creative writing: a curriculum for secondary students
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CREATIVE WRITING:
A CURRICULUM FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS
BASED ON PROCESS WRITING AND PEER RESPONSE GROUPS
Chandra Selene Friend
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts in Education
at Goddard College
Advisor Date
Second Reader Date
Goddard College Intensive Residency Program in Education
Spring 2005
Abstract
This high school-level creative writing curriculum begins with an overview of the
course’s basic structure, followed by a detailed list of learning objectives. Teaching methods
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Table of Contents
Abstract page i
Preface page iii
Chapter 1 – Creative Writing: A Curriculum for Secondary Students Based on Process Writing
and Peer Response Groups page 1
Chapter 2 – Developing the Creative Writing Curriculum: The Academic, Professional, and
Personal Process page 42
References page 84
Appendix A: Selected Annotated Bibliography page 87
Appendix B: The “Road Test”: A Four-Session Writing Workshop Plan page 91
Appendix C: Autobiographical Material page 96
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Preface
Why is creative writing important? By “creative” I mean writing propelled by
imagination; writing that expresses or explores new ideas (or old ideas in new ways); writing that
comes out of a writer. Creative writing is existentially important for young people in school
because it allows room for their selfhood to breathe. More practically, creative writing can help
students develop all of their writing skills, and can inspire a renewed interest in reading.
Creative writing is not about hatching little novelists (although that could happen). In
fact, writing is worthwhile even for the near-all of us who do not possess a towering talent. We,
too, can make art, if not perhaps Great Art. It might even be enjoyable to someone else or two
(and to ourselves, we hope). Many people find writing to be an effective means of working
through the knotty problems of life. And of course, writing is also half of literacy, which is an
economic and cultural requirement of all capable individuals in our society.
But mainly, I think, writing is worthwhile because it helps us be better human beings.
We exist in a matrix of language, so the more we engage with language, become power users of
language, the more dynamic is our engagement with life. Writing, as the most concrete and
deliberate expression of language, increases our agency by enhancing our ability to articulate
(and clarify and even create) thought. Writing helps us know what we think and name what we
feel. These abilities make us bigger and stronger, psychologically and spiritually. We cancommunicate and relate better with others. We can make informed decisions about our selves
and our lives. We have voice.
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Chapter 1
Creative Writing: A Curriculum for Secondary Students
Based on Process Writing and Peer Response Groups
“Our worst enemy is orthodoxy. When we teach to someone else’s – or even our own –
rules about what we and students can and cannot do, we surrender authority and
abrogate our responsibilities as professionals. Worse, we stop learning” (Atwell, p.
254).
Contents
A. About the Author
B. Overall Goal and Course Description
C. Learning Objectives
D. Teaching Methods
E. Assessment
F. Learning Activities
G. Additional Materials
H. References and Resources
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A. About the Author
Chandra Friend was educated at a variety of schools that practiced a variety of
educational philosophies – from Montessori and Waldorf to a music magnet school, a college
preparatory high school, and an elite liberal arts college. Several years after completing her
B.A., she decided to return to school permanently by becoming a high school English teacher.
Ms. Friend’s diverse experiences as a student and her budding identity as a progressive educator
drew her to attend Goddard College for her M.A. in Education. This curriculum was developed
as her master’s thesis project in 2006. Ms. Friend hopes in the near future to have some fun, be
challenged, and change the world one teacher at a time.
B. Overall Goal and Course Description
The true overall goal of the creative writing course – its function – is to provide a
balanced mixture of structure and freedom that allows and encourages student writers to develop
writing fluency and access their own writing voice.
The course duration is one semester (sixteen weeks). The curriculum is geared toward
high school students (9-12) with little prior experience with creative writing. It is not a
standards-based course. If implemented in a public high school, it would probably be offered as
an elective. The course consists of four units, each four weeks in length. The first unit is anintroduction to the “process writing” method and to peer response/ small group work. The
second unit is on short story writing, and the third is on poetry writing. The last unit gives
students an opportunity to write at least one more piece in the form of their choice; the remainder
of the term will be devoted to final revisions of existing work and the compilation of portfolios.
The final portfolios will then be bound together into one volume for publication and distribution
in the community.
A set weekly schedule provides a regular routine of writing, reading, and feedback
activities. The Methods section discusses how to conduct each type of activity. Each unit also
includes mini-lessons and writing exercises specific to the unit’s theme and goals. Only a few
lessons are designed to be used on specific days, however. On the other days, the teacher has
discretion in choosing readings, mini-lessons, and writing activities (according to the weekly
schedule) to aid students’ progress at the time. A variety of assessment methods and tools are
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provided (in the Methods and Assessment sections, and in the Additional Materials section) to
help the teacher determine students’ needs throughout the semester. Reading suggestions and
additional writing exercises (the Teacher’s Idea Well) are included in the Additional Materials
section.
C. Learning Objectives
These are in order from concrete to abstract. Please note that very specific, measurable
outcomes, in learning writing, are often the least important (for example, correct spelling is much
less important that the vaguer “interesting style”).
1. Students will know basic literary terms and concepts (metaphor, alliteration, point of
view, etc.). Their knowledge will be evident when students can: a) identify literary terms and
concepts in context (published, peer, or own writing); b) explain literary terms and concepts to
peers; and c) deliberately use literary techniques to achieve desired effects in their own writing.
2. Students will understand the writing process. Their understanding will be evident when
students can: a) freewrite for ten minutes; b) use ideas generated in freewriting to draft a new
piece; c) reflect on their writing in oral conferences with peers or the teacher; d) revise their
drafts, possibly more than once, using their own, peer and teacher feedback; e) edit their revised
drafts into finished pieces ready for publication. Effective use of the writing process will befurther evident when students can: f) explain the phases of the process to peers; and g) explain
how they have adapted the process to suit their individual needs and preferences as writers.
3. a) Students will be able to give helpful feedback in the context of small peer response
groups. This will be evident when students: a) listen attentively while the writer is reading their
work and while group-mates are speaking; b) orally paraphrase what they heard; c) point out
specific passages which are strong or effective and explain why those passages stand out for
them; d) point out specific passages which are confusing or unclear and explain why those
passages are confusing or unclear to them; e) avoid evaluative statements about the writing; f)
exhibit compassion toward the writer and their group-mates; g) discuss writing as though it
were fiction, unless the writer voluntarily indicates otherwise.
3. b) Students will be able to receive feedback in the context of small peer response groups.
This will be evident when students, in their role as writers, a) lead discussion of their own work
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by asking questions of their group-mates; b) listen attentively to others’ comments; and c)
record comments for future use in revising their work.
3. c) Students will be able to facilitate feedback in the context of small peer response groups.
This will be evident when students, in their role as monitor a) keep group members on task; b)
curb arguments and negative comments; and c) solicit comments when necessary.
4. Students will be able to write an effective short story. This will be evident when
students: a) depict one or more characters through description, exposition, and dialogue; b)
create a setting in which the action of the story occurs; c) construct a plot with a beginning,
turning point, and resolution (not necessarily in that order); and d) select and consistently use a
specific point of view to tell the story.
5. Students will be able to write an effective poem. This will be evident when students
deliberately use: a) line breaks; b) imagery and metaphor; and c) other poetic devices of their
choice (for example: regular meter, rhyme, alliteration, personification).
6. Students will demonstrate voice in their writing. This will be evident when students’
writings show: a) consistent individuality in diction, syntax, organization, tone, imagery and
figurative language, and choice of theme or topic; b) a distinct worldview, perspective, point of
view, or opinion; and c) a sense of emotional resonance, a sense of authenticity or realness, and a
sense of the person/writer behind the writing. *Caution: This set of goals is especially liable to
subjective interpretation.7. Students will demonstrate fluency in their writing. This will be evident when students: a)
write articulately and expressively; b) effectively develop and organize ideas; c) use syntax,
diction, grammar and punctuation correctly OR for deliberate effect. *Caution: This set of goals
is especially liable to subjective interpretation.
8. Students will feel more confident about their writing. This will be evident when
students report that their writing exhibits: a) authentic voice; b) interestingness; and c)
improvement in correct writing mechanics. *Caution: This set of goals, if reached, will
probably be reached indirectly.
9. Students will be less fearful of writing. This will be evident when students report that
they find writing to be: a) easier; b) more enjoyable; and c) more interesting than before the
course. *Caution: This set of goals, if reached, will probably be reached indirectly.
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10. Students will be more interested in reading. This will be evident when students report
that they a) seek out and choose their own reading material; b) find reading to be more
enjoyable; and b) find reading to be more interesting. *Caution: This set of goals, if reached,
will probably be reached indirectly.
D. Teaching Methods
The following are in order from most frequent to least.
• Individual writing (process method)
• Small-group work (peer response)
• Mini-lessons
• Student/teacher exchange – (see also “Guidelines for Teacher Response” in the Additional
Materials section)
• Reading and whole-class discussion of reading
• Whole-class sharing of writing
Individual writing (process method)
The process writing approach is widely considered to be the best practice in writing
instruction (see Williams, p. 99, for his citation of NAEP data that support this method.) Theeight pieces of the process are: invention/prewriting; planning; drafting; pausing; reading;
revising; editing; and publishing. These pieces are called “phases” rather than “stages,” because
the real process of writing does not occur in a specific sequence. The phases don’t follow a strict
order, and every writer has different methods. The basic idea is to not write the piece all at once.
When writers become more aware of the phases of the process, their own writing process
happens more easily and effectively.
A common concern among advocates of process writing is that students “spend far too
much time fiddling with sentences and punctuation rather than concentrating on getting their
ideas on paper” (Williams, p. 115). Rather, the writer should consider himself/herself to be the
sole audience of the first draft. Only later should the writer’s energies be devoted to revision and
editing. Different parts of the brain perform editing functions than perform idea-generation and
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exposition functions. It is far more effective to do these tasks at different times than to try to
write perfectly and interestingly at once.
The first step in teaching the writing process is to introduce your students to the
“freewriting” or “stream-of-consciousness” technique. This will be the staple writing method for
the course. Essentially, freewriting means just sitting and writing for at least ten minutes. No
worrying about grammar or spelling, no stopping to think of the “right word” or trying to be
organized. Just blather – rant – write.
Ask students to start by writing down a summary of the assignment or exercise (or of
their own idea, if applicable). If they get stuck, tell them go back and reread the last couple of
lines they wrote, then keep going. They don’t have to write in complete sentences. If they find
themselves using line breaks, as though writing a poem, that’s fine. They should say what they
want to say in whatever way it naturally comes out. The key is to write in your real voice.
If many of your students speak a non-Standard English vernacular, or if English is not
their first language, you might invite them to do their freewrites in their home dialect or
language. This will allow them much better access to their thoughts and ideas. The revision
process will provide ample opportunity for them to “translate” as needed.
After the first freewriting session, hold a short whole-class discussion. Questions to ask
might include: How did it go? Would a couple people be willing to “tell the story” of their
freewriting? Other experiences? We’re trying to get a sense of what this process is like fordifferent people; how well it “works” (or doesn’t). How do people feel about the actual thing
they just wrote? Is it nonsense? Is it great? Are parts of it worth keeping, reworking, going
further with?
Immediately after this discussion, ask the students to go back and read what they just
wrote. Suggest they read it a couple times over. Ask them to underline the parts they like. At
the bottom of the last page, they should write an encapsulation of what their freewrite is about.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be a sentence – just a summary.
For the first revision session, students will revise their own work through a kind of re-
freewrite. Ask them to read over their own freewrite from last time; then ask them to do a
second freewrite in which they refocus their ideas. The idea is to figure out what’s really good in
the first freewrite, and to start with restating that, either verbatim or by rewording it. Then they
should continue in the freewrite mode, taking their ideas further, or deeper. They should use the
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pieces they underlined, and use their summary as a jumping-off point. (If a student is really
completely dissatisfied with the first freewrite, you might allow them to start afresh with another
freewrite). Do this re-freewrite for ten minutes.
Several mini-lesson topics dealing with the nitty-gritties of the revision process are given
in the Learning Activities section for Unit One. Less nitty-gritty is the actual process through
which writers decide what to keep, what to delete, and what to alter. Students will (we hope)
find their peer response group’s feedback helpful in making revision decisions. Reading one’s
work aloud can quickly bring one’s attention to awkward passages and technical errors.
However, the most useful, and the simplest, revision technique is to allow some time between
drafts. Forgetting it a little bit allows the writer to re-see (re-vision) the details of their piece.
On writing days, have extra paper, notebooks, pens and pencils available for students
who did not or could not bring their own. Maintain quiet as much as possible so that students
who need silence in order to write are accommodated. Allow students to listen to music on
headphones at low volume. You might also play music softly in the background – classical (if
they can stand it), jazz (not too experimental), or instrumental electronic music. Avoid music
with audible lyrics, as these can be distracting for writers.
As much as possible, the teacher should participate in writing activities and share his or
her own writing along with the students.
While everyone is writing, take the opportunity to hold very brief conferences withindividual students. Try to meet with each student over the course of a week or so. In
conference, ask the student to describe what they are currently working on, and what they plan to
do next – revise? which stage? write something new? what? Use the “Weekly Record of Student
Progress” form (in the Additional Materials section) to keep track of whom you have talked with
and what was discussed.
Further reading: Peter Elbow, James D. Williams.
Small-group work (peer response)
Group process expert Karen Spear (1988) notes that writing and collaboration are natural
partners, because of the social nature of language (and thus of writing, too) (p. 14). Indeed,
writing is almost always a collaborative effort in professional settings. Group work capitalizes
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on the nature of writing as a process of thought: ideas develop during writing and during
conversation.
However, work groups only work if the group members have the requisite social skills as
well as the writing skills (or whatever is being worked on). In writing classrooms, then, social
interaction skills must be explicitly taught simultaneously with the writing skills specified by the
curriculum.
Structuring the groups: Using the completed “Work Group Preferences” forms (provided
in the Additional Materials section) and any criteria of your own, set up groups of four students.
Four is a better group size than three because a four-person group can still function if one
member is absent. Give each student a printout of their group, with full names and a number (1-
4) for each member. The numbers will help ensure rotation of the “monitor” role. Keep a master
list of the groups for your own reference.
Responsibilities of group members: In peer response sessions, the writer whose work is
getting feedback will lead the group during that time. This means that the writer is responsible
for asking questions (using the feedback guidelines and/or their own questions), listening
attentively to feedback, and taking notes for use in revision. In each group work session, one
member will be designated as the “monitor.” The monitor must be someone other than the
writer. The monitor’s job is to keep group members on task/on track, and to keep the peace. The
monitor will pay attention to the time, ensuring that everyone gets a chance to participate. Themonitor will also do their best to ensure that no one dominates the conversation, and no one gets
left out. That might mean letting someone know it’s time to hear another voice, or encouraging
someone else to contribute to the discussion. The monitor also has the responsibility to stop any
bashing or cruelty that might occur. While disagreements in opinion are welcome (and often
helpful to the writer), arguments about whose opinion is “correct” are pointless, and the monitor
should keep an ear open for such instances. The monitor will also point out to the writer if they
are arguing, apologizing, or making excuses instead of just listening.
Before the first time students work in groups, the teacher, with a volunteer writer, should
model for the whole class how a successful feedback session might go. While the writer is
reading, look at their face, not at the writing on the page; listen closely; after the reading,
paraphrase back to the writer, point out strengths, and ask clarifying questions. After the
demonstration, ask the class to think about and discuss the following: What do people do when
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they listen to one another? What do people do that shows they are listening closely? How do
you know when someone has heard and understood you?
Then demonstrate a not-so-successful feedback session: Look around the room or at the
writing instead of at the writer; jump in (as soon as the writer finishes reading) with a story of
your own similar experience; make evaluative, judging statements; give advice (“You should do
this, that, the other thing”). During discussion, ask students: What do people do that shows they
are not listening closely? How do you know when someone has not heard and understood you?
What is bad listening? What is good listening? For both speaker and listener, what are the
difficulties and benefits of listening well?
These demonstrations and discussions should help students begin to develop their
listening skills. Listening involves four skills: attending, reflecting, drawing out, and connecting.
Attending means paying close attention to what the speaker says; it also means believing what
peers say is important, not just what the teacher says. Reflecting involves paraphrasing back to
the writer/speaker what you understand them to mean. Drawing out means asking questions of
the writer/speaker, getting them to explain, explore, and elaborate on their ideas. Connecting,
finally, is the necessary step of summarizing and pulling together all the various ideas that have
come up during a group work session.
There are two rules that will help ensure good response sessions. It might be a good idea
to post these somewhere in the classroom.Rule 1: Be compassionate.
Rule 2: All work will be read as fiction unless the writer says otherwise.
Pat Schneider of the Amherst Writers Workshop (2003) has found Rule 2 to be a very
effective way to protect confidentiality and emotional boundaries: “Only when all work is given
the dignity of being treated as literature, as separate from the life story of the writer, can a group
of writers be truly free to write about anything” (p. 239).
Feedback is not the same thing as criticism or evaluation! It is essential that the teacher
get students to understand and believe and practice this approach in peer response groups. The
feeling of unease that arises when students believe they are being criticized, or that they must
criticize their peers, is the killer fog for peer response groups.
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If possible, and especially during the first few weeks of the semester, give students an
opportunity to do at least one revision of a piece before asking them to share it with their
response groups.
Further reading: Nancie Atwell, Peter Elbow, Pat Schneider, Karen Spear.
Mini-lessons
Each day, the teacher should give a mini-lesson, a five- to seven-minute presentation on
one rather small topic at a time. The mini-lesson will probably get the most student attention if
given at the beginning of the class period. This is the time for the teacher to share personal
knowledge about writing, words of wisdom from professional writers, and student insights, too
(you can invite someone to tell the class about a solution or discovery they’ve made). Mini-
lesson topics usually fall into one of three categories: procedures, writing craft, and technical
skills (conventions).
Mini-lessons are most effective when the teacher carefully chooses to discuss an issue
because of its immediate relevance. If students are starting to revise their first piece, for
example, the teacher should offer several mini-lessons on revision techniques.
The following list of mini-lesson topics will be helpful in envisioning the kinds of
knowledge and skills the students are learning in this course. Topics relevant to specific units
are restated at the beginning of the Learning Activities section of each unit.• Introduction to course, including rules, expectations, syllabus.
• Instruction in writing process.
• Instruction in peer response/small group work – the basics (include demo).
• Issues in personal writing: courage, confidentiality, appropriate choices of work to share with
peers, appropriate responses to others’ work.
• Generating ideas, psyching yourself into writing, “writer’s block,” and self-discipline.
• Expectations readers have of writers; expectations writers have of their readers (teacher,
group, class); reminder that writing class is not therapy.
• Revision techniques (use carets, arrows, circling and crossing out; cutting and rearranging;
also conceptual aspects).
• Instruction in peer response/small group work – further discussion.
• The short story: What is it? What elements does it have? What makes a story a good story?
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• Focus: Don’t describe every little thing the characters do.
• Showing is better than telling. As Mark Twain once said, “Don’t say the old lady screamed.
Bring her on and let her scream.”
• Tone: how word choice affects the emotional resonance of the writing.
• Fiction know-how: narration, description, dialogue, genre, plot, setting, characterization,
point of view, flashbacks and foreshadowing, leads and conclusions. Not all at once!
• Poetry: What is it? What makes a poem a poem? What makes a poem a good poem?
• Poetry know-how: alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, meter, line breaks (end-stop
and enjambment), stanza, imagery, metaphor, specific > abstract. Not all at once!
• Poetry forms: history of formal poetry in English; couplet, haiku, limerick, sonnet, villanelle,
sestina, ballad, free verse, rap, etc.
• Poetry in performance: reading aloud; poetry slams; oral tradition.
• Instruction in editing, including editing marks.
• Instruction in preparing work for publication (format, font, printing, layout).
• About the publishing world: literary magazines, chapbooks, and self-publishing.
• Your prospects as a future professional writer: slim (but that doesn’t mean there’s no point!);
importance of writing skill in any/all professional and personal contexts (communication,
advocacy in commerce, politics, relationships).
Further reading: Nancie Atwell.
Student/teacher exchange
This curriculum provides four mechanisms through which the teacher can instruct,
monitor, and give feedback to individual students. Each mechanism is described below. The
“Guidelines for Teacher Response” in the Additional Materials section include a form to aid the
teacher in weekly recordkeeping and note-taking, as well as instructions for writing narrative
responses to each student after each unit.
The first tool is the once-weekly notebook check. During writing time on Tuesdays, the
teacher should go around the room and make sure that every student a) has their writing
notebook (and is writing in it!), and b) has at least begun each exercise or assignment given since
the previous notebook check. If a student does not have their notebook, please provide them
with a few sheets of paper so that they can participate in the day’s activities.
