Slice of Life 2018 Day 31: Joy Writing

"A central goal of school should be to engender a love of writing and reading."
Ralph Fletcher, WSRA Convention 2018 

In the beginning of February I was fortunate to hear Ralph Fletcher speak at the Wisconsin State Reading Association's annual convention. He was inspiring, and I found myself hanging on each word. Nearly two months later, I am still lingering over his insights and on a story he shared about observing his young grandson, Solomon, at play. Young Solomon was in bathtub enamored with a toy - lifting it, flipping it around, sharing it, dropping it, tossing it. Ralph noticed that this kind of play is not so different than what writers do. As writers we often lift, flip, share, drop, arrange writing. What a great analogy! 

If you are familiar with Ralph's Joy Write, you know that he advocates for teachers to create a space for writers to participate in what he calls greenbelt writing. This is when writers have the opportunity to write about they want. No grade. No particular genre. No prescribed topic. No one tries to fix it up. Fletcher says that when we allow students the space for greenbelt writing that teachers see:

• engagement
• collaboration
• playfulness
• humor
• pop culture references 

I thought of Ralph's analogy often as I participated in the blogging Slice of Life (SOL) challenge this month, finding that I played more as a writer than I have in a long time. I lifted lines. I shared my work. I dropped ideas I didn't like. I tossed my words around in different sentences and phrases. I tried out different genres of writing. I was inspired by other blog posts and paid more attention to what was around me. Blogging this month was satisfying play. I didn't expect to find as much joy in participating in SOL. 

This past week my tween son and daughter and I were on spring break. We stayed in town, and I tried to limit their screen time whenever I could. To my surprise, whenever I sat down to write this week, my daughter and son joined me. My daughter loves to write, so this didn't surprise me about her, but it shocked me that my son wrote with us. My twelve-year-old son is emphatic about how much he hates writing, especially in school. Yet, this week he spent hours creating intricate comic strips, full of humor and voice. 

From afar, I listened to my children help each other, rehearse dialogue, giggle together, and hide their sketches and words from me. None of this writing was for school or for any special purpose other than my children simply enjoyed it. 

Quickly, I realized that my children were doing exactly the kind writing that Ralph Fletcher is a strong champion of - greenbelt writing. 

Sketch. Write. Play. Repeat.

One of the comics my daughter created

Part of a comic my son created

I was delighted to see my children play in this way. With words. With dialogue. With voice. 

Joy writing. 

Observing my own children play with writing this past week and reflecting on myself as a writer through the SOL challenge makes me wonder more about my own teaching practice. I write with my students. I find mentor texts for students to emulate. I pay attention to what students are reading and writing to guide my instruction. I allow for as much choice as possible. I try to teach writers in manageable chunks. I try to teach instead of just assign. Yet, I nearly always dictate the genre or topic. I don't assess every piece of writing, but I don't provide a lot of time for just play in writing. I am not making any kind of time for greenbelt writing in my classroom. 

Last August I wrote a post about why I write and some lingering questions:

• How can I help to empower my students to see how they can write their way out?
• How do I help writers find joy in writing?

As the end of the school year approaches, I find myself still grappling with these same questions, and I find myself with more questions to grapple with: 

• How can I infuse what I learned about the importance of play in writing with my high school students?
• Many of my students have not experienced a lot of success in school yet. How can I help them find success with greenbelt writing?
• How can I teach writers in an engaging way and still follow the curriculum?

One of the last things Ralph Fletcher ended his keynote with was this powerful sentence: "We may cover all of the standards, but if kids hate writing, it's not worth it." 

I still hold onto this sentence, too. It is curiosity that propels me to grow.