Juli Kendall's Weekly
Writing Workshop Journal
A MiddleWeb Listserv Project
Members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List and other interested teachers
are joining together to explore the Writing Workshop and other ideas about
supporting young adolescent writers and readers. Juli Kendall, a reading-writing
teacher/coach in Long Beach, California, is helping moderate the discussion.
Last year, Juli kept a weekly journal from her Reading Workshop.
This year, Juli is continuing her journals, but this time she's focusing
on her Writing Workshop. Find out more about our project at our Reading/Writing
Workshop homepage. You'll find Juli's background article here.
Links to many of the tools created by Juli and her colleagues are embedded
in these journals. Most often, when you click on them, a PDF file will begin
to download. You'll find a list of the downloads here.
If you'd like to join the daily discussion that parallels Juli's Journals,
find out how here.
Writing Workshop
Week #10:
"Craft" Begins With
Learning to Read Like a Writer
I was "Waiting for Godot" on the way to our Unit of Study on Craft
in Writing Workshop. By "Waiting for Godot," I don't mean the
Samuel Beckett play by that name, or the character, Godot, who never shows
up, or even the sight of two other characters, Estragon and Vladimir, waiting
for someone who will never arrive.
I mean that, just like Godot, the flash of insight I wanted to have about
"What is craft?" never arrived. Even though my exploration of
craft had not produced the flash, I was sure it would come very soon.
As it turned out, some insights don't arrive in a flash of smoke and thunder.
It turns out that I already knew what "craft" is. I just needed
Katie Wood Ray to help me discover my own buried insight.
I was reading her book, Wondrous Words:
Writing well involves learning to attend to the craft
of writing, learning to do the sophisticated work of separating what
it's about from how it is written. (p. 10)
Aha! After eight years of teaching writing to 10 to 14 year olds, I know
the difference between what the writing is about and how it is written.
My definition of craft is how the piece is written. But when did
I learn this?
My understanding of "craft" has grown as I've learned to read
like a writer -- an essential part of becoming a better writer. Last
year as I started a new writing experience, the Reading Workshop Journal
on MiddleWeb, I discovered that what helps me most with my own writing is
my reading.
To grow as a journal writer, I regularly read the newspaper, "Newsweek"
magazine, other journals/diaries on MiddleWeb, "Sports Illustrated"
and "The New Yorker." As never before, I pay close attention to
how the writers do their work. I look at leads, at the various organizational
structures, how quotations are used and the ways professional writers manage
dialogue. And I do this while paying very little attention to the content
-- what it is about. I focus on how it is written.
As we move into our unit of study about the craft of writing, I want to
make sure that the kids are doing lots of different kinds of reading and
that they are learning how to read like writers. By reading in this "new"
way, they can learn more about the craft of writing by closely examining
how the piece is written. Katie Wood Ray describes it as "to read with
a sense of possibility." I really like that.
So in order to gather a repertoire of craft possibilities that
will help a writer write well, that writer first has to learn how to read
differently, how to read with a sense of possibility, a sense of "What
do I see here that might work for me in my writing?" This is what reading
like a writer means -- to read with a sense of possibility.
From Wondrous Words (p. 14)
How we'll help our students read like writers
To help our writers learn to "read like writers," we'll focus
on one aspect of craft. I've chosen leads, ways to begin writing, based
on my past teaching experiences and our first look at examples of our students'
work. Frequently, kids who struggle with writing need assistance with how
to get started. Knowing different ways to begin their writing, using different
leads, can help them during the writing process.
Based on their first published pieces in Writing Workshop, our kids use
straightforward leads with little elaboration. Here are five examples.
Blanca writes:
My aunt gave me a lead pencil. And she bought it to me because
she is nice with us.
Corey writes:
Scienceland, when I was 10 years old and I was happy I had a
scienceland book.
Yesenia writes:
The last day of school was fun because we made a lot of stuff.
It was time to go home and my teacher Ms. Reveles hurry up to make the contest
of the books so she brought the marker up to the chart.
Maurice writes:
This is going to be about what Camp Hi Hill is about and like
and kind of stuff you do and what do you eat at Camp Hi Hill.
Susan writes:
My bracelet is special to me because my father give it to me
when I was very young. My father pass a way and that bracelet remind me
of my father when I look at it.
Now that we have samples of their writing, we want to show our writers how
to "read with a sense of possibility." We'll use several texts
that start in different ways, using different leads, and act as touchstone
texts for our unit of study on craft.
Although these books are described as "picture books," the writing
is full of possibilities. Reading these books as a class, we'll discuss
(with partners, in small groups and with the whole class) the question,
"What do I see here that might work for me in my writing?"
Here are the leads from a few of our touchstone books. We'll go back to
these books again and again as we work on our writing.
From Wings by Christopher Myers
"Look at that strange boy!" Everyone from the neighborhood
is pointing fingers and watching the sky. "How's he doing that?"
They stretch their necks and shake their heads. Ikarus Jackson, a new boy
on my block, is flying above the rooftops.
From Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull
No one expected such a tiny girl to have a first birthday. In
Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1940, life for a baby who weighed just over four
pounds at birth was sure to be limited.
But most babies didn't have nineteen older brothers and sisters to watch
over them. Most babies didn't have a mother who knew home remedies and a
father who worked several jobs.
Most babies weren't Wilma Rudolph.
From Louis the Fish by Arthur Yorinks
One day last spring, Louis, a butcher, turned into a fish. Big
lips. A tail. A salmon.
From Shrek! by William Steig
His mother was ugly. His father was ugly. But Shrek was uglier
than the two of them put together.
From Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye
My grandmother lives on the other side of the earth.
From Willy the Wimp by Anthony Browne
Willy wouldn't hurt a fly.
While we're reading, we'll make a class chart of the various leads and leave
it up on the wall. It will act as a reference for the kids as they try these
techniques in their Writing Notebooks. Then they'll work to revise a previous
piece of writing or write something new using what they've learned about
leads during our unit of study about craft.
So, we're embarking on a new adventure. From now on, our reading will be
different. We'll be reading with "a sense of possibility" in order
"to gather a repertoire of craft possibilities" for our writing.
Off we go!
Download Juli's Curricular
Calendar #3 (craft study) for Writing Workshop
Download a comparison of Juli's Reading
and Writing Workshop plans
Read next week's journal
Read last week's journal
Read Juli's backgrounder about her work
Back to Juli's journal index
Back to the Writing/Reading Workshop Index Page