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The second tool is the weekly due date. Every Thursday, each student must turn
something in: an exercise they are planning to revise into a finished piece, a piece currently
being revised, a piece ready to be edited (for correct spelling, punctuation, and usage), or a
brand-new piece. The teacher should hand these back the next day, with written feedback
appropriate to the piece’s level of completion. Editing drafts should be edited for correctness
only (no comments on content); all other drafts should receive no editing feedback. The teacher
should respond as a reader to these drafts, asking questions and pointing out strengths and areas
of confusion. These guidelines align the teacher’s mode of response with the writing process and
with the principles being cultivated in the peer response group work sessions.
One-on-one conferences are the third kind of exchange. The teacher should try to meet
briefly (for less than five minutes) with each student once a week. During writing time is
probably the likeliest opportunity to pull a student aside for a short chat. The teacher should ask
the student to describe what they are currently working on. Do not ask the student to read their
piece or read it yourself (even silently) during the conference. Writers need to verbalize their
thoughts as their writing unfolds. Listen closely to the student, then ask one or two questions to
help them clarify where they’re going with their piece. After the conference, be sure to make a
few notes about the student’s concerns and progress. If you notice several students having
similar problems in their writing, you might use the next day’s mini-lesson time to address it and
offer solutions.The fourth feedback mechanism is the teacher’s narrative evaluation at the end of each
unit. Careful recordkeeping and note-taking over the four weeks of the unit will enable the
teacher to write helpful, informed reports for each student. See the Assessment section and the
“Guidelines for Teacher Response” in the Additional Materials section for more on the end-of-
unit report.
Further reading: Nancie Atwell, Alfie Kohn.
Reading and whole-class discussion of reading
All writers need to read, and read a lot. Research consistently finds that good writers are
avid readers, and vice versa. Creative writing students need to read contemporary poetry and
stories – relatively recent writing. It is important for developing writers to be exposed to work
done in familiar language, about familiar topics and situations, taking place in recognizable
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worlds (i.e. the present day, or the very recent day). Tennyson and Eliot are not good models for
today’s poets, although they are always worth reading in and of themselves, and as inspiration.
O’Connor and Balzac wrote wonderful stuff, but their work reflects long-gone eras and
vernaculars. Contemporary work also shows developing writers what styles, themes, and genres
appeal to today’s audiences (or at least to today’s anthology editors) – a secondary consideration.
The resource list for this course includes several recommended anthologies of
contemporary poetry, short stories, and works in other forms (see Best American Nonrequired
Reading series). The “sudden fiction” anthologies would be especially useful to creative writers.
These stories, widely varying in subject matter and style, are short enough to read (and re-read)
in a single class period. Their shortness enables the reader to hold an entire story in the mind at
once, turning it around and thinking about its techniques, structure, tone, and effect. Such
practice would be useful for writers learning to conceptualize their own stories.
I recommend purchasing a couple of copies of each book on the resource list. Make
these available to students in the classroom library. Each student should be issued at least one
contemporary poetry anthology and one contemporary short story anthology to take home.
Preferably they would own their copies, which would allow them to annotate. Additional
readings can be provided in packets (for each unit), as handouts (day-to-day), or on the overhead
(if your district has an insufficient paper budget).
Some reading should be assigned as homework (longer stories would be a good choice).Shorter stories and poems can be read in class, either during sustained silent reading time or
aloud (by the teacher or a student volunteer). You may choose to read a poem or story aloud in
class after students have already read it for homework.
To ensure students are reading work that is relevant and interesting to them, you might
assign one student to bring in a favorite poem or story on each reading day.
See Additional Materials for a handout on responding to published work.
When discussing assigned reading as a class, focus on specific aspects of the text so that
students can begin to understand how the authors create meaning. For example, when discussing
stories, ask students to attend to narration, description, dialogue, genre, plot, setting,
characterization, point of view, flashbacks and foreshadowing, leads and conclusions, and tone.
When discussing poetry, attend to alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, meter, line breaks
(end-stop and enjambment), stanza, imagery, metaphor, and form. The importance of specificity,
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of showing rather than telling, should be emphasized repeatedly. Ask students to point to places
in the text that convey meaning through concrete imagery. How does the author show the reader
who this character is? What are your feelings about the character, or about the story; where in
the text do those feelings get sparked?
Allow students to find and make their own meanings in the text. The teacher’s are not
the only “answers” – it is crucial that students develop a sense of personal and intellectual
connection with what they read.
Further reading: Nancie Atwell.
Whole-class sharing of writings
Set aside a class period at or near the end of each unit for students to read their finished
pieces aloud to the whole group. The first time you do this, you might want to allow two half-
periods, so that students who are too nervous to read on the first day will have another
opportunity.
Place the desks in a circle, or invite students to sit on the floor in a circle. This
arrangement not only helps create a sense of community, but also alleviates some of the stage-
fright that comes of standing at the front of the classroom and reading/speaking to rows of seated
people.
Do not insist that every student read. Ask for a volunteer to go first; then let each writerdecide when to read. You might read some of your own writing, too.
This is not the time for comments or responses – this is finished work. However, you
should invite discussion once everyone who wants to read has done so. Students will likely have
questions for each other (How did you come up with that idea? Is that a true story?) and plenty of
opinions. Use a light touch when moderating – this is a literary conversation!
At the end of the semester, it is time to publish students’ work. Ask each student to turn
in at least four pieces of finished writing. Everything that is turned in on time, correct, typed,
and formatted as the teacher requires, should be published in the class
chapbook/magazine/portfolio. There is no need to institute standards of quality or make
selections by vote – this is each writer’s time to be heard.
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E. Assessment
Assessment/evaluation and grading are not the same thing! Writing will be assessed by
the writers, by their group members, and by the teacher in order to help the writers make
progress (formative assessment). Course grades, on the other hand, will be based on work
completed, attendance, and class participation.
There are two sources of assessment: Student self-reporting of progress (see “Student
Report on Self, Group, and Class” in Additional Materials section) and teacher observation of
progress. The student report is designed to aid the teacher’s assessment of each student, but also
to help the students themselves understand their own progress.
Teacher assessments include observation (and record-keeping), oral conferences with
students, written feedback to students on specific pieces of writing, and written narrative reports
to students at the end of each unit. See “Guidelines for teacher response to student work” in the
Additional Materials section.
Technical errors should not be corrected, either by peers or by the teacher, until the writer
submits a draft for editing. See “Individual Writing (process method)” in the Methods section
for the reasoning behind this guideline.
The teacher may want to give a few quizzes on readings, and on literary terms and
techniques, to ensure that students do the work as well as to assess their knowledge. I have
found that students are more likely to do their homework if they know they will be tested on it.If a student answers more than 50% of the quiz questions correctly, they should receive two
check marks; lower scores should earn one check mark.
Suggested grading method: This is a pass/fail course. Each assignment turned in on time
will receive two check marks. Each late assignment will receive one check mark. Late work
will be accepted within one week of the original due date (i.e., if the original due date was a
Thursday, the last day a student can turn in the assignment and get credit would be the following
Thursday). The reason for this policy is that students will not be able to participate fully in the
class if they are doing work more than a week later than everyone else; also, it will help motivate
students to do their work in a timely manner! In order to pass the course, students must turn in
70% of the work.
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If possible, teacher and students should assess the methods of assessment at least once
during the semester. This could be done through whole-class discussion, addressed in individual
conferences, or given as a writing assignment.
F. Learning Activities
The weekly structure outlined below will provide regularity and structure to the course,
which otherwise is quite flexible. No more than two homework assignments per week are
advised, neither of which should be over the weekend. Please see the Methods section for details
about doing writing, reading, and peer response in this course.
Monday: Writing
- Assign reading homework for Tuesday
Tuesday: Reading, writing
- Notebook check
Wednesday: Peer response, writing if time permits
- Assign writing homework for Thursday
Thursday: Writing, typing
- Draft (or final copy) due to teacherFriday: Peer response OR reading, writing
- Hand back drafts (or final copies) to students
Unit One: Writing and Responding
Goals to focus on:
2. Students will understand the writing process.
3. a) Students will be able to give helpful feedback in peer response groups.
3. b) Students will be able to receive feedback in peer response groups.
3. c) Students will be able to facilitate feedback in peer response groups.
Mini-lesson topics:
• Introduction to course, including syllabus, expectations, and rules (the teacher’s, then ask if
more are needed).
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• Instruction in writing process.
• Instruction in peer response/small group work – the basics (include demo).
• Issues in personal writing: courage, confidentiality, appropriate choices of work to share with
peers, appropriate responses to others’ work.
• Generating ideas, psyching yourself into writing, “writer’s block,” and self-discipline.
• Expectations readers have of writers; expectations writers have of their readers (teacher,
group, class); reminder that writing class is not therapy.
• Revision techniques (use carets, arrows, circling and crossing out; cutting and rearranging;
conceptual aspects).
Activities:
Day One:
• Discussion of teacher’s and students’ academic and behavioral expectations and “rules,”
including what students may write about (drugs? sex? violence? suicide and abuse? slander?
expletives?).
• Get right into the writing! Ask the class to freewrite on a specific topic – something
important. The teacher may suggest the topic; or the class can brainstorm as the teacher
records their ideas on the board, then democratically choose one topic for all to write on.
The teacher should do this exercise along with everyone else. After writing for about ten
minutes, ask for volunteers to summarize or read aloud what they wrote. Feedback should bevery brief, and strictly limited to positive comments. This exercise helps students understand
that in this class, writing is a community activity, not just a private transaction between
teacher and students.
Day Two:
• Option One: Truth and fiction. Ask each student to write a ten-minute autobiography in
which at least one detail is fictional. Volunteers may share their autobiographies, and the rest
of the class gets three guesses as to what was fictional. Feedback should continue to be
limited to positives.
• Option Two: Interviews. Ask students to choose a partner to interview – someone they don’t
already know well. The assignment is to write a short “sketch” that will show the rest of the
class something distinctive about each person. Perhaps the class can generate possible
interview questions together. Sketches should be finished and typed up for the next day, so
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everyone will get a copy. This exercise helps people get to know each other, and the
resulting publication helps the class start to feel like a community. It also helps the teacher
evaluate students’ writing skill levels. Feedback should continue to be limited to positives.
• Students fill out “Work Group Preferences” form (included in the Additional Materials
section).
Day Three:
• Introduce students to freewriting, following the instructions in the Methods section on
Individual Writing (process method).
• Introduce peer response, beginning with a demonstration of successful and unsuccessful
feedback sessions. Assign peer response groups. Follow the instructions in the Methods
section on Small-Group Work (peer response).
Days Four through Eighteen:
Follow the weekly schedule provided at the beginning of this section. Select daily
writing exercises from those supplied in the unit (below), supplementing as needed from the
Teacher’s Idea Well (in Additional Materials). Follow your instinct as to what to offer each day.
Allow students to write on some other topic if they need to (i.e. if they have a burning idea they
need to work on).
• Create a class Idea Well: Everyone writes down a topic for writing and puts it in a bag or
basket that remains accessible throughout the term. Individual students may choose a topicfrom the basket if they feel stuck; or the whole class can freewrite simultaneously on a topic
pulled from the basket. Make time once a week or so for students to come up with topics.
• When their first assignment is due, ask students to write about what kind of feedback they
want on their work. What are their expectations of the respondents (teacher, group, class)?
Some reading response assignments:
• Read the story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. This is a story about a mother and daughter
discussing practical and impractical things, and about lessons. Discussion: What values are
implied in this story? What are their lives like? What do you think they think of men?
Writing exercise: What lessons did/does your mother teach you (or your father)?
• Read the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien. This is a story about the daily
lives of soldiers in the Vietnam war. Discussion: How is meaning conveyed in this story
through lingo and through objects? Writing exercises: Make a list of things you
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carry...maybe this list becomes a poem or story? Next, consider the quote: “Men killed, and
died, because they were embarrassed not to.” What do you do because you are embarrassed
not to?
Days 19 and 20:
• Whole-class sharing opportunity
• Student report on self, group, and class
• Teacher’s written narrative report to each student
Unit Two: Short Story
Goals to focus on:
1. Students will know basic literary terms and concepts.
4. Students will be able to write an effective short story.
Continue to work on goals from the previous unit.
Mini-lesson topics:
• Instruction in peer response/small group work – further discussion.
• The short story: What is it? What elements does it have? What makes a story a good story?
• Focus: Don’t describe every little thing the characters do from the time they get up in the
morning until they go to bed at night. Be selective.
• Showing is better than telling. As Mark Twain once said, “Don’t say the old lady screamed.Bring her on and let her scream.”
• Tone: how word choice affects the emotional resonance of the writing.
• Fiction know-how: narration, description, dialogue, genre, plot, setting, characterization,
point of view, flashbacks and foreshadowing, leads and conclusions. Not all at once!
Writing activities:
1. Setting: Time, place, and mood are expressed through descriptions of customs, manners,
clothing, scenery, weather, geography, buildings, methods of transportation – what else?
Descriptive writing practice: The teacher (or someone) brings in an image of some kind and
everyone spends ten minutes or so writing a thorough description of the setting. Perhaps this
could be done in groups, where each group has a different image. Maybe they are images of
famous places or monuments, and others have to guess what they are from the writing?
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2. Biography by group: Ask the class to brainstorm answers to several questions about each of
two characters. Write the suggestions on the board. Then have everyone write a
biographical sketch or story using some or all of the answers. This exercise is is fun and
tends to evoke comical material. Questions: Character’s name? Place of residence? Pet?
Favorite item of clothing? Strangest item of clothing? Favorite food? Hates? Collects?
3. Plot: Introduce the classic plot outline – a situation is established, a conflict arises, a turning
point occurs (climax), and then resolution. Use a fairy tale as an example. Then ask students
to think of a favorite book (or movie) and to consider its plot, then write a plot summary,
referencing the classic plot outline. If it does not conform exactly (which is likely), where
are the divergences? Writing exercise: Write a short fairy tale that follows the classic plot
line (onceuponatime, youngest son/daughter seeks fortune, overcomes obstacles, triumphs,
marries prince/princess, lives happilyeverafter).
4. Legends: Is there a legend in your family? In your neighborhood? A legend about a person
or a place, or some story that should be a legend? Odd place names are a good way to start
inventing legends. Ask students to write down a legend they have heard or a new one they
make up. Get the basics down first – details can be added later.
5. Characterization: Read a passage from Charles Dickens that introduces a character (Uriah
Heep, perhaps) for inspiration. Ask student to write a character study of someone they know.
Be sure to do plenty of “showing” and not too much “telling.” Aspects of characterizationinclude: appearance, speech and behavior, thoughts and feelings, beliefs and rituals, and
others’ perceptions of the character.
6. Write a monologue as spoken by an historical or fictional person (not someone invented by
the writer, though).
7. Writing dialogue together: Get everyone into pairs and number them One and Two. Ask
each number one to invent a character for whom they will speak, and then write on a piece of
loose paper a provocative comment in the voice of that character. For example, I might
decide I am a cranky old woman who says, ‘Argh, you’ve done it again!’ When all the
number ones have written their opening statements, have them pass their papers on to the
number twos, without telling who the character is. Now the number twos decide who the
character is who will answer the first comment (also without telling their partners). For
example, my partner might decide his character is a teenaged kid who is tired of being
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scolded. He might write, ‘Fine, then! I’m outta here!’ Without each person’s knowing who
the other’s character is, allow the pairs to continue to write dialogue for 15 minutes. Then
have each pair read aloud, each writer speaking their own character’s lines. Discussion will
ensue, no doubt!
8. Dialogue: Using yourself and two or more of your friends as the models, write a
fictionalized conversation among three or more characters. Try to capture the style of your
and your friends’ real-life speech: slang, rhythms, incomplete sentences, interruptions, etc.
9. Arguing amongst yourself: You’ve heard of the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the
other. Re-characterize them as you please, such that each takes one side of a debate you’re
having (or have had) with yourself. Choose any question or topic that is (or was) difficult to
figure out. Write a dialogue between the two characters discussing/arguing the question.
Use quotation marks, indenting, two colors, or two sides of the page if you like.
10. Points of view: Introduce the four major points of view (first person, third person objective,
third person limited, third person omniscient). Then ask students to rewrite a familiar fairy
tale from a specific point of view (i.e., “Cinderella” in first person; “Jack and the Beanstalk”
from third person omniscient).
11. Overheard: Write down bits of conversation you hear in public places. Note details of
setting, what people look like, their gestures, etc. Try writing from these notes – in different
points of view, perhaps (e.g. pretend you’re one of the people you overheard and write infirst person).
12. Autobiography becomes fiction: Start with a short piece of writing you’ve done in your
journal, something from your life, something written in a relatively narrative way. Read it
over, then put it aside and rewrite it from memory – but this time, introduce into the narrative
some object that was not there in the first draft, and that was not there in your memory.
Make it completely imagined. Go on writing for a bit, and then introduce a character (again,
completely imagined) that wasn’t there, and give him or her a significant place in the
narrative. Alternately, rewrite with the original in front of you, but change “I” to “he” or
“she” and rename the character who was originally you. Then write another version that
introduces a new object, character, etc. This is a way to start writing fiction, using your real
life experiences as a jumping-off point.
Last two days of unit:
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• Whole-class sharing opportunity
• Student report on self, group, and class
• Student evaluation of teacher
• Teacher’s written narrative report to each student
Unit Three: Poetry
Goals to focus on:
5. Students will be able to write an effective poem.
6. Students will demonstrate voice in their writing.
Continue to work on goals from the previous two units.
Mini-lesson topics:
• Poetry: What is it? What makes a poem a poem? What makes a poem a good poem?
• Poetry know-how: alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, meter, line breaks (end-stop
and enjambment), stanza, imagery, metaphor, specific > abstract. Interspersed throughout
the unit, not all at once!
• Poetry forms: history of formal poetry in English; couplet, haiku, limerick, sonnet, villanelle,
sestina, ballad, free verse, rap, etc.
• Poetry in performance: reading aloud; poetry slams; oral tradition.
Writing activities:1. Group “connection” game poems: First we do a round of “connection” – a game where we
go around in a circle, each person saying the first word that comes into their mind when they
hear the word of the person before them (i.e. next to them). A sort of person-to-person
stream of consciousness. Go around the room once, then write down all the words on the
board. Then ask everyone to take ten minutes or so to write a poem using as many words
from the list as they please. When everyone is finished writing, invite sharing. The purposes
of this exercise are a) to see how different the poems are (and thus the poetic potential of
each person), even though the poets are all using the same “vocabulary”; and b) to see how
poems can come out of language itself, just as much as they can come out of the poet’s desire
to “say something”.
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2. Cliché poems: Ask the students to write the worst, most clichéd poem they can write. Share
all the poems aloud, if possible. This is the teacher’s chance to discuss poetry dos and
don’ts. Recommendations: No love poems, no formal poems, and no rhyming (for now).
3. The “I am from” poem: Start by making several lists. First, items in your home which help
make you unique. Next, items right outside your home. Next, items and landmarks in the
community you live in. Next, elements of your heritage (surnames, ancestral nations, etc.).
Next, family sayings and phrases your relatives habitually use. Next, foods people eat at
your family gatherings. Then – write a poem that uses some of these things, and the phrase
“I am from” (as often as you like).
4. Write a nonsense poem. This is a good way to hear the sounds of the language.
5. Found poems: Ask students to choose a passage from something they’ve read recently (a
paragraph or two from a story, newspaper article, etc.). Make it into a poem by deleting
words and playing with line breaks.
6. Parallel poems: Use the “found” poem or another fresh chunk of prose. Underline some of
the words and phrases – your choice. Write a new poem using those words and phrases
(adding other words if necessary).
7. Grab a book of poetry, open it, and take down a line. Write from that line.
8. Make a list of things that are important to you, or to a character you’re writing about. Can
the list become a poem?9. Found images: Find/choose an image (perhaps an old photo) and contemplate it for a good
few minutes. Then list 25 specific details about the image. Put the list aside for a few days if
you like. Then write a poem/story from ideas in the list and the image.
10. Write a riddle poem. Do this by describing an ordinary object in great sensory detail: how it
smells, tastes, sounds, feels, and looks. Don’t be too obvious!
11. Favorite words: Make a list of thirty to fifty of your favorite words. They can be favorites
for any reason – meaning, sound, look, whatever. Put the list aside for a day or two. Then
choose a handful of the words and write a poem with them.
12. Borrowed first lines: Ask everyone to write a few different sample opening lines; then swap
and have everyone write from the line(s) they receive.
13. Write the dreams of all the people who are sleeping in one house or tenement apartment
building.
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14. Ode to an everyday object: Write an ode to something in your bedroom or immediate home
environment, something familiar. Students choose one of the poetic forms.
Last two days of unit:
• Whole-class sharing opportunity
• Student report on self, group, and class
• Teacher’s written narrative report to each student
Unit Four: Revision and Publication
Goals to focus on:
7. Students will demonstrate fluency in their writing.
8. Students will feel more confident about their writing.
9. Students will be less fearful of writing.
10. Students will be more interested in reading.
Continue to work on goals from the previous three units.
