Expressive Writing; Maybe the Best Idea of All

[Brenda Krupp]

And so it begins...8:00 am. Participants find their seats, open their notebooks to a clean page, pens poised, ready for the morning freewrite at the Summer Writing Institute. It has been this way for 22 years. Sixteen years ago I was a participant and my day began with a free write. Now, I am a co-director and we begin each day with a free write. Why? Because free writing (or expressive writing) allows the writer to explore, to play, to go into uncharted waters. The free write has no demands. It can be imaginative, be responsive to the text the writer is creating, and can take any form the writer lets it take.
During the summer institute our free write is usually prompted. Most of our participants follow the prompt but there are always the brave souls who allow their writing to digress, allow the writing muse to take hold. Then there is the share. After writing for 20 minutes (sometimes more) we ask for volunteers to share. Week one the confident writers share, often. They don't like the silence. Somewhere around day 3 of week two you begin to notice more volunteers, more writers who want their words to heard. They know they are in a supportive community, among friends and fellow writers. And, the community - one that will allow a second grade teacher and a football coach to share writing strategies and written respopnses - is built from day one on a foundation of "expressive writing".

I wonder, how does this happen in classrooms? What advice would you give to the newest writing project teachers (or any teacher) as they return to their classrooms and attempt to institute "expressive writing" in their classrooms? And, Penny, any advice or suggestions on using interest journals? How do we do this type of writing in the elementary grades? How do we keep this going in the test taking era we now live?

It is "maybe the best idea ever"!

[Ken C]

I'll go first, Brenda. I can't stand the silence! ;-)

Anyway, I think expressive writing has the same "stepchild image" problem that silent reading does. It's proven that kids will read if you allow them choice and enthusiastically book talk (as well as allow them to book talk) great YA titles. It's proven that all of this reading makes them better readers and writers. It's proven that free reading of your own choice is a "gateway drug" to reading more challenging texts (classical fans, can you hear me?). And yet, a deeply-entrenched resistance continues to resist and/or outright challenge silent reading and promotion of YA texts over traditional classics (as summarized and analyzed at a Sparknotes near you).

Expressive writing has similar problems. Tradition and conservatism challenge it as "garbage" and a "waste of time." It's been proven that even published authors (and classical ones) produced garbage before it was refined to the gem we know it for today, and yet they still object. The system is beholden to analytical writing and 5-paragraph essays because, in education, "the way our fathers did it and our father's fathers did it" is a force to be reckoned with. Change is slow and those who dare implement it are challenged But why? Why must kids frequently analyze the expressive writing of others and infrequently express thir own minds -- especially when it is a proven motivator to write? This, I think, is what Tom Newkirk is wondering, and all I can say is, "Pass the Wonder bread -- I can't figure it, either."

As for teachers who fear expressive writing because it procreates like dandelions, I can only remind them of Newkirk's reminder earlier in the book: You don't, indeed shouldn't, have to read every word a kid writes. Turn them loose. Have them read each other's work. Get involved late in the game when their pieces are more refined and need feedback before moving to a final version. It's not the bogey man it's built up to be. In fact, it's the Muse itself more often than not!

Expressively Yrs,
Ken C

[Penny Kittle]

Hey Brenda... Your last question halted me a little, as it always does. The idea that we can't seem to keep good practices like notebook writing, free writing, quick writing, etc. etc. alive in elementary school even in this era of tests... oy. Elementary writing workshops are often where students discover a love for writing that carries them through the content-focused years beyond... please let us remember and honor that. In classrooms where I work, we use notebooks to anchor a lot of our work in writing workshop, grades 2-12. Students find most of their topics for longer pieces in the free writing of notebooks. We wrestle with ideas and explore... as you know, it is food for the writing soul.

One glimpse... I spent the last five days on Cape Cod and had brilliant weather there. Each morning I sat in a beach chair near the edge of the water with my notebook. I returned in late afternoon sometimes, too. Hours of sitting with a page open, scribbling down what came to me... pursuing all kinds of things. I analyzed a novel I read for craft and can't wait to get back to that... I tried to sketch the water, the rocks, the horizon... I wrote about two questions teachers ask about reading and finally came to the words I want to use to answer... I reread earlier entries and added thinking, found wonderful quotes from people I love (Find the center. Your center. Stand still. ~Lester Laminack) and thought about them, wrote about them. It feeds me as a writer and a thinker. How could we deny this dance with language to our students?

