Hooks, Webs, and Writing at Elwick School
One thing I know for sure is that the students I met at Elwick School at the end of September loved diving into their writing! I can’t tell you how many times I’d walk into a class – or sometimes just into the school first thing in the morning – and a student would come up to me and ask “can we please write today?”. I have seen students at all the schools I’ve worked with get deeply involved in each step of the writing process, but I was really impressed with how both the grade 4/5 and grade 6 classes I worked with genuinely wanted to work on the draft stage and independently tackle the actual writing. Here’s a little secret – I actually had more activities planned than we did together, but I was SO thrilled that you wanted to write instead. Whenever that happens, I say “WRITE ON!”. 🙂
I learned a few other things about my Elwick friends. The grade 4/5’s are champs at character webs! I could have used a whole other whiteboard for all the things we came up with for characters – hobbies, personality, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, jobs, pets, family, friends, dreams, hopes, fears….. This is excellent because, as we learned together, the more you ‘know’ your fictional character, the more real and authentic your character will seem to your readers. They will talk, walk, and act like they should in your story. Way to go on those webs (once I figure out how to upload the picture I took of your awesome webs I will do so. For some reason my phone is having an argument with my website! 🙂 ). I also loved the range of characters you came up with – from superheroes to whimsical animals and fantasy characters to artists, mothers, fathers, world-traveling teenagers, and more… Many of you chose to write about characters older than yourselves meaning that you were working your imaginations overtime to create believable characters. And you did! It’s one of the things I love most about writing and reading – getting to live inside someone else’s head and heart and shoes for a while. I hope you continue to work on your writing, and please don’t be afraid to revise…it doesn’t mean your drafts aren’t good. It just means you care enough to take the time to turn your good writing into great writing (with all those juicy words you showed me you know)! Keep it up!
The grade 6’s, also diligent writers, kicked off our week together by asking amazing questions about the writing process and about literature – for instance, like “do all stories have a meaning?”. WOW! That and your other deep questions sure made me think! I hope you feel as I do that we discovered some things about writing together! You also had a knack for ‘hooks’, not just for starting your story with one, but for trying out different approaches for your stories. I think you really ‘got’ the idea of not having to start your story with ‘one day’ or ‘there once was’. Instead, as a writer, you can plunge your reader right into the story with a great opening scene. Several of you tried not just one way but two, three, even four ways of starting your story until you felt you began in a way that captured the right mood or presented a gripping plot point. That’s fantastic, for, as you know from that great big pile of revisions of mine that I showed you, writing doesn’t happen in one sitting – it takes more than one attempt to get it right. I was also very impressed by the small group feedback session we did on our last day together for those who had brought their writing to a ‘shareable’ point. Sharing your writing in front of others isn’t easy at all – in fact, some adults I know are waaayyyyyy too shy to do it. And that’s okay – sometimes we write to sort out our stories, thoughts and feelings just for ourselves. However, I wanted to say that I was excited for and and proud of everyone who found the courage to share their writing and the respect to listen to the others in the group and give feedback. It was an awesome session and I enjoyed being a part of it!
I could keep going on and on about my time at Elwick (on and on and on like those wonderfully huge character webs!), but should wrap it up so you can stop reading this and keep up with your writing! 🙂 I do want to say a huge thank you to your supportive, enthusiastic and helpful teachers. I also wanted to note how special it was to participate in the incredible dancing showcase that took place near the end of my residency. It was inspiring, energizing, and gorgeous to watch. I can still hear and feel the beating of the drum. There are so many creative things to do at Elwick and I hope that each of you explores the activity that call to your own heart…
Thank you for a wonderful welcome and week of work at Elwick. Till we meet again!
Karin 🙂