Mini-lesson topics:
• Instruction in editing, including editing marks.
• Instruction in preparing work for publication (format, font, printing, layout).
• About the publishing world: literary magazines, chapbooks, and self-publishing.
• Your prospects as a future professional writer: slim (but that doesn’t mean there’s no point!);importance of writing skill in any/all professional and personal contexts (communication,
advocacy in commerce, politics, relationships).
Writing activities:
• More reading, writing, and peer response group work, of course. Writing exercises may be
given or suggested by the teacher, or may be entirely generated by the writers themselves.
However, more freedom of choice should be available during this unit.
• Selection of at least three pieces (one from each unit) to use for portfolio/publication.
• Lots of revision, in groups and on their own.
• Editing.
Last three days of unit:
• Whole-class sharing opportunity
• Student report on self, group, and class
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• Student evaluation of teacher
• Teacher’s narrative report to each student
Last day of class:
• Publication and celebration! Ask the students how they would like to celebrate their
achievements. Suggestions: stage a reading or poetry slam at lunchtime for the school
community; have a potluck party; go on a field trip to a local arts café; invite a local poet or
rap artist to perform for and talk with the class; bring art materials with which students can
make a handwritten presentation copy of one of their poems; or hold a special whole-class
sharing session.
G. Additional Materials
1. Teacher’s Idea Well
2. To the students – about this course (handout)
3. Work group preference form
4. Student report of own progress, peer response group, and class (after each unit)
5. Student evaluation of teacher (after second unit and at end of term)
6. Guidelines for responding to published work (handout)
7.
Guidelines for responding to peer work – the basics (handout for use in small groups)8. Guidelines for responding to peer work – further discussion (handout for use in small groups)
9. Guidelines for teacher response to student work
10. Record of weekly student progress
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Teacher’s Idea Well
The exercises and assignments that follow are drawn from numerous reliable sources –
writers, teachers, workshop leaders. I have written from many of them myself. I invite you to
add your own! These can be used as set exercises for the whole class, or offered to individual
students as needed, or can be adapted for the class’s Idea Well.
• Description from memory: Freewrite a description of a place that is very familiar to you
(bedroom, workplace, etc.). Try to see it super-clearly in your mind’s eye. When you write,
try to convey the emotional resonance the place (or the objects in it) has for you.
• Choose a color. Take a fifteen-minute walk and notice everything that is that color. Come
back to your notebook and write for fifteen minutes.
• Write about food, something that is very solid and real, write about a meal you love, the
foods you love the most. Be specific…
• Think of a childhood memory that relates in some way to language or words. List out some
details, then freewrite the memory.
• Your name: What do you like and dislike about your name? How does it feel to be called by
it? How does it feel to have been named by your parents?
• Haunting your childhood: Draw out the floor plan of the first house you can remember livingin. Then write your way through the house, describing the rooms, niches, events that took
place. What were your secret hiding places? What objects or mementos do you recall? Do
you remember particular seasons in that location? When you’re done, read it over and star a
couple of especially memorable bits. Write again about those.
• Neighborhood: Brainstorm a list of places in your childhood neighborhood (or one you
remember well). Write down the events that took place in those places, the perhaps eccentric
characters there? Then pick one of the events and write further about it.
• Relatives: Think of an event or situation one of your family members (not you) has
experienced. The situation could be one you did or did not witness yourself; or it could be
imaginary. “Use details and images to help your reader see the setting and the actions of the
incident.” Try writing in the voice of a relative.
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• Animals: Write about a pet you have or had; perhaps a memorable event involving the pet.
Or write about an animal you’ve encountered (recently?) – wild or not. Or research an
animal (what it eats, when it mates, care of young, where it sleeps and plays), then put aside
your notes and write from memory.
• Animal point of view: Choose an animal and write a journal entry from that animal’s point
of view, without actually mentioning what kind of animal is “writing”. What might this
animal comment on that humans might not notice? How might this animal understand
everyday objects or events of the human world? When sharing these pieces, ask
listeners/readers to guess what kind of animal is “speaking.”
• Instructions: Give detailed instructions, using senses and imagery, about how to… wade a
creek, listen to the wind in the trees, behave on a first date, fail a test, eat an ice cream, or
something else fairly ordinary. Or write instructions for an emotion (e.g. how to be angry).
Or give advice about something specific.
• Paper bag masks: Make a paper bag mask that reflects your mood, shows a role of yours,
reveals something about who you are or who you’d like to be, or something else. Then write.
• Write to your mirror; or in the voice of your mirror, or about a part of your body (try to avoid
being negative).
• Renaming/nicknaming: Brainstorm a list of stuff about yourself – likes and dislikes, habits,
qualities, etc. Write about them and see if you can give yourself a new name or nickname(along the lines of Native American naming practices).
• Meta: Write about writing; or about something in the class (people, the room, whatever).
Write about being in the community of writers and readers.
• Write “off of” a painting: become a character in it, have a conversation with a character in it,
or with the artist.
• Bring an object into class and have everyone freewrite about it; then share.
• Bring a lot of small objects (a couple dozen) into class and have each person choose one to
write about. “Every object here is full of story – what it was before it was made into this
object, and where it has been, and the stories of all the people who have used it.”
• Ask yourself, What matters? Right now, this minute, what matters?
• Taste: “Offer bite-sized pieces of something to eat and see what this food for thought
stimulates.” Try lemon slices, pieces of fruit or vegetables or bread.
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• Dream image: “Begin with an image from a dream, and write freely, letting words and
associations come as they will, without imposing any necessity of order.”
• Write in your most personal voice, directly to someone.
• Taboo: Start by making a list of topics or things that you consider taboos [in the context of
school, or writing at school]. Ask the group to call out ones they’re willing to share, so that
everyone can extend their lists. Then each person picks one thing from their list – the thing
that will be hardest for them to write about – and writes about it.
• Begin with a familiar piece of writing – say, Mary had a Little Lamb – and then substitute
into it as many words as you can. Maybe start with three words substituted, then share?
Then do more? This could be a demonstration of the power of revision…
• Write in great detail about something you do often (shaving, washing dishes, mowing a lawn,
cooking a favorite dish).
• List three things you want to keep and three things you want to lose. Then write.
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To the Students: About the Creative Writing Course
This course is designed to foster the growth of students’ writing. Students will write
every day, either in class or at home (sometimes both). Most of the writing will be “freewriting”
– a method of drafting with which you will soon become familiar. Freewriting can be in any
form the writer chooses – prose, poetry, whatever.
There will be assignments to revise this material, often into specific forms (poem, story).
In later drafts, revision will be aided by peer and teacher feedback. Peer response groups (four
students) will work together throughout the semester.
If a student comes in to class with an idea already in mind, they may ask permission to do
that instead of the given assignment. The teacher may or may not allow it, depending on what
the current assignment is and what the student proposes.
Students must keep a separate notebook for this class. You may store it in the
classroom if you are concerned about losing the notebook, or about privacy at home.
Along with daily writing, there will be reading assignments at least once a week, often
twice a week. We will work with our peer response groups about twice a week. Students will be
asked to turn in work twice a week – one notebook check, and one new draft; later in the term,
two or more revisions will be accepted instead of new work.
Course grades will be based on work completed, attendance, and participation.
Weekly schedule:
Monday: Writing
- Assign reading homework for Tuesday
Tuesday: Reading, writing
- Notebook check
Wednesday: Peer response, writing if time permits
- Assign writing homework for Thursday
Thursday: Writing, typing
- Draft (or final copy) due to teacher
Friday: Peer response OR reading, writing
- Hand back drafts (or final copies) to students
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Creative Writing: Work Group Preferences
The information you provide below will help me put together the work groups for this class.
Work groups will consist of three or four students who will collaborate on brainstorming,
revision, and other activities throughout the term. We’ll discuss the nitty-gritty of small group
work together soon.
Please list three to five people in this class with whom you believe you would work well (not
necessarily your best friends – this will be a work group, after all):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Please list up to three people with whom you feel you would not be able to work (if necessary):
1.
2.
3.
There is no guarantee that you will not be placed with these people. Your input is valued,
however.
Thank you!
Name:
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Creative Writing: Student Report on Self, Group, and Class
(ask students to complete this at the end of each unit)
Many of these questions are directly related to the stated course goals. This report is designed
to be central in the assessment process.
Please choose two to four most-helpful questions from each section. Respond as fully and
honestly as you can to the questions you choose. You’ll have plenty of time to write. Use a
separate piece of paper to reply (don’t forget to put your name on it!). You’re welcome to
discuss any other issues or concerns you have, too. I hope that thinking through these questions
will help you have a clearer sense of your own progress, as well as providing me with valuable
feedback about how the groups are working, how the class as a whole is working, and how
helpful I am as your teacher.
I. Self:
• How is the writing going for you at this point? Are you finding that writing comes easily to
you, is fun, important, interesting? Are you frustrated, bored, anxious when writing?
• Does your writing “sound” like you? Or like it’s yours?
• Write about one or two of your actual pieces of writing: how and why they work, or don’twork, or both.
• What are you most proud of in your writing thus far?
• What do you need to work on in your writing?
• Are you finding yourself more interested in reading poetry and short stories than you were
before? Less? The same?
• Evaluate your attendance, class participation, and work turn-in.
II. Group:
• How are your group members getting along with each other at this point? Describe the
atmosphere of the group.
• Which tasks are your group good at doing together?
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• What does your group need to work on? This can be a social issue or a writing/feedback
issue – or both.
• Which group role (writer/leader, monitor, responder) are you best at? Which role do you
need improvement in doing?
• What kinds of feedback have you found most useful, as a writer? Give an example if that
helps you explain.
• If you are feeling frustrated or intimidated by a group member, please write about that. Be
assured that your comments will remain confidential, and that I will not intervene unless you
ask me to do so.
III. Class:
• Are directions and assignments generally clear? Please explain.
• Do you understand how your work is being assessed?
• Do you understand how your overall course grade will be determined?
• Pacing: Are we moving too quickly? Too slowly? Would you like to go back to any topic,
or go into more depth with any topic?
• Balance of set assignments and open ones: Do you feel you have enough structure? Enough
freedom?
• Describe your sense of the tone/atmosphere of the class.
• Do you understand what is expected of you in terms of behavior?
• On the whole, is the class interesting? boring? Which specific tasks/activities are
interesting, and which are boring?
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Creative Writing: Student Evaluation of Teacher
(ask students to complete after the second unit, and at the end of the term)
Teacher:
Course: Creative Writing(1 = Disagree … 5 = Agree)
1 2 3 4 5
Demonstrates respect and care for students
Facilitates a classroom climate in which all students respect themselves
and others
Holds appropriate, high expectations of students
Listens to students with full attention
Is aware of students’ needs and interests and adjusts instructionaccordingly
Communicates students’ progress to students
Offers a helpful, supportive balance of encouragement and suggestions
for improvement
Communicates clearly through speaking and writing
Acts with fairness and moral integrity
Shows and encourages enthusiasm for learning
Has a sound grasp of the subject material
What is the teacher’s best quality as a teacher?
Please give the teacher one piece of advice or suggestion for improvement:
Is there anything else you’d like to tell the teacher?
Name (optional):
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Creative Writing: Guidelines for Responding to Published Work
Option 1: Begin by holding the book/story in your mind and finding one concrete image, either
from the book/story or from your reaction to it. Write down that image and then freewrite for ten
minutes or so from there.
Option 2: Read the piece through once as you normally would. Then read it again, paying
attention to what happens in your head as you read. What questions come up while you’re
reading? What memories or associations occurred? What seems most important in the writing?
Why? What seems least important? Why? You can write as you read the piece the second time,
or you can start writing immediately after you finish reading.
More options:
• Think through an interpretation: write your thoughts about what the piece means, recording
the unfolding of your ideas (writing and thinking happen together!).
• Explore thoughts and feelings that come up during and after reading
• Speculate about other events in the character’s/author’s life.
• Write another poem or story that “jumps off” from the one you just read.
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Creative Writing: Guidelines for Peer Response
The Basics
The writer begins by reading his or her piece aloud. The other group members should
listen closely, taking notes if they find that helpful. Don’t read over the writer’s shoulder!
To begin the discussion, the writer asks another person in the group “tells it back” or
paraphrases. If it’s a story, summarize the plot; if it’s a poem or something else without a clear
plot line, describe the speaker/narrator, and says what the piece is about. Paraphrasing is an
important way to ensure that readers understand the content of the piece. Hearing their piece
paraphrased also helps the writer can also get a sense of how clearly their intended meaning is
coming through. The writer may choose to then clarify their intent verbally, and should also take
notes on which sections of the piece were confusing to the readers. The writer should consider
revising these sections in the next draft.
The next step is to discuss the writing’s strengths. Look for specific examples in the
text. Which passages are most effective? Why? Do not revert to evaluative statements such as
“I like it” – don’t judge it, even positively.
Then, point out the passages you found confusing or unclear, the parts you didn’t
understand or which made you stumble or resist. Don’t forget: Be compassionate!
Finally, the writer has the opportunity to ask any questions he or she might have for thereaders/responders.
There is no need to point out errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. These will be
addressed during the final editing phase.
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Creative Writing: Guidelines for Peer Response
Further Discussion
Reader-based questions:
• How would you instinctively respond if you weren’t trying to give feedback? Would you tell
the writer about something similar in your own experience? Ask what was going on in the
writer’s mind as he/she wrote? Ask for clarification about something? Comment on the
meaning?
• Summarize what you feel the writer is trying to say but not quite actually saying. Where
does the writing seem to want to go?
• Tell how someone different from you might react (your mother, a friend).
• Make up an image for the relationship between the writer and the reader. Is the writer
whispering in your ear? Declaiming from a stage?
• What is the writer’s tone? Find some words or metaphors to describe it.
Criterion-based questions:
• Is there too much abstraction or generalization? Too much telling and not enough showing?
Not enough details?
• Is there too little abstraction and too much clutter of detail? Too little standing back forperspective? Too little forest per tree?
• Is there a point of view or is the writing just disembodied statements from nowhere? Is there
a sense of a speaker or voice?
• Is the whole thing unified? Do the parts hang together and relate and add up?
• Is there a beginning? Does it start off in a way that allows the reader to get a sense of what’s
going on?
• Is there a middle? Some solidity, sufficiency, matter? Or does it turn around and say good-
bye almost as soon as it is finished saying hello?
• Is there an ending? Does it give you a sense of closure or completion?
• If there are paragraphs, are they the right length? Not too much, not too little in each?
• Is the language alive, human, interesting?
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Guidelines for Teacher Response to Student Work
Teacher assessment mechanisms include oral conferences with students, written feedback
to students on specific pieces of writing, observation and record-keeping, and written narrative
reports to students at the end of each unit. The first two types of assessment are discussed in the
Methods section. Here you will find a form called “Record of Weekly Student Progress” (one
page per student per week) and directions for writing the end-of-unit narrative reports.
Narrative response fulfills the aspect of assessment that is “communication with students
about their progress.” However, assessment also functions as a mode of recordkeeping, and as a
tool to inform adjustments in teaching methods and content. A formative assessment expresses
the question: What am I, the teacher, looking for that will let me know that the students are
ready for what’s next? Writing is complicated, and responding to writing is also complicated:
both are rife with subjectivity and emotion. Narrative response (written or oral) to student
writing is the best way to respect each writer’s effort, integrity and uniqueness.
Preparing to write the narrative report: Read each student’s response to the “Student
Report on Self, Group, and Class” questionnaire, the four completed “Records of Weekly
Student Progress,” and the learning objectives emphasized in the current unit.
Suggestions for writing the narrative report: Address the student directly, perhaps using
letter format. Discuss the student’s progress toward each learning objective in separate
paragraphs (rephrase the language of the learning objectives so the student will understand you!).As you address each objective, start by noting the student’s strengths – the positive points. Refer
to specific pieces of writing and quote specific passages. For each objective, suggest something
the student can focus on improving over the next four weeks (the next unit). If the student has
persistent technical errors, mention one that they can work on correcting.
As noted in the Learning Activities, each unit emphasizes particular learning objectives.
However, each unit is also intended to provide opportunities for continued progress toward the
goals of previous units. The following reference shows emphasized goals plus previous goals in
parentheses.
Unit One learning objectives: 2, 3a, 3b, 3c
Unit Two learning objectives: 1, 4 (2, 3a, 3b, 3c)
Unit Three learning objectives: 5, 6, (2, 3a, 3b, 3c, 1, 4)
Unit Four learning objectives: 7, 8, 9, 10 (2, 3a, 3b, 3c, 1, 4, 5, 6)
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Record of Weekly Student Progress
Yes/No Notes
Notebook
check:
All assignments written down and begun?
Homework
turned in:
First draft? Revision (and number)? Editing draft?
Peer
responsegroup:
Monitor? Writer? Responder?
Individual
conference:
Student: Week:
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H. References and Resources
Resources for use with the curriculum:
Eggers, D. (Ed.). (2002-2005). The Best American nonrequired reading. (Series). Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
McClatchy, J.D. (Ed.) (2003). The Vintage book of contemporary American poetry. Second
edition. New York: Vintage Books.
Reed, I. (Ed.). (2003). From totems to hip-hop: A multicultural anthology of poetry across the
Americas, 1900-2002. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press.
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1986). Sudden fiction: American short-short stories.
Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, Publisher.
Suggested selections:
Baxter, Charles. “The Cliff.”
Boyle, T. Coraghessan. “The Hit Man.”
Carlson, Ron. “Reading the Paper.”
Cheever, John. “Reunion.”
Edson, Russell. “Dinner Time.”
Fox, Robert. “A Fable.”
Greenberg, Barbara. “Important Things.”Hemingway, Ernest. “A Very Short Story.”
Hughes, Langston. “Thank You, Ma’am.”
Jackson, Gordon. “Billy’s Girl.”
Milenski, Paul. “Tickits.”
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Happy.”
Ordan, David. “Any Minute Mom Should Come Blasting Through the Door.”
Paley, Grace. “Mother.”
Schutzman, Steven. “The Bank Robbery.”
Tallent, Elizabeth. “No One’s a Mystery.”
Whalen, Tom. “The Visitation.”
McGarvey, Craig. “Sense of Wonder, Sense of Awe.”
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Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1989). Sudden fiction international: 60 short-short stories.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1996). Sudden fiction (continued): 60 new short-short
stories. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Williford, L., and Martone, M. (Eds.). (1999). The Scribner anthology of contemporary short
fiction: Fifty North American stories since 1970. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction.
Suggested selections:
Barthelme, Donald. “The School.”
Baxter, Charles. “Gryphon.”
Carver, Raymond. “Errand.”
Diaz, Junot. “Fiesta 1980.”
Dybek, Stuart. “Pet Milk.”
Ford, Richard. “Rock Springs.”
Gautreaux, Tim. “Same Place, Same Things.”
Hansen, Ron. “Nebraska.”
Kaplan, David Michael. “Doe Season.”
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.”
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Ghost Girls.”
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.”
References used in developing this curriculum:
Atwell, N. (1987). In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning with adolescents. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
Ballator, N., Farnum, M., & Kaplan, B. (1999). NAEP 1996 Trends in writing: Fluency and
writing conventions. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics.
Retrieved on April 28, 2006 from the National Center for Education Statistics website at
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard//pubs/main1996/1999456.asp
Brooks, D. L. Personal correspondence.
Brown, B., and Glass, M. (1991). Important words: A book for poets and writers. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
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Cook, K. (2002). Fiction Writing: Characterization [and] Plot [and] Setting: ArtsEdge
Curricula, Lessons and Activities. ERIC document number 475410.
Musselman, F. Personal correspondence.
Schneider, P. (2003). Writing alone and with others. Oxford University Press.
Spear, K. (1988). Sharing writing: Peer response groups in English classes. Portsmouth, New
Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
Steele, N. Personal correspondence.
Ueland, B. (1987). If you want to write: A book about art, independence and spirit. (2nd Ed.).
St. Paul, Minnesota: Graywolf Press.
Williams, J.D. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, theory, and practice. (3rd Ed.)
Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
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Chapter 2
Developing the Creative Writing Curriculum: A Process Paper
Contents
A. About the Project
B. Whence the Project
C. Decisions
D. Praxis
E. Reflections
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A. About the Project
Creative Writing… is a one-semester (sixteen-week) curriculum for high school students
(9-12) with little to no prior experience writing poetry and/or short fiction. The curriculum
includes learning objectives, but is not based on any state educational standards. If implemented
in a public high school, it would probably be offered as an elective course (due to its being
creative writing, and its eschewing of grades).
The course consists of four units, each four weeks in length. The first unit is an
introduction to the “process writing” method, and to peer response/small group work. The
second unit is on short story writing; the third unit is on poetry writing; and the fourth and last
unit includes more writing, while focusing on revising and finalizing existing work and
compiling portfolios. Ideally, the portfolios would be printed and bound together for publication
and distribution.