So... how do we keep this practice in a test-taking era?
1. Writing in a notebook develops voice and stamina and fluency with words. All writers need that.
2. Writing in a notebook, a quick response...first thinking... does help students respond to prompts quickly... to 'get off the mark' as we say and begin writing, even on a test.
3. Test-taking has far too much weight in our classrooms and we know it is evil and shallow and destroying a love for reading, writing, and thinking... so we should remind ourselves of that and not give it so much attention! As Linda Rief has said for years, you give students excellent daily practices in reading and writing and the tests will take care of themselves. I'd far rather be in her camp than the ETS one.

And as for interest journals...Louise Wrobleski is the master of these, but I'll try to do her thinking justice. In my classroom are 30 cheap notebooks with different category titles: love, hair, movies, etc. as well as FREE on five of them in case they come with their own topic that day. Students choose these categories and 'retire' those they don't care about anymore as well as add in new categories when they feel moved. (Like we had one for McCain and one for Obama last fall) About once every three weeks or so we free write in them instead of our notebooks, adding our voices to a multi-year conversation since the notebooks last for quite some time. Students often say, "Oh I love these!" when I pull them off the shelf. It has a marvelous way of developing community.

One addition: share them. I brought the 3rd grade interest journals to my seniors one morning. My seniors loved responding to topics like tree forts, superheroes, X-box, snow days, etc. We took their responses back to 3rd grade and those kids felt so impressed that the big seniors at the high school had written in their journals.

As you said in the start of your post, this expressive writing is something you've valued in your own writing life. That's what we need more of in school: writing and reading practices that we value ourselves. LIke Ken says about YA literature and reading, free writing can be the 'gateway drug' that leads to a deep engagement with words, ideas, and craft. It is a good idea in a time of too many bad ones. We hold on.

[Barry Lane]

In response to Penny's and Ken's brilliant responses to Brenda's important question I am reminded of my daughter Jessie who found she was a photographer when she took a course at Maine College of Art, one of the countries 20 or so independent art colleges including RISD that were started by artists as a reaction to how art was taught in normal colleges. At MECA Jessie and all the other students were treated as though they already were artists who were struggling to find their expressive voice in the world. Later Jessie took a course in photography at Ithica College, taught by a world renown photographer.. There she was taught that she knew nothing about photography and needed to start from scratch learning the basic skills before she could presume to have anything to say. The teacher taught from the same notes he had used for 20 years and there were no surprises. Jessie lost interest in the subject almost immediately and real photography became an underground activity she did for herself. Expressive writing is for those who wish to teach writing as an art form. The others teach writing as a form form.

The Writing Project rocks because it realizes the importance of expression. Without it, why write at all.

A high school English teacher once boasted to me, " I have a different view of writing than you do. I believe writing is hard work not fun."
My response.
"Why do all the hard work if you are not having a good time."

Expression is the engine of all writing. A good time is what makes want to write better and say more.

[Judy Jester]

Brenda,

I'll show these to Jon-Paul. It'll knock his socks off.

Me

[Amber White]

Outstanding reflections Ken, Penny, & B!

I believe you discover what you have to say in the act writing. For me, digression is an integral step in this process. You trust where the pen leads you. Thoughts are generative. An initial idea often sparks another idea, which sparks another idea, which links to another idea, which eventually takes you on a marvelous journey you never expected or could possibly plan. To grow writers, all students need to experience the freedom and enjoyment of expressive writing.

I think teachers need more support or teacher preparedness in writing to remove this “paradox of control” (75). Newkirk is dead on! Many teachers overvalue feedback and undervalue practice (82). It’s not that feedback isn’t important, but too many teachers are wasting time putting a gazillion convention comments on a paper that won’t yield a single revision (an example Barry posted comes to mind here). Time would be better spent on having the students write more or rework past writing. As Newkirk stated, volume isn’t equivalent to quality, but you can’t get to quality without volume.

For students to utilize and understand the seed farm in a writer’s notebook, they need a teacher who embraces and understands the power of sacred writing time. To understand that everything doesn’t have to be graded and there is more depth to writing than the 5 paragraph essay, teachers need strong literacy leaders and exposure to the works of Elbow, Murray, Newkirk, Heard, etc. Some teachers step up and find writing PD on their own, while others continue to assign writing and reject practices they do not fully understand-like expressive writing.

So where do we focus our energy? As a NWP fellow, I think we need to continue to get the word out about the National Writing Project. I’ve encountered entire school districts who have never heard of NWP. Spreading the word is a good idea!

