of writing, but once they’re through the door I’ve always known them to come back!”

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