B. Whence the Project
I have been a creative writer, on and off, since I was a child. One of the reasons I
decided to become an English teacher is that I believe deeply in the power of Story (reading
them and writing them) to enhance human lives. In the fall of 2005, as part of my teacher
training program, I student-taught three creative writing classes at a small, arts-focused, charterhigh school. In the future, I plan to teach English in either a public or a private high school. I
hope to teach creative writing classes, if possible; or to at least include some creative writing in
my “regular” courses, if that’s all there’s room for.
Within the larger field of education, curriculum has always held my keenest interest.
Reflecting on my own undergraduate education, I have often wondered why certain ways of
thinking, certain ways of teaching and learning, and certain areas of knowledge have been
elevated to the status of the “right ways.” Why are the academic disciplines so strictly separate?
Why is religion taught as anthropology, excising any experiential “data”? Why are creative
endeavors so severely limited in every academic department save Studio Art? Why does it have
to be so hard for individuals to connect their studies with their “real lives”?
In studying curriculum theory and thinking about how I’d do it if I were in charge, I have
come to recognize two great gulfs. To bridge the gulf between school and life, we need
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relevance. To bridge the gulf between areas of thought, we need interdisciplinarity. Neither
solution can be achieved easily; but if we view relevance and interdisciplinarity as modes of
thought, or as methods or approaches, we can begin to build those bridges.
One very good place to start is in the teaching of writing, since writing is necessary in
every discipline (including “real life”), and writing skills acquired in one course can be carried
along into all the others. Creative writing courses, in particular, develop writing (and reading
and listening) skills which remain valuable throughout a student’s career and into the rest of life.
I discuss these skills in further depth in my curriculum project, and some of the other benefits of
creative writing in my Preface.
All of this cogitation is all very well and good. It has been extremely useful to me to
think through my experiences as a student and my emerging beliefs as a teacher. However, my
experiences as a teacher (which have been limited thus far) complicate matters. Teaching
writing to actual teenagers is no slice of pumpkin pie. So what happens when ideals come in
contact with the real world? Adjustment happens!
My student teaching placement was at Studio Academy of Fine Arts High School in
Rochester, Minnesota. The people in this small city are as (un)diverse as in any Minnesota city –
mostly white, mostly middle class. Studio Academy is a small, arts-focused charter high school
in its sixth year. Its 120 students are mostly in the upper grades since they tend to transfer in
midway through high school. Demographically, the student body parallels Rochester: mostlylower-middle-class white people. The kids tend to be marginal, in terms of subculture: most are
artsy, many might be considered “delinquents,” and there is also a small population of “out”
queer students. The school’s mission is to incorporate the arts into all the academic disciplines,
as well as to offer a lot of art classes in several areas. Ten service learning hours per year are
also part of the graduation requirement. Community spirit is constantly demonstrated at school,
too: the students are affectionate and respectful of each other and of the faculty, and the faculty
treat the students that way as well.
Three credits of English are required for graduation, where a one-semester course is equal
to one-half credit (so, three years of English). All freshmen are required to take English 9, a
standard literature and composition course with plenty of grammar and vocabulary mixed in.
Most students take Composition & Speech in their sophomore year. Several other literature
courses are offered for upperclassmen and qualifying tenth-graders, including Modern Poetry,
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Shakespeare, American Literature, and British Literature (the last two are usually AP). At least
one creative writing course is offered every semester, too, each worth a half-credit (designated
either as Art as English) just like any other English course. Most Studio Academy students do
choose to take a creative writing course during their time at the school.
In addition to two literature courses, I taught one section of Creative Writing (an
introductory course) and two sections of Advanced Writing (also “creative”). Creative Writing,
designed to introduce students to a wide variety of forms and genres, was a prerequisite for
Advanced Writing, which offered students the opportunity to work on their own projects for the
entire semester (form and content were their choice, though deadlines were set). Neither class
was grade-limited, so my students were a mix of all four grades. Class size averaged around 15
students. At my request, we arranged the long rectangular classroom tables in an approximate U
shape, with the opening at the front of the room. This allowed everyone to face one another,
while also enabling the teacher to walk around the inside of the U, observing and assisting.
My mentor teacher was Mr. M., probably the most popular teacher in the school, and an
accomplished playwright, too. Having taught both courses before, he was fairly clear on their
curricula, while remaining somewhat flexible regarding the length of units and the specifics of
assignments. His methods were fairly set, however. Students usually submitted two drafts for
each assignment; the first worth ten points (deductions for insufficient length, if applicable, and
for lack of adherence to directions), and the second worth fifteen points (deductions for incorrectspelling and usage, as well as for lack of “quality” – I quietly ignored this last guideline when
grading on my own). Late work – whether a day or a month late – was worth half the original
point value. Mr. M.’s willingness to accept assignments weeks after they were given, resulted in
difficulties tracking students’ progress: often they would do work entirely out of sequence, thus
not benefiting from any scaffolding we might have built in. Sharing and discussion of student
work was always done as a class, rather than in small groups, and with a fair amount of direction
(questioning, guiding focus, etc.) from the teacher.
Of course, there were numerous differences in how he conducted the Creative Writing
(CW) class and the Advanced Writing (AW) classes. In CW, student work was rarely shared or
discussed, and when it was, it was chosen and read aloud by Mr. M., who also anonymized it.
Such readings usually took place after students had turned in their final drafts, and so were not
intended to assist writers in revising their work. In AW, however, the class read and discussed
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every piece of writing produced, whether draft or final copy. Each student had a recurring
weekly deadline (i.e., about five students had to turn work in each Tuesday, another five each
Wednesday, etc.). Mr. M. or I would make copies of the work, staple them into packets, and
hand them out for discussion the next day. It was extremely difficult to keep up that aggressive
discussion schedule.
In CW, the students were given a series of assignments focusing on various forms and
genres (the “I am from” poem, a sci-fi story, haiku, etc.). They also did several exercises,
usually in class (making metaphors, developing characters, etc.). In AW, students chose their
own forms, genres, style and content; they were, however, asked to create something of a
syllabus for themselves at the beginning of the semester, indicating what form they would be
working in (poetry or prose) and what theme they would be exploring. Almost no one held to
their choice of theme as the term unfolded, though.
Neither course offered much instruction in writing technique/process (how do you get
your ideas on paper? how do you get ideas at all?) or in giving and receiving feedback. Before
the term started, Mr. M. told me he wanted to provide clearer guidelines on discussion, which
had proved difficult in the past. Knowing that I had been reading Peter Elbow’s Writing Without
Teachers, he asked me to create a handout that would help students respond better to one
another’s writing. I did so, and we went over it with the students at some length, but we rarely
had (made) time to return to it, and in the end it seemed they had not retained much.A number of problems emerged during the semester. In my journal excerpts given
below, watch for evidence of these: my inability to modify the structure and procedures of the
classes due to the need to conform to Mr. M.’s established ways; lack of revision (and of
opportunities to revise); written feedback limited to the teacher’s; the structure’s forcing of
teachers to edit and evaluate while responding; poor assignment turn-in rate; students’ lack of
confidence and ineptitude in giving feedback; noisiness and lack of focus as a result of large-
group response sessions, repeated daily, without enough to keep individuals busy; and serious
flaws in the actual writing, especially the poetry (dependence on clichés, rhyme, abstractions,
broad topics and themes, resistance to the axiomatic “show, don’t tell”).
Journal excerpts (undated, but in chronological order):
I feel uncertain about Mr. M.’s approach to teaching creative writing. He does
have plenty of good assignments, but I’m not sure that he’s covering the basics - what is a
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poem? what is a short story? what makes a good poem or short story? How about
techniques for writing? We’ll see.
I have two sections of Advanced Writing, a creative writing course in which the
students write what they please - there are quantity requirements - and classes consist
almost entirely of group critiquing. The second hour class is smaller, and (perhaps as a
result) has a more cohesive, mutually respectful atmosphere. Third hour’s class is larger,
and there has been a lot of whispering and chattering during class. Mr. M. has reminded
me a couple of times that it is important that I reprove them quickly - if I let them get
away with talking, they’ll keep doing it. So I try - but it doesn’t endear me to them.
There seems to be a fine balance to walk between keeping the class focused, and
maintaining friendly relations between teacher and students.
We had an opportunity to do that a few days later, when it became clear that we
were behind in our critiquing schedule. Mr. M. and I asked the class for ideas about how
to catch up, while ensuring that everyone’s work got its fair share of class time. We had
experimented one day with breaking into small groups, which I thought would allow
more in-depth critiquing - but the students said not enough people were willing or able to
talk enough to make it work. I have been trying to improve everyone’s critiquing
abilities (and confidence) in several ways - reminding them to attend to the comments
others make which are helpful to writers, reviewing our critiquing guidelines (Mr. M. andI made a handout and discussed it at the beginning of the semester), and occasionally
asking specific people (the quieter ones) for their views - sometimes these quieter
students need more pointed questions - a sort of scaffolding for critiquing - for example,
what lines in this poem create a visual image in your head? Anyway, when we were
behind schedule, the students decided they would prefer to put a time limit on the
critiquing of each writer’s work. Not my favorite idea, since it requires me to cut short
conversations which might be going in interesting directions - but it works pretty well.
Of more concern in Advanced Writing was what happened with A.’s critique the
other day. This student writes barely-disguised personal poems and journal entries, very
angsty. She has a penchant for simple rhyme schemes and abstract language, which often
make her poems sound like nihilist nursery rhymes. There’s a lot that is strong in her
writing, too - real insight into her own emotions and experiences; a sophisticated
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vocabulary; an ability to write a lot, every week (no writer’s block for her!); occasionally,
a vivid metaphor or image. Thus far, she has been turning in work that she calls fiction -
the diary entries of a teenage girl (“she’s not me, but she’s kind of like me” - but really it
is her). One day the class turned rather nasty while discussing her latest installment. One
student said “this character is stupid and whiny and I don’t like her”... which made my
heart jump into my throat because of course really “this character” is A. herself. She
didn’t look very happy - and during critique, writers are supposed to just listen, not
defend their work - so I interjected and wrapped it up, with a brief reminder to the class
as a whole to try to remember to be nice to each other.
[The next day] I addressed the issue with the whole class, too - not referring to
A.’s critique, but talking generally - about the need for everyone to be aware that people
are really putting themselves out there when their work is critiqued, and that we all need
to be respectful and compassionate when responding to each other’s work. I also talked
(individually and outside of class) with the two students who’d made the cruelest
comments, asking them to be particularly vigilant about being kinder during critiques.
Both seemed a little surprised - but neither was offended, I think. Result: things have
improved... the class is mellower on the whole, although I think conversation flows less
smoothly because they are feeling cautious about their words. Balance...
My efforts to help students succeed consist mainly of communicating to themabout their progress (or lack thereof) via my written comments on their work, brief
individual conferences during or after class (I try to make time regularly to do these
check-ins), and giving them missing-assignment reports once a week or so. Also, I try to
encourage and/or heckle students who are falling behind - it’s sometimes hard to decide
which approach to take, but so far I haven’t alienated anyone - though the results of the
encouragement/heckling are not, on the whole, spectacular.
Luckily, things have been getting better with Advanced Writing (3rd Hour) - that
cynical, angsty bunch - even though we’re still behind... but I did a couple of really good
things there... I noticed that a number of people weren’t turning stuff in and I asked why
and they said they couldn’t think of anything to write; then I asked if they wanted me to
give them an assignment, just on an individual basis, and several of them said yes, so I
did that. And then I thought, oh, why not have them give each other assignments? So I
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took five minutes out of the class (both hours) and asked the students to make up an
assignment, put it on a little piece of paper, fold it up, and put it in this basket - so now
we have an “assignment basket” - so if people need an assignment they can just pick one
out of there. Although not everyone who’s taken advantage of the basket has been
pleased with what they found in there!
Basically, there are people who want it to be a therapy session; one girl outright
said that in her writing, that she is expecting it to be a counseling session and it’s not, and
it seems like some others have the same thing going on. I kind of talked about that in
second hour the other day...how none of us are really qualified to be therapists, and that’s
not really what the class is about, but in some ways just the act of writing, and having
people listening, can kind of serve that function. It seemed like that sunk in.
Reflecting on these experiences, I have devised a list of student writers’ essential needs.
Most of these needs were either not addressed, or were addressed but not fully met in my student
teaching classroom. The curriculum I developed for this thesis project takes each of these needs
into account and provides some means to meet them.
Student writers need: quiet time to write in class; practice in writing (use and awareness
of the writing process); small work groups; peer response skills; feedback from peers and
teachers during the writing process (integral to revision); exercises in techniques and forms;
emotional safety in the classroom (mutual compassion and no grades on creative work);flexibility in assignment form and content; ownership of their writing (permission and
encouragement to write with authenticity); invitations to provide feedback to the teacher about
the class and about their own progress; genre familiarity; and more reading opportunities (in-
class SSR, homework, and pleasure reading).
C. Decisions
Eventually the time came when I needed to decide what my master’s thesis project would
be. Goddard’s guidelines indicate that a culminating project should draw on a student’s
academic and experiential background, taking some idea to explore further. At some point in the
fall of 2005, I decided to develop a creative writing curriculum for high school students. The
idea arose from the intersection of: my own history of being a writer, my concern with art-
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making, my interest in curriculum design, my desire to deepen my knowledge of writing
pedagogy (my pre-student teaching study of writing seemed insufficient), and my experience of
student teaching creative writing with an ineffective curriculum. With the help of my advisors, I
chose a project which is not too big, is personally and intellectually meaningful, and which might
be useful to me later in my teaching career.
During the week-long residency at the beginning of my thesis semester, several aspects of
the project became clear. One was that it (the thesis) would take the shape of a curriculum
development project, an integrated practical component, and a process paper describing it all
(this very document!). Another early decision, urged by my advisor, was to design the course as
an elective: that would mean devising the learning objectives myself rather than choosing from
among existing, semi-relevant state standards. My advisor also impressed upon me the
importance of making this an outcome-based, backward-designed curriculum. With his help, I
brainstormed a list of course goals which, rather to my surprise, have remained constant
throughout the project.
I returned to the list of course goals about a month later, hoping to get a sense of why I
had chosen them, what they meant, and what implications they had for the shape of my nascent
curriculum. Contemplating them, I realized that all of the course goals are “axiomatic” in that
they are self-justifying, important in and of themselves. My course goals tend to be connected
with less traditionally-educational goals: enhancing self-esteem, fostering personal growth,increasing engagement with learning, and developing social skills. However, most of the course
goals also function as precursors to other, more familiar educational aims: students becoming
“better writers,” being prepared for higher-level work (college), improving literacy, and
developing higher-order critical thinking skills. In the list below, the larger/related goals are
included in parentheses.
• Develop voice (self-esteem, personal growth, engagement with learning)
• Be less fearful of, and more confident about writing (self-esteem – especially academic,
better writers)
• Learn writing process (better writers, prepared for higher-level work, critical thinking skills)
• Fluency in expressive writing (personal growth, better writers)
• Workshop/peer response skills (social skills, critical thinking skills, better writers)
• Competency in writing poems, short stories (better writers, literacy)
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• Knowledge of basic poetic and literary terms and concepts (prepared for higher-level work,
better writers)
• Increased interest in reading, increased literacy via the reading/writing connection
(engagement with learning, literacy)
As I contemplated these goals, throwing them into the mix with all the other ideas and
concerns I brought to the project, I was feeling confused. I felt a strong need to get a sense of the
Big Picture. So I drew a picture – or rather, a diagram or “mind map” of the project, showing the
various conceptual pieces that go into the actual creative writing class. This was extremely
useful to me as I planned my reading and studying.
With the help of my map, I came up with the following list of “dimensions of the
theoretical context” of a creative writing class:
• Teacher-student relationship (including responding to student writing, etc.)
• Psychological and spiritual aspects of creative writing (including voice, growth, etc.)
• Writing techniques and processes: Expressive (including journal writing, freewriting); formal
(including poetry, short story, other prose); revision (including technical correctness,
portfolio collation)
• Creative writing pedagogy (including assignment choice and order, scaffolding, expectations,
etc.)
• Cooperative learning/peer response/small group work (including sharing work, givingfeedback)
• Reading-writing connection (including reading for inspiration, students choosing readings,
reading aloud)
• Literary terms and concepts: Elements of poetry (formal and free verse); elements of the
short story
These are more or less in the order in which I ended up studying them.
Around this time, I also wrote what is now Appendix C: Autobiographical Material. I
wrote this piece because I needed to figure out what I think and “where I’m coming from.” Also
I needed to do some writing myself. I pretty much freewrote it (in two sessions), and did just a
minute amount of revision. Having written it, I felt a lot clearer about my own beliefs about
writing, about how writing can be (and ought to be) taught, and about the complex nature of
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writing in school. The piece does seem to serve as an example of sorts, too, for what can happen
when a writer accesses the process!
My original inquiry question – the one I put down on my thesis proposal – was: How can
I find a way to balance, through thoughtful curriculum design, the goals of making meaningful,
well-crafted art, and also cultivating students’ self-development? Over the next couple of
months, I encountered many more questions. Different ones emerged as the “guiding questions”
during different phases of the curriculum development.
The questions I asked and tried to answer during the first half of the semester tended to
be about more interpersonal aspects of writing and teaching writing. My discussion of these
concerns I call “Authenticity and Safety.” Decisions about “Methods” follow. During the
second half of the term, the main idea emerged as “Structure and Freedom.” “Reading” rattled
around quite a bit, as did that monster “Assessment” (especially toward the end of the semester,
in spite of the injunction to practice backward design).
AUTHENTICITY AND SAFETY
Possible the most urgent of the course goals is that of developing “voice” in student
writers. It’s also a slippery goal – difficult to define, not to mention difficult to cultivate –
difficult to figure out how to cultivate. I began with a somewhat vague, intuitive understanding
of what “voice” means, allowing that to serve for the time being as I investigated a couple of other things.
I knew that in order to do good, interesting, authentic, voice-ful writing, students would
need a certain kind of classroom environment. Namely, they would need to feel connected with
their teacher and with their peers – they would need trust.
Berman’s (1994) and Salzman’s (2003) books both talk about how trust is developed in
classrooms, and how authentic writing flourishes there. In retrospect, I think I chose to read
these books because they were not squarely in my field of inquiry; I hoped to find a fresh
perspective on matters which, when they appear in educational books and journals, are often arid
with familiarity.
Jeffrey Berman’s Diaries to an English professor: Pain and growth in the classroom is
about his experiences teaching an undergraduate course on literature and psychoanalysis. As
part of the coursework, and in order to give students the opportunity to reflect and write in a
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more personal mode than is usual in academia, he asks the students to write a weekly diary.
They are invited but not required to write about their personal lives. Berman chooses a few of
the diary entries to read aloud to the class once a week, without disclosing the authors’ names.
There is no class discussion about the entries; however, Berman does respond in writing. He has
several “rules” that guide his responses: he never grades the diaries; he does his best not to
“psychoanalyze” them, trying instead to make only supportive comments; he “promises [his]
students that [he] would be as noninterpretive and nonjudgmental as possible”; and he “strives to
maintain proper boundaries, avoiding both overinvolvement and underinvolvement” (Berman, p.
1-2). On the whole, he tries to respond as a person rather than as a teacher or analyst.
These procedures invite authentic writing and provide a trustworthy environment in
which such writing can occur. Students are free to write what they please – whatever form they
choose, whatever content they choose. Their teacher is careful to respond in an engaged,
positive manner that protects students’ emotional safety. When the writing is shared, the writer’s
privacy is protected even while their voice is respectfully heard by an audience that feels
increasingly like a community.
Berman believes, as I do, that teachers have a responsibility to engage with their students
at close to the same level as the students are offering. As he puts it, “students appreciate
teachers…who can be both authority figures and human beings” (Berman, p. 31). It is important
that teachers be authentic in their responses (both written and oral) – this helps students feelconnected, validated, and safe. Of course, part of ensuring safe-feeling, significant connection
involves teachers’ responsibility to maintain appropriate boundaries.
Teachers need to be empathic. I subscribe to what Berman calls the “intersubjective
paradigm” of education: connection, mutuality, “realness” are its defining qualities. This model
of teaching is particularly appropriate for writing classes, which tend to be emotionally fraught.
Berman firmly believes – and I agree – that “all learning involves both affective and cognitive
elements, and there is no contradiction… between scholarly and personal teaching” (p. 226).
One of the ways Berman cross-checks his effectiveness as an empathic teacher is by
asking students to evaluate him several times throughout the semester. The feedback must go
both ways.
True notebooks is Mark Salzman’s account of two years of his teaching writing to “high-
risk offenders” (homicides) at the Central Juvenile Detention Facility in Los Angeles. At first,
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he was afraid he’d be afraid of the boys, but he was not, and they soon developed a good class
and a close bond. His students wrote mostly on personal topics – their thoughts and feelings
about a wide variety of stuff. Form was their choice – poems and stories (fiction) did happen,
but mostly they wrote what Salzman calls “essays” – expressive pieces around some idea or
event. For example, “father” or “regret.” Salzman would only suggest a topic if the student did
not already have an idea.
