Recently there has been a lot of discussion online around the importance of creative writing and giving students the time to just write. As part of the development of our schools responsive learning group for literacy, and my inquiry around helping struggling writers overcome barriers to writing and adapt my teaching practice, I have decided to trail 10-15 minutes of creative writing each day in my class. The aim of this is to have students develop a love for writing, to remove the barriers around their work being assessed, and for students to develop their creative thinking and ways of expressing themselves through written communication.
Yesterday was our first go at trialling creative writing. Students were able to write anything they wanted. There work is not going to be marked or critiqued. They are able to share their writing orally with the class or a buddy if they choose. If they have had a bad day and need to vent, they can staple the page shut if they wish. My only requirement is that students do what they want to do and hopefully enjoy it. If they want to write a card for someone - write a card. If they want to write a list of words that pop into their head - write a vocab list. Students can use coloured paper, art paper, their books... They can use any coloured pen, felts, crayons. The choice is 100% the students. For those students who struggle to come up with ideas, I can show them a picture as a prompt, share a video clip, give them a word etc. I just want my students to write and have fun doing it.
Yesterday's first session was an immediate success. Student's moaned at the end of 15 minutes when they were asked to stop so we could move onto our afternoon program. To top it off, I had three students (two of them who are well below in writing and are part of my priority group, and one who has dyslexia) all ask if they could take their writing home to carry on with it. One even wanted to publish and decorate their work up because they enjoyed the task so much. So initially, the student response to creative writing has been embraced and is motivating, but only time will tell if it is effective.
On recapping the session to get student feedback, several students used their critical thinking to reflect on our current setup of our independent writing books. At present, the school requirements are that students are to write in blue pen and edit in red. These students asked "If you want us to be creative in our writing and enjoy it, then why do we all have to write in blue pen in our independent writing books?"
A great question. I had already been wondering this question myself and was going to trial my ALL writing group with their own choice of pen colour, but why limit it to only this group? I promptly took this question to our management team and team leader who were all very supportive and were more then happy to trial student choice of pen colour in their books as a way to see if it increases engagement, enjoyment and possibly quality and quantity of work. So today the new systems will take place. I have had to remind students that they need to be sensible with their use of coloured pens and remind them that writing is a form of communication. If the pen colour is hard to read, then it is probably not a good choice. Also, if pens are very inky and likely to go through pages, again it may not be a sensible choice.
The students and I are now very excited to see how creative writing evolves in our class and to see if their is any advantage/disadvantage to students writing in any colour they choose.
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