For this reflection, I'm focusing primarily on Atwell's chapter on writing workshops.
There are so many "what-if's" here, it's hard to claim viability. Ideologically I agree with much of what is here, although it's difficult to agree with the statement, "anyone can write", at least creatively. It's a nice sentiment, but after several years of teaching it, and a lifetime of working on it, I'm fairly confident that teaching *good* creative writing is an impossibility...at least in the age groups I've worked with. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if you could take a group of four-year-olds and work with them regularly for a decade, fostering an entire generation of good novelists/poets/playwrights. Academic writing is another matter: you can teach a template and give room for students to experiment and learn from it.
But you can give a group of students room and time, as well as a few skills, to foster any abilities in creative writing. That's where this chapter comes in. After a bit of hunting around I found a few resources that can provide specifics on how to create space and provide direction for it. They're linked at the bottom.
But there is so much "what if" in this article. Atwell seems to be describing a magical classroom space unlike most of what i've been in. There's room in the center for the desks, room in one corner for privacy in writing. Room along walls for "conference areas" that are isolated enough that the conversation doesn't bleed across the rest of the classroom. The ideals are noble, but where's the space? I'd love to see the space. Otherwise, we're looking at something more along the lines of several classrooms...which isn't an impossibility. At the High School I'm at right now, students are more or less free to go where they please, even during class hours, so long as they don't cause problems. An environment like that would allow students to move between classrooms as needed, but would destroy some of Atwell's advocation for moving amongst students and asking questions/checking in.
Again, I love the ideal; her advocation of 3 hours per week of dedicated writing workshop is not only great, but also conservative. I'd argue for more hours, especially if the class isn't her year-long layout but instead a semester. But where does that time come in? Does "English writing workshop" become an elective class, or in the high school are we going to be trying to claim this to be a substitute for language arts/english literature instruction? As lofty as it is to spend a year doing this, I have a hard time believing not only that the administration will buy it that this is a good substitute for that instruction, but also that a teacher can pull off that substitution successfully.
I do buy it (on a practical level) as an addition. Another class going on with in addition to norm curriculum that is a writing workshop. Or a unit within a broader year (even though that may very well castrate the long-term abilities of the very ethos at play in this) could be workable.
And what is being taught? Pure creative writing? That may very well frustrate some students over an entire year, unless you're playing it purely hands-off and never offering any critical statements to their work. If you're not, and you do allow other students who read peer work to state critically what works and what doesn't, you're left with a few students who know very well by January (at the latest) that they're not very good at creative writing. They get to sit there, frustrated, while a few students who are good at it get to reap benefits.
Or they become the Dan Browns of the future, and society as a whole will hate us. The world is filled with bad writers who just aren't told they're bad writers. I'm not advocating merciless cutting...more of a Christensen model of criticism.
But we're still left with groups of kids who aren't very good at it, stuck in the class.
Is it academic writing? That's far more teachable. But can you justify spending an entire year on it? I'll be honest: I have very little DIRECT experience in writing workshops/labs, but I do know a few people who built, in the last five years, some of the more acclaimed/successful workshops. They do not operate on a daily basis all year. They exist as a supplement for students (college students at Missouri State) to come in as needed. Yes, kids are different than adults. Kids are more honest in saying, "this is boring" than adults are.
In the end, the article strikes me as a lot of noble rhetoric, but you can't really use it as it's stated it needs to be used...not blanket across an entire grade or school. Pieces of it are definitely workable, and my supplemental resources for the week illustrate ideas on how to use those pieces in part of a larger unit woven throughout a more traditional language arts year.
Resources for the week:
Writing Fix Writer's workshop
OWL 7-12 writing workshops
I really appreciate how you are able to read something and critically see the holes in it. These are some points that I just ate up while I was doing my reading of Atwell's 'noble rhetoric'. It was indeed noble, and I suffered a rush of insta-inpiration. After reading your post I, too, am considering the practical implications of such a fancy free writing class environment.
ReplyDeleteI focused on time as an important feature in my response. I like how you wrote about giving space for writers as well. With this in mind, students who have space to explore, and enough time to do so, will each grow in a unique way...
I may, like Atwell, be waxing a bit idealistic by saying that even though teachers are constantly fighting against constraints on time and space, we must continue pushing against the very things than harness in creativity for our students. It is very unlikely that we ourselves will have enough time or space to do the kind of teaching that churns out Pulitzer prize winners, poet laureates, or Dan Browns/Nancy Atwells; but at least we can inspire them to get on a good track, cultivate good habits, and gain confidence in their creative abilities.