The combination of student choice in writing and their teacher’s accepting, encouraging
attitude allowed these unlikely writers to develop their voices as well as gaining insight into their
very difficult life situations.
To investigate “voice” a bit further, I read Peter Elbow’s 1995 essay “Voice as a
lightning rod for dangerous thinking.” This article is, rhetorically speaking, an attempt to bridge
the arenas of academia and interpersonal psychology on the subject of the writer/
writing/“voice”. Elbow tries to rescue the word and the idea of “voice” from relegation to the
unscholarly bin of romanticism/expressivism/individualism. He mounts a defense of the idea by
carefully defining voice as “utterances” that have individuality as well as social function (the
usual function of speaking and writing being social communication).
His four “dangerous thoughts” are: that voice empowers selves who have been mistreated
by society or other people (p. 5-7); that composition studies’ focus on the reader’s perspective is
disingenuous and damaging to young writers (p. 7-10); that voice is the expression of “the most‘bodily’ dimension of language” (p. 12); and that everyone has access to voice, no matter how
new they are to writing (p. 15-16).
A teacher can encourage the development of students’ voices (thus helping to empower
their most real selves) by cherishing and nourishing students’ individuality. Supportive focus on
the writer’s perspective and genuine acknowledgement of each writer’s access to voice are
important ways for writing teachers to invite the expression of students’ individuality.
Of course, the teacher is not the only other person in the room with these student writers.
There are also a lot of other student writers. If we hope to create a community of trust, in which
individual voice can flourish, those writers need to learn to be readers, listeners, and responders,
too.
To get a sense of how a good writing workshop might look, and how a teacher might
facilitate such a thing, I read Elbow’s Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing
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process (1981) and Pat Schneider’s Writing alone and with others (2003). Both books offer
oodles of advice and stories about doing writing, giving feedback, and leading workshops. They
are geared toward writing workshops outside of academic settings, and comprised of adults;
however, both authors also address the specific concerns of teachers and students (if briefly).
Schneider, who must have learned at Elbow’s knee, has a great big-picture perspective,
while also offering plenty of details, examples, and ideas. She gives good advice about the less-
tangible aspects of leading a writing group – how to be flexible (so as to foster, not constrain
creativity), how to be encouraging, and how to ensure safety and confidentiality. She has a
couple of very clear “rules” that I’ve adopted, notably that of treating all student work as fiction
unless the writer says otherwise. This seems to be a good middle ground between total
disclosure and total anonymity, allowing writers to feel their privacy is respected while also
demanding a certain level of trust (which leads to greater intimacy in the classroom community).
While I read, enjoyed, and found useful Elbow’s chapters on poetry writing and on voice,
I was mainly drawn to his section on feedback. He suggests many questions for use in feedback
groups, dividing them into “criterion-based” and “reader-based” types. The former are questions
that help writers hone their technique; the latter offer insights into the writing’s emotional and
intellectual effects on its audience.
It is clear at this point that writers need feedback – encouragement, to help them access
that voice, but also the thoughts and feelings of a variety of readers, to help them shape theirwriting into an effective, interesting communication. Karen Spear’s dense and thorough Sharing
writing: Peer response groups in English classes (1988) proved extremely useful to me in my
quest to figure out how to help student writers respond helpfully to one another.
Sharing writing combines original research on group processes in the writing classroom,
with a pulling-together of a lot of existing research in this field and several others (composition,
psychology). It is designed to inform and instruct writing teachers of secondary and
undergraduate students. The author begins by outlining the benefits of “peer response groups”
(a.k.a. small groups or work groups, consisting of about three to five students) and why they’re
perfect for writing classes. She notes that writing and collaboration are natural partners, because
of the social nature of language (and thus writing, too). Indeed, writing is almost always a
collaborative effort in professional settings (Spear, p. 14). Writing is a process of thought: ideas
develop during writing and during conversation (Spear, p. 100ff).
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However, work groups only work if the group members have the requisite social skills as
well as the writing skills (or whatever is being worked on). In writing classrooms, then, social
interaction skills must be explicitly taught simultaneously with the writing skills specified by the
course title and curriculum. As Spear describes it, students need to learn group “maintenance
functions” (how to notice and adjust the social communication) as well as the “task functions”
(the writing) (p. 25ff). The key to effective small group work is: lots of metacognition.
Groups in which the members like each other seem to work the best (Spear, p. 63). Also,
it is crucial that the writer be the discussion leader during feedback sessions on his/her own work
(Spear, p. 61). This helps ensure harmony in the group, as the writer invites feedback and the
respondees thus feel it is acceptable to give it.
Spear emphasizes repeatedly that feedback is not the same thing as criticism or
evaluation! It is essential that teachers get students to understand and believe and practice this
approach in peer response groups. The feeling of unease that arises when students believe they
are being criticized, or that they must criticize their peers, is the killer fog for response groups.
However, “challenging” feedback is necessary in the process. Spear recommends that students
start with “supporting” feedback, then move on to the challenging kind, and finally to the
editorial kind (p. 132).
The two most appropriate tasks for peer response groups are a) brainstorming/
inventing/ideating, and b) revising/revisioning. Spear advises caution in asking groups to doediting work for each other, because students already tend to focus unduly on technical,
superficial errors in peer work. Williams (2003) notes that teachers have this tendency, too.
Listening skills are essential in giving feedback. Spear lists them out as follows (in order
of difficulty): attending, reflecting, drawing out, and connecting. Attending means believing that
what your peers say is important, not just what the teacher says. Reflecting involves
paraphrasing back to the writer/speaker what you understand them to mean. Drawing out means
asking questions of the writer/speaker, getting him/her to explain, explore, and elaborate on
his/her ideas. Connecting, finally, is the necessary step of summarizing and pulling together all
the various ideas that have come up during a group work session (Spear, p. 123-127).
But how does all this writing happen in the first place? How do students generate the
stuff that gets responded to? Spear, Schneider, and Elbow all espouse the process writing
approach (and Berman and Salzman, too, though they don’t discuss it explicitly). I, too, started
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out intending to promote the writing process; and by the time I’d read these five, that intention
was confirmed.
METHODS
By the second month of my work, I had decided on the essential methods I would use in
the curriculum. My student teaching experience suggested to me that student writers would
benefit from giving and receiving peer response in the context of small groups. Elbow’s and
Schneider’s work, and Williams’s reports of research data (see below) all support this method;
Spear’s book, especially, explained how to put the method into practice.
My curriculum indicates that peer response groups should work together at least twice a
week. (Daily seemed too much, but once a week might not be enough to cultivate and maintain
the group’s sense of intimacy.) In the Additional Materials section are guidelines to help
students learn how to give and receive helpful feedback. The Methods section includes
explanations and suggestions for the teacher about how peer response works and how to teach
students the skills they need to do it effectively.
The Methods section also includes a discussion of the “process writing writing process,”
as I like to call it. This is the number one most recommended way to write (and to teach writing,
and to learn writing). Its essence is: writing to figure out what you really want to write, and then
rewriting until you’ve written what you wanted to write.I implement the process writing approach in my curriculum by a) suggesting that teachers
explain it and teach it directly to students, b) incorporating daily time for writing and frequent
writing activities (usually in class), and c) supporting revision through peer response groups.
The essence of the writing process is the dynamic duo: Freewriting and Revision. My
curriculum entails doing a lot of freewriting, and then turning some of the generated material into
poetry or stories through revision. Earlier in the term, students are not asked to shape their
freewrites into specific forms; however, the second and third units focus on story-writing and
poetry-writing, respectively.
I believe a creative writing class should be at least partly about learning to work within
established forms. I chose poetry and the short story because these are central to literature as we
know it, are doable for young writers in a limited period of time, and because they are fairly
broad and flexible. The curriculum expresses an attempt to balance the goals of learning to write
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(in general) and learning to write in a particular form. Allowing students plenty of opportunity
to freewrite should help them with the first goal; assigning specific topics or specific forms
teaches them some of the conventions of those forms as well as helping them learn to revise their
work.
STRUCTURE AND FREEDOM
Once I felt this certainty about the methods I would employ in the creative writing
course, a new frame of reference emerged in my thinking. I wanted to find a way to build into
the curriculum a balance of structure and freedom. By this I mean two things: first, that student
writers should be provided enough freedom to find and develop their individual writing voices,
while also having some structure upon which to build their skills. Second, the curriculum itself
needs to be structured in such a way that teachers have room to adapt it to their teaching style
and to their students’ needs and interests, while still working toward the stated course
goals/learning objectives.
The work of Richard Herrmann and Diane Tabor (1974) was especially helpful in
pointing to ways one might establish and maintain the second type of balance (between goal-
orientation and flexible spontaneity). Their courses in “expressive writing” (which entailed a lot
of freedom for students as regards form and content of writing) were successful because the
teachers established strong pillars of regularity, ritual and routine.
Following their example, my curriculum includes a fairly firm weekly schedule that
includes time devoted to writing, reading, and small group response work. Whole-class
discussion and individual student-teacher conferencing are to be incorporated as needed, also
fairly regularly. Mini-lessons (probably daily) provide plenty of opportunity for the teacher to
directly instruct students in procedures, techniques, and writing mechanics without monopolizing
class time. The weekly schedule also includes deadlines (a notebook check once a week, and a
draft to turn in once a week), which are effective motivators for students (and everyone else in
the world).
Flexibility is essential. My hope is that the curriculum allows for flexibility without
leaving teachers in the lurch by being too vague. As Nancie Atwell (1987) writes: “Our worst
enemy is orthodoxy. When we teach to someone else’s – or even our own – rules about what we
and students can and cannot do, we surrender authority and abrogate our responsibilities as
professionals. Worse, we stop learning” (p. 254).
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Atwell’s famous In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning with adolescents now
holds an honored place on my bookshelf, too. Her middle school writing workshops demonstrate
a finely-tuned balance of structure and freedom, rigor and flexibility.
Atwell started out being quite “teacher-focused” – she tried to provide scaffolding for her
students while indulging her obsession with her store of writing assignments. However, when
students do not have ownership of their writing, when they are told to write in a specific form on
a specific topic, the writing they produce is inauthentic (lacking voice and interest) and of poor
quality. When Atwell allowed more freedom, her students’ work improved dramatically (p. 3).
She lists what writers need in order to write well: Regular chunks of time to think and
write; their own topics, ideas, and concerns; feedback from peers and teachers during the
composing process; opportunities to learn writing mechanics in context; role models who write;
and a wide variety of reading material from which to choose (Atwell p. 17-18). Atwell meets all
of these needs with her students in her writing workshop. Its essentials are: students choose what
they’ll write; there are no blanket deadlines; everyone gets feedback from peers and from the
teacher; there are plenty of opportunities for sharing in class and, through publication, with the
entire school community.
In support of the writing workshop model, Atwell cites a study by Don Graves which
concludes that “writing is a highly idiosyncratic process that varies from day to day” (p. 76) –
and there’s no getting around that! She also reports her students’ outstanding scores on statestandardized tests (98th percentile among Maine eighth-graders).
Crucial to Atwell’s writing workshop model is careful organization and record-keeping.
She provides each student with a folder in which to keep their writing, and in which she staples
three forms they fill in over time: Titles and dates of finished pieces; Ideas for writing; and
Things I can do as a writer (this is a list of technical issues the student needs to work on). Atwell
herself keeps a “conference journal” in which she records her observations of individual students
(p. 73).
Finally, a regular feature of Atwell’s workshops is the mini-lesson, a five- to ten-minute
lecture/discussion which kicks off each class period. This is the teacher’s opportunity to instruct
students in the craft of writing, to go over procedures, clarify technical issues, and so forth (p.
77ff).
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Returning to my own work… Providing a balance of structure and freedom for the
students (the first of the two balances I mentioned earlier) centers around the form their writing
takes. My curriculum allows room for students to make their own forms sometimes, and to learn
to work within existing forms at other times. All their writing, however, starts from a place of
freedom, because all the assignments begin in freewriting.While many of the exercises I offer in the curriculum do specify topics, I recommend that
teachers allow students the option to write about something else (on a case-by-case basis). When
the exercise focuses on learning to work with a specific form, however, students do not have the
freedom to opt out. Nonetheless, they can still choose the contents with which the form is filled.
I made this decision after reading a number of books and articles with varying views on
the matter. While Atwell, Herrmann and Tabor (and, obliquely, Elbow and Schneider) espouse
students’ right to write about whatever they please, others believe that the best way to learn to
write is to follow a carefully-designed, often topic-specific sequence of exercises.
Notable among the latter are Brown and Glass, authors of Important words: A book for
poets and writers (1991). This book is something of a curriculum guide for an introductory
poetry writing class. Two separate forewords address teacher and students, describing how the
authors envision their using the book. From there, the chapters proceed along a sequence of
topics, beginning with memories of childhood and then broadening the scope out to more
complex subjective and external subject matter. Each chapter also includes discussions of
various techniques and elements of poetry, such as enjambment, imagery, meter, and (near the
end) rhyme.
I was impressed with Brown’s and Glass’s skillful interlacing of assignments, examples,
and technical instruction. Their explanations of the nature, importance, and use of poetic
techniques were particularly clear and insightful – a great help to the beginning writing teacher.
Also, their book is unusual in that the authors give examples of both professional and student
work as models for the writing exercises, while making little distinction between the two.
However, the book has some striking and debatable features. The curriculum theypropose is all about models and exercises. The authors take the stance that they know all the
steps students must go through in order to achieve poetic proficiency. They withhold
information until it’s “the right time” for students to know about it – notably, they have a
stringent no-rhyming rule which they do not explain until near the end of the book. The way this
omniscient-guide position is enacted in the sequenced assignments also implies that the authors
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know exactly how human development occurs, or how it should occur: the sequence reflects a
controlled progression of person-meets-world exercises. I am skeptical about the
appropriateness of their one-size-fits-all approach, no matter how flexible the one size may be.
The philosophy underlying this program of instruction is reasonable, however. Brown
and Glass believe that anyone can write well; and that learning to write, like any learning,
happens through “imitation and emulation” (p. viii). They hope that their curriculum will “take
you from writing intuitively and instinctively to writing with a greater understanding of the
techniques available to you” (Brown & Glass, p. ix-x). My reservations notwithstanding, the
“modeling” or learning-by-imitation approach really made me think about my own beliefs about
how people learn to write. I suspect that different people learn differently. The approach I
ended up choosing is one that provides models and forms sometimes, but which does not
constrain students to their use all the time, especially when it comes to subject matter.
Deborah Womelsduff’s 2005 article, aptly titled “The paradox of structure and freedom:
An experiment in writing poetry,” directly addressed the balance I am seeking. In a creative
writing unit within a fairly traditional language arts curriculum, she experimented by asking her
students to write a poem modeled quite directly on a Dinka (traditional African) poem she
brought in. She was surprised at the fine quality of the work they produced, concluding that
“maybe structure promotes freedom” after all (Womelsduff, p. 27). I am reassured by her
assertion that teachers and curriculum designers “can provide structures that support and directstudent writing without being prescriptive or controlling” (Womelsduff, p. 27).
READING
All writers need to read, and read a lot. Research consistently finds that good writers are
avid readers, and vice versa. The classes I student-taught did not include much reading;
occasionally the CW class would follow along while Mr. M. read a story or poem aloud, but
there was no assigned reading or written responses to readings. I knew before I started working
on my own curriculum that I wanted to incorporate reading – of published/professional poetry
and fiction – into my writing class. Two questions arose: what should we read; and why exactly
do we need to read in order to write well?
The second question is really about the idea of “models.” Some writers and teachers
(Brown and Glass, Womelsduff) strongly advocate using pieces of professional writing as
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models for student writers. Writing with or from a model involves imitating some element(s) of
the original – topic, rhetorical approach, or some aspect of form such as rhyme scheme, allegory,
stanzas, or meter. The purpose of writing from a model is to limit the number and complexity of
creative choices the student must make while writing. The assumption is that the more choices
there are, the more complex the writing task becomes, and the more likely it is that the student
will become overwhelmed and either give up or produce shoddy work.
Student writing modeled on professional writing is often quite accomplished. Seeing
their own success might be helpful for students who need a self-confidence boost in order to
continue with writing. I wonder, however, if such an approach might not limit students’ future
writing, by cultivating a limited set of skills and preferences.
The more distasteful problem with using models is that it veers too close to plagiarism.
Of course, no one is suggesting that students borrow wholesale from the pros; but originality,
although a sliding spectrum, is sacred to artists and writers. A significant part of the glory of
writing is that it enables individual expression. A writer’s writing (through which speaks their
voice) is unique. Better, perhaps, to feed that original voice and produce middling writing than
to sacrifice uniqueness to the godling of quality (whatever that is).
Nonetheless, there is a connection between reading and writing that can not – and should
not – be severed. There are many reasons for writers to read: for inspiration, for lexical
delectation, for research, and for fun. Student writers in particular benefit from reading becauseit beefs up their verbal intelligence – vocabulary, metaphor, analysis, and all those other
nameable and unnamable tools of the word-rich mind. The more writers read and enjoy reading,
the more their writing will please themselves and their readers.
Atwell and Spear both laud the value of connecting reading and writing. Along with their
writing workshop, Atwell’s students participate in a reading workshop involving plenty of
sustained silent reading, student choice in reading material, and written correspondence (“literary
letters”) between each student and their teacher. Spear recommends that students do freewrites
on assigned reading – immediately after the actually reading, if possible. These focused yet open
exercises allow students to experience how reading is a “dialectic” process in which readers and
texts come together to make meaning.
My curriculum adapts their recommendations to include reading-response exercises and
freewrites, with room for the occasional SSR session. However, I felt it would complicate the
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curriculum unduly to try to incorporate student-chosen texts (other than a suggestion that the
teacher might invite one student to bring in a favorite text each week or so). I chose another
method to accommodate student interests: assigning contemporary poetry and stories.
I have long believed that students would better enjoy and succeed in language arts
courses if they were provided with reading material more relevant to their own lives. Many
teachers promote the young adult genre as a cure-all for teenage literary apathy; but oh, what
schlock! I would suggest that bored readers turn to more recently-written literature instead.
Creative writing students in particular need to read contemporary writing. It is important
that developing writers be exposed to work done in familiar language, about familiar topics and
situations, taking place in recognizable worlds (i.e. the present day, or the very recent day).
Tennyson and Eliot are not good models for today’s poets, although they are always worth
reading in and of themselves, and as inspiration. O’Connor and Balzac wrote wonderful stuff,
but their work reflects long-gone eras and vernaculars. Contemporary work also shows
developing writers what styles, themes, and genres appeal to today’s audiences – a secondary
consideration.
The resource list for my curriculum includes several recommended anthologies of
contemporary poetry, short stories, and works in other forms (see Best American Non-required
Reading series). When searching for likely “textbook” candidates, I selected Scribner’s
anthology of short stories (2003) as a starting point. I read the entire thing and starred about athird of the stories as suitable for/accessible to high school students. But I think the “sudden
fiction” anthologies would be more useful to creative writers. These stories, widely varying in
subject matter and style, are short enough to read (and re-read) in a single class period. Their
shortness enables the reader to hold an entire story in the mind at once, turning it around and
thinking about its techniques, structure, tone, and effect. Such practice would be useful for
writers learning to conceptualize their own stories.
I also feel strongly that all readers, including student writers, would do well to expose
themselves to the literatures of many cultures. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find
good anthologies that made a point of expanding their definition of quality and tradition to
include multicultural writers. From this perspective, I am not really satisfied with any of the
contemporary short-story anthologies I found.
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It seems that the best way to include enough non-white male writing is to supplement my
curriculum’s resource list with additional anthologies specifically devoted to multicultural
writers. I did eventually find one that might work for prose: Hear my voice: A multicultural
anthology of literature from the United States (1993). However, I did not purchase it (too
expensive) and I could not find it at any of my local libraries.
I did, however, find a very good anthology of multicultural American poetry: From
totems to hip-hop, edited by Ishmael Reed (2003). Reed is quite opinionated about how idiotic
and damaging is the canonical approach to anthologizing; and I quite agree with him. The
anthology includes writings by people of all the major ethnic groups (including whites), men and
women, straight and gay, politically left, right, and radical; it also includes student work (!),
without overtly identifying it as such.
My original motivation to look for and buy From totems to hip-hop was my
disappointment in the Vintage anthology’s selection. I recognized three nonwhite poets (out of
about a hundred) in this anthology published in 2003: a second edition, claiming to represent the
major poetic movements of the last fifty years. Worse was this dismissal from the editor: “Of the
claims made that new literary movements – black, feminist, gay – have emerged, it would be
better to say that new audiences [not new writers?!] have developed; weaker poets play to them,
stronger poets (I have included several in this book) attend to their art and work to complicate
the issues” (McClatchy, p. xxx). I was so revolted I almost didn’t read the stories – but of coursethe stories aren’t McClatchy’s, and are wonderful.
