Teaching Ideas and Units - Beaut Ideas

Teaching Writing through Talk

Karen Clark’s article was first published in the Literacy in Hartz newsletter.

Teaching students how to write creatively is a fascinating job. Recently I moved back into teaching year 11/12 Writers’ Workshop and I have found myself thinking about all of the interesting forces at work in the classroom.

The first thing that strikes me is that classes of writers are always unique! Writing attracts everyone from the most radical body-piercing, semi-shaved ‘Goths’ to the most sheltered, shy individuals you could find anywhere lurking around a library. They rarely want to talk to each other and getting any form of united class discussion is always a challenge.

So where to start with such a group? Establishing a climate where everyone feels comfortable contributing to discussion is the pressing priority. They may avoid sitting on the same bus together, but they have to be able to support each other in their work and recognise that each person has something valuable to say.

I start by getting them to talk. With an idea stolen from Isabelle Carmody, I list a range of emotions that writers explore - hate, guilt, greed, fear. In random pairs I get them to talk about their experiences by choosing one time when they felt one of the emotions mentioned. It always works. Some talk about when they were caught in a rip somewhere, others a time when they were involved in a car crash. Lots of stories about shark attacks and spiders come out and trigger memories for other people. Sometimes there are fits of laughter and other times there are long silences as someone tells something deeply personal. While they are telling these stories, I listen and anticipate who might be a bit shy about saying anything in the larger group.

Following this, I get the class back together to share the stories. I make it clear that I expect everyone to volunteer something at some stage and that I will notice if someone doesn’t! After listening for a while, I say to someone who hasn’t said anything yet, ‘So you had an interesting spider one too, didn’t you…’ and they tell their tale. Expecting everyone to contribute and making it easy to do so is my work for the first few weeks.

One of the things that I find most interesting is that as teachers we can create opportunities for young people to re-invent themselves. Individuals who clearly lack confidence can find a new voice through their work. By establishing a climate where we all listen carefully to what people have to say, it is made clear that everyone will be saying things, not just a dominant few who take up all the talking space.

In case anyone reading this thinks that I have re-invented myself as a magician, I’ll jump in quickly to say that we are all doing this. Teachers of writing from K-12 are all involved in the process of helping students develop a positive self-image. There is something very special about sharing someone’s writing and it begins with sharing talking. Talking allows the opportunity to get excited about some idea and to encourage writing. Talking allows us to notice people and gestures and see them as a source of writing material. Others will be interested!

I love teaching writing because we are showing young people ways of being. We’re teaching young people how to relate to each other, to see that a person who has purple hair and a bolt coming out of her tongue actually has the same feelings as everyone else. Feelings of inadequacy, loneliness and the inevitable struggles we are all facing eventually come to the surface in a non-threatening environment - one where they can be teased out slowly through stories - usually about others.

And while this is happening, they are learning about how to read others, to explore characters in different situations and to reflect on their own place in all of this. They are also learning the conventions necessary to express their ideas. Words and their power become so evident in this process. Each comma matters and crafting is essential if we are to speak to others convincingly.

So teaching students how to write is a fascinating job. Wouldn’t it be great if we could talk about it a bit more and share our excitement about the things happening in our classrooms? Maybe if we create opportunities for students to explore different ‘selves’ we can equip them for a better life. Remembering that we are doing this might also help us see teaching in a different light.