I truly believe that the best thing we can do to help students become better writers is to become writers ourselves.

[Ken C]

Yes, Amber, I couldn't agree more about the value of thoughts sparking thoughts. Thinking begets writing. It all begins in our minds, and they don't call it "stream of consciousness" for nothing (in the case of my mind, a river runs through it). When kids (big and small, old and young) first write, they are serving as a scrivener for the brain, is all, and they have a lot more to say than Bartleby. They need opportunities to turn loose on topics that they care about!

What floors me is that this is really nothing new. Thinking back to the works of some you mentioned like Peter Elbow and Ken Macrorie and the Dons and the Toms, it seems the seeds for expressive writing were actually cast long ago. It's the infertile soil of the entrenched education system, in most cases. Still... more seeds, more seeds! As Albert Schweitzer said, "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." Sooner or later if we all practice and preach what we practice, the ideas will germinate and we'll live in a land of milk and honey. Thanks for the link to NWP. I don't know much about that organization, but I marked it as a favorite for further exploration.

P.S. Judy -- Qui est Jon-Paul and why is he now barefoot?

[Sue]

"It's the muse itself more often than not!"
Oh yeah! Expressive Writing is the battlefield, the "Main Street" at High Noon, and the intergalactic battle between me and the muse(s). Freewriting is when I unintentionally summon the critics - some good, some bad. The bad ones appear first.
"I'm hungry."
"What are you doing?"
"You are not a writer!"
"Did you spell that correctly?"

If I persist, I am rewarded and refreshed by the good ones.
"That's not bad."
"What a wonderful word!"
"Where did that come from?"
"Can you do it again?"

I want to implant good muses into the heads of my writing students. I want to be the voice that says,
"This is going to be great!"



Ken C said:

I'll go first, Brenda. I can't stand the silence! ;-)

Anyway, I think expressive writing has the same "stepchild image" problem that silent reading does. It's proven that kids will read if you allow them choice and enthusiastically book talk (as well as allow them to book talk) great YA titles. It's proven that all of this reading makes them better readers and writers. It's proven that free reading of your own choice is a "gateway drug" to reading more challenging texts (classical fans, can you hear me?). And yet, a deeply-entrenched resistance continues to resist and/or outright challenge silent reading and promotion of YA texts over traditional classics (as summarized and analyzed at a Sparknotes near you).

Expressive writing has similar problems. Tradition and conservatism challenge it as "garbage" and a "waste of time." It's been proven that even published authors (and classical ones) produced garbage before it was refined to the gem we know it for today, and yet they still object. The system is beholden to analytical writing and 5-paragraph essays because, in education, "the way our fathers did it and our father's fathers did it" is a force to be reckoned with. Change is slow and those who dare implement it are challenged But why? Why must kids frequently analyze the expressive writing of others and infrequently express thir own minds -- especially when it is a proven motivator to write? This, I think, is what Tom Newkirk is wondering, and all I can say is, "Pass the Wonder bread -- I can't figure it, either."

As for teachers who fear expressive writing because it procreates like dandelions, I can only remind them of Newkirk's reminder earlier in the book: You don't, indeed shouldn't, have to read every word a kid writes. Turn them loose. Have them read each other's work. Get involved late in the game when their pieces are more refined and need feedback before moving to a final version. It's not the bogey man it's built up to be. In fact, it's the Muse itself more often than not!

Expressively Yrs,
Ken C

[Ken C]

Expressive writing as Main Street in High Noon. I like that, Sue, even though I've never seen High Noon (I share a loathing of movie-going with Holden Caulfield, though I do see and like a few now and then).

I guess we should all, for our principal's annual observation and evaluation visit to our classroom this year, make it a point to include silent reading (while he fidgets) and expressive writing (while he adjusts his tie nervously). Gary Cooper wins again!

But I venture that many proponents, even, of expressive writing and SSR would not do it for a principal's visit because they feel the need to "do something" for him. Oh, the habits, the habits!

[Brenda Krupp]

THANK YOU!!! Jon-Paul is soon to be a new writing project fellow. He is a High School emotional support teacher and he uses journals A LOT. When we asked our participants in summer institute to do a demonstration on something they do in their class, Jon-Paul wasn't sure what he could actually demonstrate. We (judy, Sharon, and I) kept saying "the journals". You all have shown the value of expressive writing. And, you have empowered a newer teacher! His demo is tomorrow, we'll let you know what he does and more important, what he will continue to do and what he has learned.
Thanks for helping !