ASSESSMENT
The “backward design” method of curriculum development recommended by Goddard,
and which I tentatively profess to espouse, dictates that the developer should first set goals, then
create assessment tools which can measure students’ achievement in relation to those goals, and
finally devise or adopt teaching methods and activities which will enable students to succeed by
those assessments’ terms. I will confess that I did not strictly follow this formula. I started out
with sketchy ideas of goals, but I ran into serious problems as soon as I began to think about how
to “measure” student writing in relation to those goals.
As a reference, here is the short version of my list of learning objectives:
• Develop voice
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• Be less fearful of, and more confident about writing
• Learn writing process
• Fluency in expressive writing
• Workshop/peer response skills
• Competency in writing poems, short stories
• Knowledge of basic poetic and literary terms and concepts
• Increased interest in reading, increased literacy via the reading/writing connection.
I realized that some of the goals (knowledge of terms) would be easy to assess, while
others seemed impossible (voice?!). My advisor and I had briefly discussed this problem at the
residency. He observed that even a concept like “voice” can be shown to have observable
components – namely, idiosyncratic use of imagery, syntax, style, and the like. But how could
one presume to measure the degree of individuality apparent in a piece of writing? “Well,
Johnny, this story sounds like it was written by a mere shadow of your self – a 65% grey
shadow, to be precise.” No. I decided to put off the difficult task of inventing effective, non-
Orwellian assessments until later – until I had done some reading, gotten a sense of how other
teachers do it, and let it brew for a while in the back of my mind.
Writing is always difficult to assess, and creative writing even more so. Even the most
explicitly-stated qualitative criteria (such as “exhibits a smooth style”) elude quantifiability. If
assessment is about asking “how good is this writing?” the assessor can not escape answeringthat question subjectively. What does “good” mean, anyway?
One can get away from this quandary somewhat by eschewing the letter grade scale,
which relies exclusively on the evaluation of the teacher. An alternative is to use rubrics
developed collaboratively with students. Probably there would be different rubrics for different
writing assignments, each one delineating the specific qualities desirable to the task at hand. But
even a rubric system rests the heavy weight of assessment on whimsical criteria. I was not sure I
wanted to take this route, even if I could figure out how to include rubrics which would not
actually be created until the curriculum is implemented.
By the time I reached the midpoint of my project, I found I had made some decisions
about how assessment would work. First, I would present the course as ungraded – pass/fail –
thus enabling a separation of assessment (formative feedback) and evaluation (summative
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feedback, or grading). The only factors affecting the pass/fail part would be attendance and
assignment completion.
That done, I was free to design assessments that would, hopefully, really help the
students write “better.” I distributed the responsibility of judgment by including self-evaluation
(extensive) and peer evaluation (oblique) along with teacher assessment. I would prefer that
these be equally weighted, but am not sure that I succeeded in making them so. The “Student
Report on Self, Group, and Class” questionnaire (see Curriculum – Additional Materials) dates
from this period in my assessment development. It is to be completed by each student at the end
of each of the four units, thus providing a) helpful information for teachers in guiding and
modifying instruction, b) partial documentation of each student’s progress toward the course
goals, and c) an opportunity for students to reflect on their own writing, the effectiveness of their
peer response group, and the workings of the class as a whole.
The questionnaire does not directly assess specific pieces of writing, however. The
rubric question still loomed. Around this time I read Wyngaard and Gehrke’s 1996 article,
“Responding to audience: Using rubrics to teach and assess writing,” which recounts the tale of
their co-teaching a ninth-grade class on memoir. Their focus was on writers’ audience-
awareness as a means to improving writing. I admired their well-crafted rubrics and appreciated
their discussion of the “peer evaluation workshops” they did with their freshmen. Theirs seemed
to be very effective formative assessment strategies.It is clear that rubrics are better than letter grades, to be sure. But they are not good
enough. My queasiness came into focus when I read Alfie Kohn’s recent English Journal article
“The trouble with rubrics” (2006). Kohn begins by acknowledging the source of my own
unease: rubrics’ dependency on “murky” adjectives. But even more problematic, he argues, is
that “teachers use rubrics to standardize the way they think about student assignments” and
student performance (Kohn, p. 13, my emphasis). Tidy teacher-thinking deemphasizes the
individuality of the students they are thinking about.
Kohn goes on to suggest that rubrics have almost the same effects on student thinking as
does traditional letter-grading: If I do x, y, and z, I’ll probably get an A. But because rubrics so
closely specify what teachers want to see (even if the rubrics involve student input), students
have a “recipe” for success, and are therefore unlikely to do any more than that, or to take risks
in their writing. Kohn cites Maja Wilson, who argues that the use of rubrics leads to student
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work “stripped of the complexity that breathes life into good writing” (p. 14). She believes that
each piece of writing should be evaluated by the criteria it itself implies. That does sound like a
good idea, thought I’m not sure how exactly it might be done.
What it all comes down to, Kohn writes, is a reassessment of the purposes of assessment.
Are we assessing in order to compare students with each other? In order to create an extrinsic
motivator for them? Or are we “offering feedback that will help them become more adept at, and
excited about, what they’re doing”? (Kohn, p. 14) Of course, the last option is what we’d really
like to be doing.
I believe that there is no real need to measure the quality of a student’s writing. Thus
there is no need to tie oneself in knots trying to quantify quality (they are opposites!). Let’s just
accept that writing is complicated, and that responding to writing is also complicated; both are
rife with subjectivity and emotion. Narrative response (written or oral) to student writing is the
best way to respect the writer’s effort, integrity and uniqueness.
Narrative response fulfills the aspect of assessment that is “communication with students
about their progress.” However, assessment also functions as a mode of recordkeeping, and as a
tool to inform adjustments in teaching methods and content. A formative assessment expresses
the question: What am I, the teacher, looking for that will let me know that the students are
ready for what’s next? The Methods section of the curriculum offers suggestions for how to give
effective written and oral feedback on specific pieces of student writing, and the “TeacherResponse Guidelines” in the Additional Materials section explains how to write narrative
responses tied to each unit’s goals. The curriculum calls for teachers to write a individualized,
narrative progress report addressed to each student at the end of each of the four units.
V. Praxis
Please see also Appendix B: The “Road Test”: A Four-Session Writing Workshop Plan.
Report after the first session: According to the guidelines set forth by Goddard College,
there must be a practical component to the final product. Because I am not currently teaching in
a school, my options for such practical work were limited. My best bet seemed to be to conduct
some kind of independent writing workshop, probably for adults. I was concerned, however, that
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their more sophisticated cognition and (perhaps) writing skills might not provide me with an
accurate “test” of my ideas, which were of course developed with high school students in mind.
As it happened, several of my favorite resources (Elbow, Schneider) focused on and/or
grew out of extra-academic writing workshops for adults. I adapted and adopted many of their
ideas and guidelines for use with younger, less experienced writers. When it came time to do my
own workshop, I realized that it might work very well to teach adults as a test population: they
would be more serious about the work and more sophisticated in their metacognition, for a start.
I invited about twenty people to participate in the workshop, all of them personal friends
and acquaintances. Five people were willing to commit to coming to four sessions of one hour
each. They all showed up with notebooks and great willingness on the first evening, to my
extreme relief and delight! There were two men and three women (and myself): Rose, Vicky,
Kate, Jim, and Henry. (All names have been changed.) All five are in their late twenties to early
thirties and are white; three have college degrees and the other two have attended some college
courses.
Three of the five participants came prepared with at least an idea about what they wanted
to write. Vicky wanted to write a political fable based on a dream she’d had; Kate was working
on her artist’s statement; and Jim (who believes he may be dyslexic) was working on some fairly
technical text for his blog.
They all listened attentively as I told them about myself and my studies, outlined theworkshop, and explained the basics of the “process writing” method. We then did a ten-minute
freewrite, during which everyone was completely engaged in their work, hardly distracted at all
by neighboring conversations (except Rose, as it turned out).
After the freewrite, I invited them all to talk about what happened for them, what they
thought and how they felt about the process, and about what they actually wrote. Rose was
surprised by how negative her self-perception was, as expressed in her writing; later, reading
over it again, she observed that what she wrote was much more cohesive than she had thought.
Vicky decided not to work on her fable, but instead to write from one of the exercises on the
handout – the one that asks, “What matters, right now?” She, too, was surprised at her own
inclination to analyze and judge herself as she wrote; but said that whenever she felt inclined to
wander off into such analyses and judgments, she would instead return to the question. As a
result, she said she had some very intriguing insights. Kate wrote in a large, unlined sketchbook
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and, unlike the others, did not write a linear narrative. Her writing was in small chunks, lists,
brainstorms and the like, scattered around the page. However, she told us that she had a hard
time letting go and writing freely – her inclination was to always stop and look for the right
word, think about what she really wanted to say. I plan to suggest, next time, that she write
continuously and linearly, just to try it. Jim, who is always quiet, told us only that he did not find
he had much to say – that he was always wondering what he would write next as he finished a
sentence. I suspect that he and Kate are alike – that he is not really freewriting. Both are
visually oriented people, so perhaps writing without too much thinking is not so easy for them.
Henry, too, struggled with the urge to revise and edit as he wrote. He also reported that the
freewrite took his ideas in unexpected and potentially quite fruitful directions.
On the whole, I think all the participants found their interest piqued, did not feel
oppressively challenged, and seemed to enjoy the change of pace. I felt I gained quite a bit of
understanding from facilitating the session, and especially from the discussion. True to the
promise of the process, however, my clearest understandings seem to have arisen out of writing
this very report. An unexpected thought I’ve had is that the process approach might not be easy
for everyone – in particular for people who struggle with “verbal intelligence” (in the Multiple
Intelligences sense). Kate and Jim, both visual artists, report that their use of language, both
written and oral, tends to be highly conscious; they feel they are always straining to find the
words to express their thoughts.Report after the second session: I started by inviting the participants to air any questions
or comments that might have arisen for them since the previous week. We had a brief discussion
of the nature of process writing, during which I clarified the distinction between revising and
editing. I also noted that the brain uses separate areas for idea-generation and writing mechanics,
and those parts don’t work very well simultaneously; so it’s a good idea to try to do the editing
separately.
Then we went around the circle and everyone talked about 1) what they had planned to
do last time, 2) what they ended up doing, and 3) what they were thinking about doing this time.
We had not previously shared like this, and I think it was helpful for people to hear one another’s
thought processes a bit. Also, in keeping with my intent, I think it helped foster a sense of
community. As we finished the sharing, we were joined by a new member, David. He is, like
the others, white and in his mid- to late twenties. He does not have a college degree.
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Rose had no plan last time; instead, she started with one of the exercises I suggested,
which asks the writer to reflect on their name. However, she became distracted by a neighboring
conversation, and her freewrite wandered into other areas. For this session, she came prepared
with a semi-freewritten draft of a persuasive letter she needs to write. I suggested, for the
purposes of persuasion, that she take a separate sheet of paper and write down her motive for the
letter (what outcome does she hope to achieve through it), a little description of her audience
(background and beliefs), and to try to describe the tone she is aiming for.
At the previous session, Vicky wrote on the “what matters right now?” exercise and had
an idea during it, which she now wanted to explore further, tying in some recent related
experiences. Vicky seems to be most closely following my plan/expectations for the workshop.
I certainly don’t mind the others’ divergences, though!
Henry wrote at the previous session about handwriting and the aesthetic/ formatting
expectations people encounter in school and in the world. He did not wish to continue with this
topic, however. Instead, he wanted to write some kind of science fiction story about someone
encountering something totally foreign. I suggested time travel as a possible trope; I also
recommended that he try to keep the story short and focused – one character, one setting, one
event.
Kate was trying to write her artist’s statement, and at the first session found that her ideas
were very complex and her writing not in accordance with the conventional form for artists’statements. She was trying to decide whether to adhere to or discard that form. When I heard
her explain her writing as addressing the question “Why do I work?” I suggested she adopt that
as her guiding question – put it at the top of a new page and do a freewrite from there (and this
time, I urged her to try to do the freewrite in a linear stream-of-consciousness rather than
allowing herself to make lists; just to try it). I also suggested that she might first write an utterly
idiosyncratic artist’s statement, and then later use it as a source from which to craft a more
conventional version.
Jim, in the first session, had started with a very broad question – “Why is cob important?”
(Cob is a natural building material like adobe, but which is sculpted rather than formed into
bricks.) He wanted to do persuasive writing about all the various benefits of this natural building
technique. However, having come from a long day of working outdoors, he ended up writing a
much more personal piece about the physical, spiritual, existential experience of making and
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building with cob. I noted that the two approaches (persuasive and personal) implied two
different audiences; I suggested that he continue with the approach that really pulled him (the
personal).
Everyone started writing at this point. I conferred separately with several of them,
listening, questioning, and making the suggestions reported above. I also talked with the new
member, David, explaining the process approach and helping him find a starting point. He told
me he had been thinking about writing a sort of Thomas Paine-style newsletter; I suggested he do
a freewrite from the phrase “common sense.”
Since we had had so much discussion at the beginning of the session, we did just a very
brief check-in when people were finished writing. I sensed much enthusiasm – even an inkling
that there might be a desire to continue this workshop even after the requisite four sessions.
Thrilling!
Report after the third session: I accidentally articulated my “mission statement” during
discussion in Session Three. By accidentally, I mean that I didn’t really have it all clear in my
head before then. This is the true “overall goal” of the creative writing course: to provide a
balanced mixture of structure and freedom that allows and encourages student writers to develop
writing fluency and access their own writing voice.
I am reminded of Danielle LaFleur Brooks’s description of the role of a writing teacher
as one who holds a space in which students feel safe and supported as they become writers.There is a circling, embracing motion that one does with the arms while explaining this – as
though holding a large sheaf of grain, or a pregnant belly. The teacher accomplishes this
holding-of-a-space by establishing behavioral guidelines (ensuring safety without suppressing
expression), providing opportunities for growth (exercises, assignments, questions), maintaining
the daily rituals of the class (welcome, mini-lesson, writing, sharing, conferencing, good-bye),
and also through her own person – the aura of serious joy, authority, and care that moves around
the room with her.
Anyway, Session Three. We have diverged pretty significantly from my Road Test Plan
by this point – which goes to show that the more time-specific the curriculum is, the less likely it
will be to coincide with reality! It is absolutely necessary to build a flexible curriculum if I want
it to be one that might actually work.
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I began by telling the participants that, willy-nilly, we would be sharing our work at this
session. No one felt ready to do it – all wanted to work more on their own before getting
feedback for revision. I insisted, however, explaining that this would not be feedback geared
toward editing or even toward specific revision; that this feedback would be useful for the
writers to get a sense that an audience/reader exists, to hear their work aloud, and to hear some
general comments about what others found to be strong, moving, interesting, or confusing. Of
course, I also wanted to move them along, and move the Road Test along. And not least, I
wanted to test and strengthen the social bonds we were developing – to help people get through
their self-consciousness and nervousness about sharing their writing.
I then asked for a quick status update – what did everyone have with them, and if they’d
done work at home, what did they do? Rose had her letter, unrevised since last time. Kate had
intended to “rant on” but had not, so planned to share her mini-rant from last session. Jim had
not written anything more, and wasn’t in the mood to write today (luckily, writing wasn’t on the
agenda anyway!). David had just his random thoughts from last session, nothing new. Henry,
who longed to type, did type up his sci-fi story draft, expanding and revising along the way.
Vicky had continued to write (for forty minutes!) what she called her “litany” – a narrative of the
events of Easter weekend – but still it was not complete, chronologically speaking.
When we’d all reported in, I laid down the ground rules for peer response: 1) we treat all
work as fiction unless the writer tells us otherwise ahead of time; and 2) be compassionate. Ielaborated a little bit on these rules and explained a little more about what the feedback might be
like for writers and for listeners.
It took a long time to hear and respond to everyone’s work. I was hesitant to be more
controlling of the conversation, probably because the participants are my peers, and I don’t want
to piss them off. A couple of people had difficulty maintaining focus, but for the most part the
listeners/responders were rapt, involved, dedicated to their duty as collaborators. There were a
couple of comments that I felt were not in keeping with rule #2 (be nice) – oddly, those
comments were directed at Vicky, whose writing was clearly the strongest in the group (at least I
thought so). Perhaps people felt they were being overly gushy, and wanted to temper their
remarks with a little non-praise? Of course the problem with this was that Vicky’s feelings were
hurt. So I will remind them next time to watch what they say a bit more carefully.
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The conversation during and after the sharing was wide-ranging and interesting. We
talked about the wonders of figurative language, about how each of our writings were utterly
different, unique, and original in form, content, and style (there’s the VOICE thing), about the
enjoyable newness of the workshop as a social entity, about meta-cognition and talking about
how we were talking (Spear’s “group maintenance functions”). And we talked about how we
were all feeling interested in continuing the workshop even after next week’s session, which was
supposed to be the last.
David, who had to leave before we were done (he rises very early for work), wrote me an
email that I received when I got home:
ok, so maybe i’m way off here and just channelling my youth, but...
i got the impression from you this evening that you felt i was not
taking what you are doing seriously. what you should understand is
that i have almost no grip on what’s happening with this workshop and
as far as the specificity of it is concerned, i don’t really care.
what i do care about, is you as a teacher, i want to see you as a
teacher and not just a good one, but possibly one of the only teachers
who knows what to say to me as a student, our conversation a few
months ago excited me in a way i haven’t really known before. i revel
in the idea that my experience in school, which was wretched, couldasist a kid in one of your future classes. because maybe you’ll know
what to say when their whole identity as a student, is as a bad
student.
i’m too tired to complete any more coherent thoughts, but i assure
you, i do have more to say.
David
I wrote the following reply:
David,
(Your email has a wonderfully strange tone to it - a mix of delight and
engagement, frustration and hostility.) In fact, it never crossed my mind that you
were not taking the workshop seriously. I could see that you were struggling with
feeling that it was school-ish... but I certainly don’t mind that! I was being totally
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honest when I said rebellion is necessary. I want to be pushed on (if it’s for real -
which you are - and not malicious - which you’re not).
But your perception probably does relate to how I was really feeling. To
be honest, I was a little annoyed a couple of times when you and Jim were
whispering about whatever while we were discussing someone’s work. It’s just
as tough for the others to read as it is for you, so it’s crucial that each writer gets
everyone else’s full attention and respect. And...I felt defensive of Vicky when
you said (jokingly?) that her family sounded like “goody two-shoes white bread.”
Even as a joke, that comment clearly hurt her feelings. The fact that she’s a close
friend of mine complicates my feelings about it, too... (side effects of us all being
peers/friends.)
The other thing is that you have been at somewhat of a disadvantage since
the beginning, because you missed the first session, and were late to the second
one, and because you had to go home to bed before the last one was done – none
of which were your fault, I know... but maybe these things are making you feel
less - integrated? But it’s just a fluke of time, not about you yourself.
I am super glad you wrote to me... and glad you’re part of this thing... and
I’m really interested in your writing. We were talking (after you left, I think)
about how amazing it is that each of our writings are utterly different, unique, andoriginal in form, content, and style - how clearly each person’s voice and
personality comes through... Yours is, too, very much so!
Tell me more. And what will you bring for your hungry readers next
time?
Ch.
(David did not reply by email; but he showed up with renewed determination and, indeed,
seriousness at the next session, clearly not offended by my response.)
At the next and last session, I’d like to invite people to share again if they have something
new, or have revised their work. I’d also like to have some writing time – perhaps at the
beginning, for people to do revision or freewrite, or perhaps at the end, for me to get people’s
feedback about the workshop.
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Report after the fourth session: This was the last session I originally scheduled. My plan
called for everyone to have finished their pieces by this time, but of course they mostly had not
(because I didn’t require them to do homework, and we ended up spending so much time sharing
and responding – and doing that as a whole group rather than breaking off into smaller ones).
I began by asking the participants what they wanted to do that evening. Vicky, Kate, and
David all had new stuff they wanted to share, so we did that first. David’s work – an entirely
new piece he’d written earlier that day – generated especially eager discussion. He wrote about
one of his earliest experiences writing in school – copying a sentence off the board in first grade.
His concern over his handwriting (which he says has always been poor), combined with his
difficulty in paying attention for long periods of time (especially to what seemed to be
meaningless tasks), made it almost impossible for him to complete this assignment, which was
repeated daily. The way he wrote the story showed the reader exactly what that class must have
been like for this bright six-year-old, already routed into the category of “high ability but low
achiever.” His writing also shows very clearly his facility with writing, flair for humor mixed
with pathos, and flexible vocabulary.
