The words we write for ourselves

The words we write for ourselves are always so much better than the words we write for others. -William Forrester

The other day, we were watching Finding Forrester in my 30-2 English class. William's words above made me think about writing instruction and our work. I started writing this post a few days ago with the idea that I would mostly drag the standardized writing exam my students have to do this year, but with a few days between now and then, I am shifting my focus. I want to celebrate my writers and the brilliance that is starting to show through the mess of these exams.

Last week, I had a student turn in two very different writing pieces. One spoke about the hidden trauma of chronic illness and another about their difficult relationship with a loved one. Both of these pieces of writing were incredibly moving, and neither would have met the criteria of the writing task they had to do for their government exam. What I knew about that writing, though, was that it was them. It was real. There was no manufactured feeling that often comes in these artificial writing environments we force kids into.

This week, I have had the absolute joy of reading various pieces that ranged from analytical work where students have demonstrated learning to creative stories to personal essays. There is a contrived prompt that students must incorporate; they are not free to spread their writing wings like my other students did, but they can still tap into that writer in them. One student writing with a theme of the conflict between illusion and reality spoke of her Grandfather and his battle with dementia; another spoke about social media and its power to alter our realities and the damage it leads to. This morning, I read a story about a girl who enters a world of VR to escape the reality of poverty. Another student wrote about a person having a conversation with his ailing body, trying, through sheer force of will, to move. I read all of these fantastic pieces of work, and I didn't want to mark them. I didn't want to assess them, evaluate them, judge them, I just wanted to enjoy them. I just wanted to sit in their thoughts and words and recognize what we can do when we have time.

Most of the students are writing their test in an early writing opportunity. We are crossing our fingers that they are ready so we can just focus on finding our free writing voices with a test in the rear view. Wish us luck.

Also, it is April, and April is poetry month, so here goes.

On writing

"Mr.Gilson, I don't know what to write"

They tell me

Stare at the paper...or the screen

"Write what you are thinking about

It doesn't have to be perfect."

A pencil moves

The keys tap

Words appear

A story

A thought

An idea

The power to create is at their fingertips

I hope they start to see it in themselves.

Until then...

I will remind them.