Holding Writing Hostage

I am the kind of teacher that thrives on trying new strategies shared by fellow practitioners and field experts, and I am really into instant gratification. So, last Wednesday morning I went into class, ditched the plans I wrote for the day and requested that my students take out their Writer’s Notebooks. I proceeded to steal Julie’s writing activity from the previous evening and share the booty with my students. Now, rest assured my students write often and for various reasons and multiple audiences. However, this was the first time I have ever asked them to write without sharing, either with me or their classmates. Most students wrote with abandon, while some others covered their notebooks with papers, and some more looked around nervously before putting pen/cil to paper. I was amazed that ALL of the students followed the procedure, not ONE stopping to look around or talk when they got stuck. There were whines and moans the second time we looped, but later during our dialogue, I found that it was mostly due to the writers’ cramp triggered by a sustained (we’re talking twelve minutes here!) period of writing.

            If I thought I was amazed by how well they received and participated in the activity, I was even more so by the ensuing conversation. Even the real cynics, who initially responded with “what’s the point?” offered valuable insight during discussion. We talked about how it felt to have a “place of their own” for writing, how and when this strategy might be useful to them in and out of the classroom, and the power of writing. When the bell signaling the end of class rang – too soon - I was invigorated by student response to the activity and inspired by the students who asked me if I had composition books they could use as journals before they rushed out the door to their next class. I was in teacher heaven!! The very fact that my students wrote for the entire time requested of them, did not mutiny during the activity, and their willingness to participate in the discussion afterwards, is excellent support for the idea that we need to provide “a place” for writing in our classrooms.

            After the last student dodged out, my co-teacher asked me why I ditched the plans and what made me decide not to have the students share their writing, as is my custom. I related to her the activity I engaged in during class the previous evening. Her response: “You should to take another literature class.”

            My co-teacher’s response is a prime example of the situation discussed by Lynn, Tate, and others we are reading. Teachers devalue writing by not teaching it – in all its ugliness and difficulty, administrators devalue writing by not making it a focus for professional development and school wide initiatives, and PDE devalues writing by not “counting writing toward AYP.” If reading and math are worth the count, why not writing? Daily, we are conveying an anti- writing message to our students. Until ELA teachers and education recognize writing as a legitimate and fundamental facet of ELA, writing will continue to play second (or even worse) string in the ELA classroom and in schools.

       How do we get other teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders (and decision -makers) in education to see the value of teaching writing (short of a hostage - type writing activity)?