By the time we finished discussing the three pieces, it was getting late; so I asked the
participants to write for ten minutes, reflecting on the workshop and giving me some feedback. I
offered several questions, but told them they were welcome to write whatever they chose. My
questions were: 1) What were your expectations before we started? What actually happened foryou? Differences? Surprises? 2) What was good, helpful? 3) What was difficult, annoying? 4)
What suggestions might you have for changes we could make (or I could make, either for this
thing or in my future teaching)?
Finally, I asked them to write down whether they wished to continue with the writing
group (feeling I oughtn’t to discuss the logistics of doing that until I’d heard from everyone).
And…everyone did want to continue! This was pretty amazing for me to hear, since I knew
many (most?) of them had agreed to participate largely in order to support me, their friend. But
it seems the workshop really offered them all something unusual and precious, something they
want to continue to commit to doing.
The following are the transcriptions of each participant’s feedback-writing.
Rose wrote:
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YES! I want to keep doing it! I’m not sure how much my personal needs
fit with the objective [I’m not sure what “objective” she’s referring to]… I
thoroughly enjoyed our meetings & would like to continue. I feel as though I
might land upon “creative writing” if I had a forum like this. My current situation
& needs tended to dictate my work over the last 4 weeks but I have found
inspiration in others. I definitely need to be focused, directed, but I enjoy the
format as it has been. The themes given initially were helpful & similar
“assignments” or suggestions would help to point me in a direction. I enjoy the
social nature of our meetings & while a class of strangers would have a slightly
different feel, I imagine a similar atmosphere would be born in a classroom. I
came with very few expectations & was pleasantly surprised.
Sorry about my handwriting. : (
… I especially enjoyed listening to everyone’s writing. I suspect in a class
setting this might be quite tedious; however, I think if it were couched in an
expansive [?] “get to know the writer” kind of way that might be alleviated.
…Thanks Chandra!
Kate wrote:
I had no expectations, no initial destination in mind. I wasn’t gung-ho due
to the commute involved with my attendance. There was a general need for me tohave a generic artist’s statement to wield as necessary in my future. Now that I
have a pressing need for this information I’m thankful that I got on board. Also,
have to do loads of formulaic and academic writing over the past 3/4 of a year
[she is in college, intermittently], it was refreshing to be given a free approach. I
did have problems fitting my brain around the idea of free writing as it was
presented. I think that was more pre-disposition combined with academia. Your
“forcing my hand” so to speak was good. I need to be discouraged from “my
way” in order to grow. I won’t say this was ultimately life-changing but it
reminded me that the creative process needn’t be limited to artful blah de blah.
(Notice I’m still not actually free writing. I will learn, I promise.) And I feel
closer to a smattering of people who mainly existed on the outskirts of my social
life. So again I’m thankful. You seem very patient and directed throughout this
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process. I’m proud of you and think you will have a wonderful impact on young
lives. Oh, to have had a chance to look at writing for school as less of a task and
more of freedom. You gave us freedom. Thanks.
Yes I do want to continue but life will get really chaotic in July and I’m
not sure which days or whatever are best.
Vicky wrote:
Yes! I would like to continue.
Might be good if we commit to, say, three more weeks, with the
understanding that we may decide to do 3 more after that, etc. etc. – better than
committing to some indefinite period. And I think the short time-frame helps one
focus on the writing project at hand, rather than endlessly blathering about
something different every week.
The amount of structure you gave us was perfect – not too much, not too
little, just enough to keep us focused on a particular project, get people to make
progress and think hard about what they are doing, and get people to be invested
in what the other members of the group are doing. Mutual responsibility, but not
so much of it that it feels like work. You achieved the perfect balance in this
respect. It’s been wonderful for me to have time and space and a reason to write
about things that I simply want to explore, in this border [?], delicious spacebetween intellect and emotion. It’s very grounding for me, for lack of a better
word, brings me to my senses. Allows me to apply my brainiest intellect to my
inner life, allows me to integrate these things in a way that’s rarely possible in the
rest of my life.
It’s been wonderful, too, to see my friends in this new context, to hear
their thoughts in another form, to engage with them in a slightly more formal,
intellectual way.
Thank you thank you. I’m sure I’ll tell you more later.
David wrote:
i've written you a response in declaritive essay form, as it allowed me to
focus on my own thoughts rather than in the terms of conversation. also, i may
want to include it in my other work.
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- David
deliberation centerfuge
When i recieved the invitation to join a writing workshop, i really wasn't
sure what to expect. but i thought that it might, at the very least, be a good chance
to shape a new teacher. an idea that was very appealing to me as into teaching had
been, at one point in my life, something i'd very much considered following my
father. however, parodoxically inspired and deterred by difficulties with my own
educators throughout my life, i decided, finally, to terminate furthing my
education after narrowly escaping a fifth highschool year.
and though the stated purpose of assisting in a thesis on the topic of
(teaching in the 21st century? writing? teaching english?) that had inspired the
beginning of the workshop, has been well and wholely completed, i dread any
upcoming disbanment as none of us have thusfar completed our own process. so i
propose that we all must continue in our ventures until one or all of us has had an
item published in one fashion or another, and thereby making it available to the
wider public.
Jim wrote:
* What were your expectations before we started? What actually
happened for you? Differences? Surprises?I didn't know what to expect, exept maybe a chance to learn and time for
writing. I knew there would be a group dynamic. The mix of people was good.
It was enough comfort and enough discomfort to make things work well. It's was
mellow. Great to hear others points of view and summaries.
The teacher was hot [Jim is my boyfriend…] and did a good job.
The process is helpful. I have been working twards this process for a
while now. So it really didn't seem like much of a stretch for me. I like to have
concrete linear plans layed out like the process.
I discovered it's hard for me to refine, but worth it.
* What was good, helpful? Specifics...
Of course just writing in general is helpful- all by it's self. There is
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something to be said for doing it every week, even forced writing. That alone is
helpful. It seems like the process writing technique is useful. I like the approach.
Training the brain to do the task it's good at for your frame of mind and vice
versa. The whole idea that different parts of your brain do specific tasks is
helpful. Just gotta make use of that.
Good feedback / listening skills.
* What was difficult, annoying? Specifics...
Timeline. It's good that there was no homework, but I sure didn't get a lot
done.
There are a lot of ideas... Now I just have to refine. It takes me a long
time to do that kind of thing.
Teacher / peer thing is kinda weird. Sometimes I thought you should be
more part of the group and less teacherly. Not the case when working with
youngsters I suppose.
* What suggestions might you have for changes we could make (or I could
make, either for this thing or in future teaching situations)?
I'd like to start the class with writing 10 minutes on whatever. I think
people will cool out and start to invest themselves... then be able to focus and
coming-to. Free writing has a way of getting all the noise out... then you are ableto hear the musical notes betta.
Then the course outline, then listen / feedback with some - maybe not all
participants.
Recap / Wrap up.... next weeks schedule as part of the course outline.
Other than that it went pretty smoothly as-is.
Henry wrote:
The process writing writing process process is a unique process of writing.
I would like to continue, but in a slightly less structured manner. This is
not to say I think our previous sessions were overly structured, but I value the
openness and free sensation that comes with a casual environment. The need to
adhere to a certain format because Chandra was piloting her curriculum was
something I think everyone was comfortable with and that worked well...but like
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Chandra said, it was quite intentional, to view Chandra as teacher, and friends and
lovers as writing peers and fellow students.
I think we have established a nice group dynamic that can thrive inside or
outside of a particular curriculum. We all share an interest in writing and sharing
writing, and the process has increased our comfort with these activities.
I have enjoyed writing more since moving to Northfield, and hope to
continue writing more and living more.
Thanks to Chandra for putting together a great group and positive
environment for writing. I must acknowledge that before session one I was a bit
skeptical of what this would be like but I’ve found it quite valuable and really
enjoy hearing other people's musings.
And I wrote:
So here we are, all done – but it also feels like a beginning – definitely a
beginning for me – and perhaps for all of us, too – a beginning/continuing of
becoming writers, friends, a community of thinking & sharing. It’s remarkably
different & powerful – I feel I know you all – my friends – more deeply – your
individuality & complexity (I know I’ve said it before, too).
Writing & sharing & hearing your work makes me want to write, myself –
to be not just a writing teacher but to “practice what I preach” – and I think that Icould really do something – make progress – continuing in this kind of mode
together.
I like the balance of friends and acquaintances – feeling that if we were all
intimates it wouldn’t work so well, but also that if we were strangers at the start, it
would have taken a lot longer to build a sense of togetherness as we seem to have
done.
This thing has very much a life of its own, beyond its function as the thesis
praxis – sometimes it’s hard for me to “translate” when I write about it later – and
rarely do I think about my thesis while I’m here.
Anyway, thank you!
I read my piece aloud to them at the end, and others shared some of their reflections, too.
Jim, David, and Henry all asked that I send an email with my questions, so they could respond in
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depth at their leisure. Finally, we discussed some aspects of how we would proceed in future,
and then we adjourned.
While I did not set out specific learning objectives for the writing group, several goals are
apparent in the Road Test Plan. I wanted people to have the chance – the time – to write
something they might have been carrying around as a seed. I wanted to help people get from a
desire to write to actually writing something. I wanted to offer people the concepts of the writing
process (with phases) and of peer response, both to see how I might go about teaching those, as
well as providing my students with valuable tools to help them “write more easily and more
effectively” (Road Test Plan). It is clear to me from my observations during the sessions that the
participants do feel they have acquired valuable tools, and that they are making progress in
writing more easily and effectively.
I have also noticed progress in some of the areas I emphasize in my actual curriculum
project. The workshop participants show: less fear of writing and of sharing/publicizing writing;
increased confidence in writing skill; increased self-confidence in general; and increased interest
in writing. Given the short time we’ve been working together, it is difficult to tell if there has
been significant development in participants’ writing “voice” (though as noted above, they all
have a very clear voice already). I did not see as much increase as I’d hoped in people’s self-
awareness as responders, however. It seems that learning the feedback process takes lots of
time; I think we would probably get further with more direct attention to it, and more instructionfrom me.
On the whole, the “writing club,” as it has come to be known, has been a remarkable
success, both for me and for my fellow students.
VI. Reflections
The whole project has been extremely complicated. Writing this process paper has
helped me sort out the complexities, and I’m grateful to have been forced to write it! However,
this paper presents a much clearer (perhaps over-simplified) picture of my thinking than my
thinking actually is, or has been – even though it may not appear simplistic to the reader. I can
only hope that my writing is “good enough” to convey the silhouette of my thought process.
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There was a question that bothered me during most of this semester. It occurred to me
early on, demanding resolution: Am I a fraud if I teach writing without being a passionate and
committed writer myself? I knew right away that the answer must be No. The first reason that
made sense was this: I’m not trying to make Writers of my students. There is more to writing
than making great art, publishing it, and becoming famous (or as famous as writers can become,
which is not very). In fact, I suspect that teaching writing with the belief that one can transform
or develop one’s students into Writers is pretentious, self-aggrandizing, probably impossible.
The other way to say no to fraudulence is, well, to be a passionate and committed writer.
That’s what I’d rather do, anyway. This semester, I took a giant step toward being that writer by
starting the writing club. This thing (as I often think of it) has ended up being the most useful
part of the project, and the most fun. That’s an interesting result, given that I did it mostly
because it was required: I kind of threw it together, not necessarily expecting a lot out of it. Boy,
was I surprised! As it happens, writing is more fun to do than to think about, research, or even
write about.
However, student teaching and the workshop have suggested that the writing is not the
hardest thing to do. Teaching and learning how to respond helpfully to others, and how to revise
one’s own writing (incorporating others’ responses) are the toughest tasks. Both experiences,
and much of my reading, have also fed my obsession with the necessity of relegating writing
mechanics to the back row. People feel so much stress about writing correctly – but that stressonly prevents them from writing interestingly. Editing should always happen “later” – once the
real writing is complete.
Also, the writing group vividly showed the complexity that comes with specific situations
– the complexity of individuals and their unique interactions with one another, one-on-one and
as a group. Experiencing this complexity again (it was definitely present in my student teaching
experience) helped to affirm my sense that the curriculum should be as flexible as possible. As I
went along, I found myself feeling more and more resistant to the very idea of a creative writing
curriculum. I kept thinking, this will all depend on the students/writers! When I finally read
Atwell, toward the end of the project, I was convinced. A curriculum should be a guidebook and
toolbox, not a package-tour planned “adventure.”
My ignorance of curriculum development practices and conventions has perhaps served
me well, then. I have never actually seen a full-fledged, semester-long course curriculum – only
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unit plans. Having no real models, while sometime frustrating, nonetheless enabled the freedom
of thought that led to my idiosyncratic decision to “balance structure and freedom” in my own
way.
Finally, I am pleased to realize that this curriculum could prove very useful to me in the
future – certainly, if I have the opportunity to teach a creative writing course, but also as a
resource for teaching any writing-centered course. The weekly schedule’s rotating mix of
activities, the combination of reading, writing, and response, the balancing of structure and
freedom in pedagogy and in the writing process itself – all could be fairly easily adapted for use
in, say, a freshman composition course.
That said – onward, con brio!
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References
Atwell, N. (1987). In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning with adolescents. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
Baart, N. (2002, January). Saying it more intensely: Using sensory experience to teach poetry
writing. English Journal, 98-103.
Bintz, W.P., and Henning-Shannon, T. (2005). Using poems for multiple voices to teach
creative writing. English Journal, 94 (4), 33-40.
Berman, J. (1994). Diaries to an English professor: Pain and growth in the classroom.
Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Brewbaker, J. (2005). Fifty-five teachers, poems in hand, approach the cruelest month. English
Journal, 94 (4), 18-22.
Brown, B., and Glass, M. (1991). Important words: A book for poets and writers. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
Cheney, M.A. (2002, January). Expanding vision: Teaching haiku. English Journal, 79-83.
Cobbs, L. (2005). Learning to listen, listening to learn: Teaching poetry as a sensory medium.
English Journal, 94 (4), 28-32.
Cook, K. (2002). Fiction writing: Characterization [and] plot [and] setting: ArtsEdge curricula,
lessons and activities. ERIC document number 475410.Dykstra, J., and Dykstra, F.E. (1997). Imagery and synectics for modeling poetry writing.
ERIC document number 408964.
Ediger, M. (2002). Exploring poetry: The reading and writing connection. ERIC document
number 461827.
Eggers, D. (Ed.). (2002-2005). The best American nonrequired reading. (Series). Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing process. Oxford
University Press.
Elbow, P. (1995). Voice as a lightning rod for dangerous thinking. ERIC document number
391171.
Gibson, C.A.S. (Undated). Poetry: Sound and sense. Accessed on 4/1/06 from
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=848
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Gilchrist, E. (2005). The writing life. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Greenberg, S. (1996). Let’s get personal: Responding to creative writing. ERIC document
number 397433.
Herrmann, R., and Tabor, D. (1974). Expressive writing: Psychological development and
educational setting in a new language curriculum. Unpublished dissertation: Harvard
University.
International Reading Association, and National Council of Teachers of English. (Undated).
IRA/NCTE standards for the English language arts: The 12 standards. Retrieved February
8, 2006, from the ReadWriteThink website:
http://www.readwritethink.org/standards/index.html
Keil, K. (2005). Rediscovering the joy of poetry. English Journal, 95 (1), 97-102.
Kohn, A. (2006). The trouble with rubrics. English Journal, 95 (4), 12-15.
LaFleur, D. (2001). Transformative language arts in the English classroom: Theory into
practice. Unpublished manuscript.
Maginnis, M. (1996). Methods of teaching creative writing in high school: A review of recent
literature. ERIC document number 394143.
McClatchy, J.D. (Ed.) (2003). The Vintage book of contemporary American poetry. Second
edition. New York: Vintage Books.
Reed, I. (Ed.). (2003). From totems to hip-hop: A multicultural anthology of poetry across the Americas, 1900-2002. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press.
Salzman, M. (2003). True notebooks. Read by Paul Boehmer. Audio edition 2003.
Westminster, Maryland: Books On Tape, Inc.
Schneider, P. (2003). Writing alone and with others. Oxford University Press.
Schulze, P. (Undated). Found Poems/Parallel Poems. Retrieved April 5, 2006 from the
ReadWriteThink website: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=33
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1986). Sudden fiction: American short-short stories.
Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, Publisher.
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1989). Sudden fiction international: 60 short-short stories.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1996). Sudden fiction (continued): 60 new short-short
stories. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
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Spear, K. (1988). Sharing writing: Peer response groups in English classes. Portsmouth, New
Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
Street, C. (2005, May). A reluctant writer’s entry into a community of writers. Journal of
adolescent and adult literacy, 48, 636-641.
Tindall, J. (1992). Sudden fiction: What is it? ERIC document number 354547.
Van Troyer, G. (1995). The poem in process: Writing and revision and revision and… ERIC
document number 408584.
Williams, J.D. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, theory, and practice. (3rd Ed.)
Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Williford, L., and Martone, M. (Eds.). (1999). The Scribner anthology of contemporary short
fiction: Fifty North American stories since 1970. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction.
Womelsduff, D. (2005). The paradox of structure and freedom: An experiment in writing
poetry. English Journal, 94 (4), 23-27.
Wyngaard, S., and Gehrke, R. (1996) Responding to audience: Using rubrics to teach and
assess writing. English Journal, 85 (6), 67-70.
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Appendix A: Selected Annotated Bibliography
Atwell, N. (1987). In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning with adolescents. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
When students do not have ownership of their writing, when they are told to write in a
specific form, on a specific topic, they produce writing of poor quality, lacking in voice and
interest. Atwell’s book shows and tells how to allow students the freedom they need to become
real writers. The essentials of the writing workshop are: student choice of topic; no blanket
deadlines; feedback from peers and teacher; plenty of opportunities for sharing and publication.
Careful organization and record-keeping are crucial teacher duties. Each class period begins
with a mini-lesson about workshop procedures, the craft of writing, or writing mechanics.
Atwell teaches the process writing approach. She teaches response by role-playing a successful
“conference” and then a not-so-successful one, discussing each with the class to ensure their
understanding of the characteristics of helpful feedback.
Berman, J. (1994). Diaries to an English professor: Pain and growth in the classroom.
Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
This book chronicles Berman’s experiences teaching a class on literature and
psychoanalysis at SUNY Albany. As part of the coursework, he asks the students to write aweekly diary; Berman reads a few of the diary entries aloud to the class each week, maintaining
the writers’ anonymity. Students who combine personal and academic writing develop deeper
understanding of the literature they read. Sharing the writing fosters greater community feeling
in the classroom. The author promotes an “intersub-jective paradigm” of education, defined by
connection, mutuality, and “realness” between students and teachers. He argues that because “all
learning involves both affective and cognitive elements,” teachers have a responsibility to
engage empathically with their students (p. 226). This model of teaching is particularly
appropriate for writing classes, which tend to be emotionally fraught. Berman’s book offers
insights into the subtle complexities of interpersonal relationships in academic settings.
Brown, B., and Glass, M. (1991). Important words: A book for poets and writers. Portsmouth,
New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
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This book is essentially a curriculum guide for an introductory poetry writing class. The
chapters present a sequence of topical writing assignments, beginning with memories of
childhood and then broadening the scope to include more complex subject matter. Students
begin each assignment with a “fastwrite” or freewrite, which they revise (through small group
work) into a poem. The authors skillfully interlace exercises, examples, and instruction in poetic
techniques. The book is unusual in that the authors give examples of both professional and
student work as models for the exercises. Brown and Glass believe that learning to write
happens through “imitation and emulation” (p. viii). Their presentation suggests that students
must go through these exact steps to achieve poetic proficiency. They defend this position by
referencing their own experience, rather than through theory or argument; this reader was
unconvinced.
Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing process. Oxford
University Press.
This book is useful for better understanding of how to write and share writing in a
group/workshop setting. While the book is addressed to leaders of non-academic, adult writing
workshops, the author also discusses some of the specific concerns of teachers and students.
Elbow discusses many psychological aspects of writing that few others mention; for example, the
indeterminacy of the hypothetical “audience” of an academic paper, and the problems that causesfor inexperienced writers. In the section on feedback Elbow suggests many questions for use in
feedback groups, dividing them into “criterion-based” and “reader-based” types.
Herrmann, R., and Tabor, D. (1974). Expressive writing: Psychological development and
educational setting in a new language curriculum. Unpublished dissertation: Harvard
University.
In their collaborative dissertation, the authors discuss findings that emerged out of their
team-teaching several iterations of a writing course they developed for secondary students. The
course taught “expressive” writing – a form of personal freewriting that promotes access to
emotion and the creation of idiosyncratic imagery. Students wrote through a series of exercises,
went on field trips (for sensory richness), and participated in extensive class discussion and
sharing of writing. The authors delved deeply into psychological theory and thematic analysis,
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but I found more useful their description of successfully balancing structure (the “rituals” of
daily activities) and freedom (adaptability of assignments to students’ “individual purposes and
motivations”).
