Building Confidence in Writing

Writing produces a number of emotional responses. For me when I write, I have experienced a wide range of emotions from anger to frustration to excitement. Writing has produced it all for me. We write for a variety of reasons and use a number of different means to get across our thoughts, needs, ideas, and on and on. When I'm writing about uncomfortable topics, I don't always feel confident. If I need to compose an email to a teacher or a supervisor that is difficult, I have to dig deep to feel confident. So if we, as adults, are not always confident writers, than surely it shouldn't come as a surprise that students struggle with confidence as well.

Students write all the time, though they may not view it as writing. If you have teenagers in your class, most likely you see them write (text) on their cell phones from time to time. As much as it surprises me to say this, it is true. It is writing. We, as teachers may take issue with that, but it's where our world is headed. In essence, many students are more confident writing on their devices than writing on paper. So if we have to, can we start there? If not, why not? I pose this question for you to really think about. I have a few students in mind who really struggle writing on paper, but shine if they can use their devices. Do you think writing the conventional way will be obsolete eventually? I sure hope not, but let's start where there is confidence. The ideas below can be used for writing via pen/pencil and paper, or if you are comfortable, students can use their devices. I will use the word 'write' throughout, but understand I'm using this word to encompass a number of modalities.

In my first blog post Start Write Here, I talked about starting with what each person has: his/her own ideas. Once you've begun free writing and sharing ideas, it is important to encourage each student using words that are not judgmental. I start with, "Thanks for sharing!" "Could you tell me more?" "Now turn to your partner and brainstorm ideas to add to your writing." If we say "Terrific", "I love your ideas" right off the bat, it may appear to the students that we are separating the skilled writers from the beginning writers, even if that is not our intention. By remaining neutral, you are leveling the playing field for all students. I prefer to use praise in one-on-one settings to indicate where I feel a writer has shined. Of course we want to praise all students and encourage them as much as possible, and you will do so by asking about their writing. When we provide specific feedback and show the student/adult we are listening, then the excitement for writing and sharing will come.

Another way to build confidence is to teach children how to be good listeners. Before a student shares his/her work, we need to set expectations for the class or partners. If you want the students to listen to the story and then summarize, then you will model how that looks. If you want listeners to focus on descriptions in the shared writing piece, then you would model using a piece of your own writing. I will share a short descriptive essay I wrote during a graduate summer class (offered by the Illinois Writing Project/Summer Leadership Institute) to demonstrate this. The goal was to write about our favorite place to visit that is close to home.

DeKalb.  A small town.  Podunk, you’d say.  College town, suitcase university.  The forgotten place.  BUT to those townies, not passers-through, there is a little hidden-in-the wide-open store on a regularly traveled side street, perpendicular to HWY 38.  Nestled smack-dab on 3rd street, a bit off center between Locust and 38, is a treasure of a store. It’s not a store that the faint of heart can go into, for you might just run into yourself.  That piece, that one object that defines you so completely that even your best friend in the whole world would not understand.  Even your family! You laugh?  Families know your proclivities better than you think.  They are observers, you know!...(portion taken out--not necessarily appropriate for young ears)...Your first trip there you may run through and hurry out the door before you have even given a cursory glance at the purposely disarrayed aura of the magical place.  A place that will haunt you, will draw you when you least expect it, that will make you want for more, and will also challenge you to dig deep, deeper, until you are so uncomfortable and curious at the same time.  For you might discover something about yourself that has been latent and is ready to burst forth.  You might not be ready.  But it will be there waiting when you are.  

So, you might listen to this essay and form a picture in your mind. If I accomplished that, then wonderful. If not, then my listening partner would ask me questions so that the reader/writer can explain, and then later, go back and edit. But for now, we are focusing on description. I might say this to my class/small group, or individual student to model the questioning:

• I noticed you used the word nestled. Why did you choose that word? 
• What does 'disarrayed aura' mean?
• There are words in there that sound really interesting. These words caught my attention: perpendicular, latent, podunk, and cursory. Would you tell me more about the word 'podunk'? What does it mean? (Maybe they will connect the word perpendicular to math and the word latent to science. Any connection they make, whether it has to do with the story being shared or not, is important. If it means something to the student, then it is worth-while to share.)

If you are asking for general impressions/suggestions from the listeners, you might model these statements or questions:

• I identified with what you said about running into yourself. I find items in stores that my friends are surprised I like! 
• I would like to hear more about this store. What is it called?
• I noticed that you are writing longer sentences and adding more detail.
• I noticed that you used a lot of fragments. Why did you choose to use those in your writing? (You notice how there was no judgement about fragments?)

Here you are using specific verbs/verb phrases such as "identified", "would like to hear", "noticed". Using emotionally charged words such as loved, liked, disliked, I was bored, etc...can really dampen a child's desire to continue to write. So make sure that this type of neutral language is clearly stated in the expectations. This does take practice, and students, or adults for that matter, do not always get it right. Be patient with the sharers and the listeners. Be patient with yourself, too. How many times have we said something to our students that we wish we could take back the moment it exited our lips. For me, more than I can count. So in order to ensure a safe environment to share, students need to be allowed to make mistakes. Simply correct those mistakes gently and move on. 

So what happens when the writing activities don't happen as smoothly as you hope? I have a story that illustrates this. My hope is that I repaired any communication breakdown that occurred. I'm not sure; you be the judge.

At the beginning of this school year, I used the writing ideas and strategies I learned from Illinois Writing Project: Summer Leadership Institute (I will speak more about this in another blog post). As part of our research, we needed to take our love of writing to the schools. I chose two English classes taught by two different teachers at the 7th and 8th grade levels. I brought writing activities to the classes over a month's time. In the seventh-grade class that I was in, we were doing just what I stated before, using statements to encourage writing. One student commented that he didn't have good ideas, and before I could respond, a boy in his group said, "He's right. He's not creative at all."  Those words, I'm sure, left a mark on this student. Immediately, of course, I modeled words to use instead, very similar to the sentences I shared above. I then politely shared my opinion:  "I think 'Steve' was creative. He used language that allowed me to get a picture in my head of his favorite place." Here, I didn't use neutral language, but I felt the need praise in this instance. I could see that my words helped him, but the damage from that comment was already done.  He had obviously had negative thoughts about his writing to begin with. Unfortunately, saying negative words again and again to yourself can be just as damaging, if not more so, than those coming from your peers.

Helping to build confidence in writing takes time. Modeling words such as these may sound stilted and unnatural, but with practice, they will become part of the climate/culture of the classroom. My next post will be on how to build your own confidence as a writer. Please share your thoughts and ideas. They are always appreciated!