Volume of Writing
How many baskets does Steph Curry shoot in a week? What about Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals? The volume of their shots in a week far exceeds the volume of their shots in official games. We are well aware that Curry, Ronaldo, and all top athletes need that volume of practice and repetition to perform. So let’s transfer this to writing. A book, short story, article, or a poem is a professionally edited version of a huge volume of its drafts. This is not a new comparison or idea; analogies of writers to athletes, musicians, dancers, and skateboarders have been around for a few decades. But when Emily Strang-Campbell and Mary Ehrenworth of the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project reiterated them last week at the Teacher’s College Summer Writing Institute, it was a helpful, clear reminder. As Mary says, a student’s volume of writing during class writing time is paramount; students learn to write and practice writing by writing in a non-threatening, practice-field environment.
I am applying everything below to myself; I have already written more, and with more focus and clarity.
How to get writers to write?
I am still shocked when students tell me that they don’t write for an extended, designated time of 20 minutes per class in English or humanities classes. And my blank notebook is a whining reminder of the writing I haven’t done. But I remember how hard it can be to write without accountability.
- Mandate and designate a specific amount of writing time.
- Put a timer on
- Require a heads-down, dancing-pencil act of writing
- Monitor and redirect lazy pencils
- Have some strategies for those reluctant writers who will stand you down (more on that in another post)
- Dole out quick stamps or magic check marks for students when they finish the required writing volume
Where to Write?
I’ve strayed from the writer’s notebook into my keyboard, but The Writing Institute set me straight. I’m back to eliciting ideas and focusing on evidence in my notebook with some drafting too. And it is so much better! Here is why:
- I can generate more ideas and remember more evidence when I create webs or maps
- I can organize the thoughts in my web
- The claims I write are clearer
- I chart out the paragraphs of a piece
We should plan, generate, and organize a piece in their notebooks. Drafting takes place on notebook paper or on a keyboard. Here is my web on literary devices used in “Angel and Aly” by Ron Koertge.
What to Assess?
- Assess for writing volume. It is the writer’s obligation to write the three full pages that you designated. Grammar, syntax, and mechanics do not need to be assessed or edited on webs, maps, and lists for generating a piece. John Grisham’s editors don’t see his plans or his drafts, so they don’t (and wouldn’t think of) correcting grammar, syntax, and mechanics.
- Assess for staying on topic for the most part. We all have tangential ideas, and that is OK.
- Assess for genuine effort.
- Assess for focused, engaged writing behavior.
And this is my first draft on a theme and literary devices in “Angel and Aly.”
Creating a writer’s workshop environment takes time, trial and error, and lots of energy. Setting up your writer’s practice field will be so worth it when you and your students see not only how much has been written, but at the end of the process, how well. Check out the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project and Heinemann for materials and how-to’s.