Salzman, M. (2003). True notebooks. Read by Paul Boehmer. Audio edition 2003.
Westminster, Maryland: Books On Tape, Inc.
This book is an account of Salzman’s two years of teaching writing to “high-risk
offenders” at a juvenile detention facility in Los Angeles. The author was surprised to find that
he was not afraid of the boys; and they soon developed a workable classroom community. His
students wrote mostly on personal topics, in whatever form they chose. Salzman suggested
topics (for example, “father” or “regret”) only if a student did not already have an idea. The
student/prisoners’ writing was better than Salzman expected. Also, writing seemed to help them
think through their situations. This book clearly indicates that writing is worthwhile even if it
does not produce great art, as well as proving that allowing students to choose their own topics is
doable and effective in eliciting good writing.
Schneider, P. (2003). Writing alone and with others. Oxford University Press.
This book is useful for better understanding of how to write and share writing in a
group/workshop setting. While the book is addressed to leaders of non-academic, adult writingworkshops, the author also discusses some of the specific concerns of teachers and students.
Schneider has a great big-picture perspective, while also providing plenty of details, examples,
and ideas. She gives good advice about the less-tangible aspects of leading a writing group –
how to be flexible (so as to foster, not constrain creativity), be encouraging, ensure safety and
confidentiality. Schneider refers often to Peter Elbow and the writing process. The book
contains many wonderful writing exercises. Her instructions for setting up and leading a writing
group/workshop are helpful.
Shapard, R., and Thomas, J. (Eds.). (1986). Sudden fiction: American short-short stories.
Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, Publisher.
Shapard and Thomas were the first to introduce the “sudden fiction” as a genre. This
anthology, as well as the two others published later, would be useful as reading material for a
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creative writing class. The stories, widely varying in subject matter and style, are short enough
to read (and re-read) in a single class period. Their shortness enables the reader to hold an entire
story in the mind at once, turning it around and thinking about its techniques, structure, tone, and
effect. Such practice would be useful for writers learning to conceptualize their own stories.
Spear, K. (1988). Sharing writing: Peer response groups in English classes. Portsmouth, New
Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.
This book presents original research on group processes in secondary and college writing
classrooms, plus a survey of existing research in group processes, psychology and composition.
Spear outlines the benefits of “peer response groups” (small groups of three to five students) in
writing classes. She notes that writing is a process of thought: ideas develop during writing and
during conversation. Thus, group members must develop social skills (listening and giving
feedback) to be effective as collaborators in developing writing skills. The author describes in
detail why some groups don’t work, and behaviors exhibited in groups that do work. The book’s
organization is confusing, and the author offers many examples of student work without
adequate interpretation. However, there is much useful information in this book not found
elsewhere.
Williams, J.D. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, theory, and practice. (3
rd
Ed.)Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
This book is a comprehensive text on teaching writing in grades K-12. It discusses all the
major issues in the teaching of writing, instructs the reader in best practices, and surveys the
important research and theory informing those practices. Williams cites NAEP data to support
his contention that the process approach to composition is best practice in writing instruction.
The process consists of eight phases: invention, planning, drafting, pausing, reading, revising,
editing, and publishing. He includes examples in his explanation of each phase. The author
recommends implementing small work groups; they improve student motivation, and peer
feedback, along with the teacher’s, is helpful to writers. Teachers are advised to avoid editing
while grading, and to focus on “global, rhetorical problems first [and] local, surface problems
second” when responding to student work-in-progress (p. 149). Williams holds strong opinions,
but grounds them in sound reasoning and research.
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Appendix B: The “Road Test”: A Four-Session Writing Workshop
The “invitation” is the text of the email I sent out to about twenty people, requesting their
participation in this practical component of my project. Following the invitation is my plan for
the workshop, written rather like a script (since it was designed for my own use only). I have
also included a handout listing several writing prompts/ exercises, which I provided to any
participants who wanted it.
Invitation:
I am working on my master’s thesis on teaching writing, and would like you to be
involved in a “road test”. Do you have something to say, but haven’t been able to get it written?
Or, do you have the desire to write, but aren’t sure what you want to say? Or, do you want to
help out a friend, have fun and get a little learnin’ while you’re at it?
The writing workshop will be four sessions, one per week, one hour each time. And no
homework! The sessions will be Monday evenings, starting April 10th. We will meet at the
Tavern Lounge, which is nice and quiet at 7pm early in the week.
We’ll do some writing, and give and get some feedback. You can write whatever you
like - poem, story, essay, speech, ad copy, whatever. If you need ideas, you can get ‘em here,
too. I need your help! Thank you, friends.
Session One:
Introduction: What we will be doing. Basically, we are going to do four hours of work,
over four weeks, and end up with a more-or-less finished piece of writing. The piece will be
yours – you can write whatever you like – a story, or poem, or essay, or speech, or something
undefined – whatever. You won’t need to do any work at home. What I will be doing is trying
out two teaching ideas: process writing and peer response. Neither are new ideas, but they are
somewhat new to me, so I’d like to get a sense of how they work in real life.
Process writing: The basic idea is that you just don’t write the piece all at once. There
are a few different phases in writing – idea generation, drafting, revision, and finishing. These
phases don’t follow a strict order, and every writer has different methods. Sometimes ideas
occur during revision, or a brainstorming session turns into a draft, or they might all happen sort
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of simultaneously. What I’m going to try to do with you is help you be more aware of those
phases so you can write more easily and more effectively. During the revision and finishing
phases, we will be doing some work together, in groups of three (?) – this will be the “peer
response” part.
Idea generation: Brainstorming with other people can be very effective, as you may have
experienced in other situations. For this workshop, though, I’d like you to do your idea
generation individually. I have several “assignments” for anyone who wants one (I’ll bring the
Appendix of my curriculum, the big pile of ideas). However, if you already have an idea, even a
vague idea, please go with it! You’re also welcome to just start writing and see what ideas pop
up. Which brings us to…
Drafting: I’d like to introduce you all to what’s called “freewriting” – some of you may
have heard of “stream-of-consciousness” – it’s basically just that. This is going to be our staple
writing method. We will just sit and write for ten minutes. No worrying about grammar or
spelling, no stopping to think of the “right word” or trying to be organized. Just blather – rant –
write. Start with writing down a sketch of your idea, if you have one. If you get stuck, go back
and reread the last couple of lines you wrote, then keep going. It doesn’t have to be in complete
sentences. No one is going to read this but you – the “audience” for this piece is just yourself.
So say what you want to say in whatever way will be clear or make sense to you when you read
it. If you find yourself using line breaks, like in a poem, that’s fine. You’ll be surprised at howmuch you can write in ten minutes!
Discussion: How did it go? Would a couple people be willing to sort of tell the story of
their freewriting? [Do that…] Other experiences? I’m trying to get a sense of what this process
is like for different people; how well it “works” (or doesn’t). How do people feel about the
actual thing they just wrote? Is it crap? Great? Are parts of it worth keeping, reworking, going
further with? [I’ll be taking notes…]
Read/write: Now, please go back and read what you just wrote. Read it a couple times
over. Underline the parts you like. At the bottom of the (last) page, write a little encapsulation
of what your freewrite is about. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a sentence – just a summary.
Session Two:
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Revision: We’re going to do several kinds of revision in this workshop. The first kind is
more of a re-write, or write-again. We’re going to read over our own freewrite, then do a
second freewrite that sort of refocuses: figure out what’s really good in the first one, and start
with restating that, verbatim if you like, or actually rewording it; then continue in the freewrite
mode and see if you can take your idea further, or deeper. Use the stuff you underlined, and use
your summary as a jumping-off point. (If you are really completely dissatisfied with the first
freewrite, you may start afresh with another freewrite). Do this re-freewrite for ten minutes.
If you’re ready to share your work at this point, please join the others who are (forming a
small group). If not, that’s fine – please take a little break and then work on revising your piece.
For the sharing/response group:
Guidelines: Treat all work as fiction unless the writer tells you it is autobiographical. Be
compassionate – this writing work can be scary! And, for this session, because we are sharing
such new stuff, we are going to focus on ideas and message clarity only. We are not going to
look at (or for) weaknesses or problems. Each writer presents his/her piece (read it aloud, or ask
someone else to read for you) – probably twice, and then leads the discussion of his/her own
work. First, ask someone to paraphrase back to you what they just heard. This gives you a sense
of how your message is coming across. Next, ask people to tell you about your writing’s
strengths: the general ones, but also specific sentences or passages that stood out for them as
being particularly resonant. Try not to revert to simple judgments (even positive ones) like “Thatwas good.” Then ask for feedback about which parts were confusing for the readers/listeners.
Finally, if the writer is concerned about something in particular, he/she is welcome to ask for
feedback about that.
Writers: Take notes! Listen carefully!
Discussion: How did your revision work go? For those in the feedback group, how did
that go? Useful?
Session Three:
If you would like to continue working on revising your piece, please feel free to do so. (I
expect most people will want to do some revision at this point.)
For those who are ready to share, please join the (one of the?) feedback group. (First-
time feedback goes first, according to guidelines noted in Session Two.) Those who are veteran
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writing-sharers (who shared last session) will now have the opportunity to get more in-depth
feedback. (Here I’ll use the “Guidelines for Peer Response”.)
Discussion: How’s the writing/revision going? How about the feedback group? (Here
I’ll probably refer to the “Student Report” questionnaire.)
Session Four:
The last session! We’ll take a few minutes to read over our own work and tweak it if
necessary. Then we’ll gather together and do some sharing. If there are those who want a lot of
feedback (to help with further revision), let’s work with your stuff first. Otherwise, we’ll just
read aloud and give one another a few responses – keep them encouraging.
Discussion, please – the whole thing. What was good? What was annoying? Etc.
(If it seems right…) Let’s close with a short freewrite. When finished, those who would
like to share may do so. No responses this time – these are just “good-bye gifts.”
Thank you!
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Ideas…(a handout for the Road Test)
• Your name: What do you like and dislike about your name? How does it feel to be called by
it? How does it feel to have been named by your parents?
• Write about food, something that is very solid and real, write about a meal you love, the
foods you love the most. Be specific…
• Write to your mirror; or in the voice of your mirror, or about a part of your body (try to avoid
being negative).
• Find an object somewhere around you – in your bag/purse, on the table, in the immediate
environment – and start writing about it. See where it takes you. Every object here is full of
story – what it was before it was made into this object, and where it has been, and the stories
of all the people who have used it.
• What matters? Right now, this minute, what matters? Ask yourself…
• Begin with an image from a dream, and write freely, letting words and associations come as
they will, without imposing any necessity of order.
• Write in great detail about something you do often (shaving, washing dishes, mowing a lawn,
cooking a favorite dish).
• List three things you want to keep and three things you want to lose. Then write.
• Arguing amongst yourself: You’ve heard of the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the
other. Re-characterize them as you please, such that each takes one side of a debate you’rehaving (or have had) with yourself. Choose any question or topic that is (or was) difficult to
figure out. Write a dialogue between the two characters discussing/arguing the question.
Use quotation marks, indenting, two colors, or two sides of the page if you like.
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Appendix C: Autobiographical Material
Perhaps because I was the only child of a single, working mother, growing up in a house
with no TV, I grew up reading a lot, and I mean a lot. I played long improvisational narrative
games with any friends whom I could coerce into cooperating. I also wrote stories. I clearly
remember typing up the first (?) one, which featured a princessy character called Rose. Later,
my best friend Chelsea and I co-wrote (or perhaps just told) a horror story called something like
“When the Clock Strikes Thirteen,” which scared the bejesus out of us while we told it to each
other in her not very spooky attic.
I think I was in middle school when I began writing poetry. Our English teacher, Rita
Weiss, was a take-no-prisoners kind of lady with short gray hair, a slight palsy in the head and
neck, and a constant semi-smile which was simultaneously comforting and terrifying. She had
incredibly high standards. While we were pretty smart, and it was a private school, I can safely
say I was not the only one for whom being force-fed Thoreau and Fitzgerald at age twelve
inspired revulsion and hostility. At any rate, Rita also had us read Whitman, whom I can’t
imagine I understood (at least not intellectually), but whose work I adored. She assigned us an
imitation of Song of Myself. I wrote a rather good poem, I must say. Even now I think it
readable. My mother loved it, and I think Rita did, too. And voila, I was a poet.
Rita also drilled us in the old five-paragraph essay form. Or I might say, she drilled it
into us. Either way, I absorbed its principles, and henceforth did my best to break its rules. Idon’t know if it was a good thing to learn, or if my departures from its structural pen were at all
beneficial. I don’t really even know what I’m saying here, when I talk about essay form being
possibly “good” or “beneficial.” Maybe good writing is like obscenity – you can’t define it, but
you know it when you see it. You see, I don’t actually know if I was a “good student,” by which
I mean a student who got “it” (whatever “it” is or was) and who had ability in her field;
especially once I was an English major in college. I don’t know what those professors were
looking for!!! They gave grades, which told me to what extent I was giving them what they
wanted (or pleasing them in whatever way they needed to be pleased in order to hand over the
As). They certainly didn’t provide rubrics or even clues as to what we were supposed to be
doing. Authentic assessment is not a phrase commonly found on the lips of academicians (or at
least, it wasn’t when I was an undergraduate, lo these long six years ago).
Speaking of therapeutic writing (have I?), it sure feels good to say that stuff in the
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preceding paragraph. Let me elaborate just a bit more: I don’t know what English is supposed to
be, never did know. I think it facetious and elitist of those wanks in the Ivory Tower to pretend
it’s a non-subjective subject. Bah, humbug! Art by any other name is no more scientific!
All right, I’m done ranting about that now. Back to middle school.
I kept writing, both for school and for fun. I kept reading, too, adding a junk genre
(fantasy/science fiction) to my regular diet of classics. I had delusions of future literary
grandeur. I continued to be a complete nerd, as I had been since before I knew what that meant.
Luckily, I went to a high school designed for nerds, by nerds, which meant that once there, the
label disappeared, being a relative distinction in the first place.
Almost immediately, I began my adolescent transformation. Adolescence is like the
interim period between caterpillar and butterfly, when the chrysalis is just a sac of genetic fluid.
Mine began to shape up when I was about fifteen. My writing became more and more personal
and specific as my character gelled. A series of short, fiery, probably unrequited crushes put my
nascent skills to the test. I improved. I met several other literary-minded folks and we became
what felt more like a movement than a clique. We read the same books, often aloud to one
another; we wrote and read each other’s work and sometimes collaborated; we demanded an
extra-curricular short story writing class at school and they got one going for us. With my new
best friend, Amy (aka Liza Jane), I started a humorous/literary ‘zine called “A Pirate’s Bedside
Companion.” It was a big hit with our fellow students but got us in trouble with theadministration, who misinterpreted our inclusion of a recipe for chicken breasts (breasts!?),
which was really entirely innocent.
Stan Washburn was our after-school special teacher. He was, like Rita, grey-haired and a
little twitchy, inspiring fear and fondness in his students. Before being recruited for the short-
story-writing-teaching gig, he was the technical theater teacher/director. I designed costumes for
several productions under his watchful eye (being such a poor actor that I was unfit for the
stage). Stan also wrote (writes?) realistic police mysteries/thrillers. I’ve read several, and
they’re gripping psychological page-turners, to borrow some back-cover copy. He was a good
writing teacher, at any rate. He facilitated discussions, coaxed out drafts and rewrites, tolerated
no shoddy shenanigans. We each wrote a story every week (!). We learned about the
importance of the story arc’s being shapely (you know what that means when you see it, too).
We heard and adopted his belief that most contemporary fiction suffers from a metaphorical
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blondness: it’s pretty, but empty. Technically fine and full of scrumptious words and syntax, but
boring, soulless, not ultimately worth the time it takes to read it.
My other formative teacher of the era was Nancy Steele, a perfectly capable, intelligent,
nice-ish woman whose voice was her most interesting feature – rather low, but nasal, too.
Voices are really difficult to describe. But I can still hear hers in my imagination. She taught a
seminar-style class called Poetry, which was a little more than halfway a writing class. I
remember three things about it. On the first day, she asked us to make a list of our fifty favorite
words; she refused to be any more specific about what “favorite” meant. Of course later we had
to write poems with them. But it was an interesting and enjoyable exercise that made me think
about words qua words, as well as realizing that a poem doesn’t have to start with an idea – all
you need is a handful of words, and the ideas coalesce around them. Ms. Steele did another
exercise with us that I hereby vow to always do with my students, as early as possible in the
semester. The assignment was to write, in class, the most clichéd poem you could write. When
we’d done that (I think I wrote three, all of which rhymed, contained several groan-worthy
similes, and were about love) we shared them and laughed at them. This activity ensured
everyone’s vigilance re: their own writing throughout the term. Rarely did anyone bring in work
that made the rest of us cringe.
The third memorable bit of the class was when I did my presentation on Robert Creeley
(she had us all choose, research, and present on a more-or-less contemporary poet). I’d read apoem of his in which “she,” who had been walking on the beach, made “an obscene movement
on the sand” near a large rock. My ignorant interpretation was that she was masturbating; but
everyone else read it as her taking a shit. Which of course made tons of sense, but had not
occurred to me. (I’m surprised that the concept of obscenity has appeared twice now in this
essay. I didn’t plan it that way, I swear. I’m not obsessed!) Ms. Steele tried to hear my
interpretation as valid, but I could see her trying, and knew I was just plain Wrong. I was
embarrassed more by the poop reference than by my misreading, though, I think.
Anyway, I did a lot of writing in high school. I wrote stories and poetry for classes at
school, more poetry outside of school, and kept a scrapbook/journal thing. I applied to a
selective summer arts program, was accepted, and wrote quantities of very decent stuff while
there. The emotional craziness, academic pressures (prep school) and overfilled schedule were
delicious fuel to me then. Absorb, process, write, repeat. It was great. I have rarely met anyone
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who loved high school as much as I did (or at all). That’s one of the main reasons I want to
teach it – I think no one should feel like they’re wasting their time at school.
At the summer program, I was blessed with yet another excellent writing teacher: Tracy. I
don’t remember anything about her person except that she was Black – perhaps my first Black
teacher? (Can that be true? It’s surprising.) It’s a tragedy to me that I can’t even remember her
last name, because I’d love to Google her and see what she’s up to. Back then, her day job was
teaching writing to male felons in a big prison in/near L.A. She was totally hard core:
demanding, critical, and tough-loving. Her brilliance and charisma were very effective on us
kids. On the first day of her Prose Poetry Writing class, she forbade us to write about love. She
said only Neruda could write about love and get away with it (she read us some of his work and
we were convinced). She also told us we were not to cuss in our poems, unless that was really,
truly the only word we could use to say what we needed to say. She made us understand that
“bad words” have power only when used unexpectedly, and thus necessarily they must be used
selectively. Later, she lectured us on the importance of line breaks and the conscious,
conscientious placement thereof. To demonstrate, she staged a performance (that was a new idea
to us, too – performing poetry?!) of her own work. She played a John Coltrane CD while she
read/recited, interacting with the music, sounding like her words were music. Aha…
As college loomed, I grew tetchy and depressive, as did most of my friends. If the world
were at all humane, we wouldn’t have had to part. But part we did, and off I went to (ugh) theMidwest. Goodbye San Francisco, hello cornfields. Need I say that year one was mostly
misery? Interrupted, of course, by a variety of challenges and amusements, big and small,
personal and academic. I experienced Winter. I contracted a series of ridiculous boyfriends. I
changed. And I kept writing…but I wrote less often and, I must say, less well.
As I struggled, with little success, to Grow Up, what had been a melancholy streak in me
became a full-blown tendency to depression. Five months per year of deathly cold and little
sunshine did not do me any favors, either. My heart was slowly pulverized by thwarted
romance, overwork, bad weather (have I mentioned that before?), and the rape of one of my
friends. I lost Amy, my best friend from high school (she didn’t die, she just stopped returning
my calls). I wrote poems that were really, really bad.
Actually, they weren’t that bad, but I thought they were at the time. Worse, writing them
made me feel worse. If I was sad, I wrote a sad poem and felt sadder. And my stories – ick. I
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did take a writing class in college, Advanced Short Story, but it wasn’t really. I loathed the
professor’s low standards, sparse and disinterested responses, indeed himself entirely.
So eventually I stopped writing. I got right out of that habit and I’ve never really gotten
back in. I’m afraid of the blank page, even though every time I get over that hurdle, I find it’s
really not so bad, and I’m not so bad at doing it. So okay, sometimes I do some writing. Once a
month or so, I’ll write down a dream or a poem. Sometimes I bust out a fabulous letter (via
email, of course). Plus, these past couple of years I’ve written quite a few “papers.”
I’ve never really been into writing as therapy (since it seems to make me feel more
deeply, which usually means worse). I’d rather talk with a friend, figure out what I think that
way, adding her saner perspective. But my writing is not just art ex machina; it’s personal. It’s
neither here nor there. And that’s where I like it, I think.
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