Using Free Writing to Reclaim Voice

1. Using Free Writing to Reclaim Voice Kellie R. Heckert North Star of Texas Writing Project Summer 2005

2. Your Writing History • What were your positive writing experiences? When did they occur? • What were your negative writing experiences? When did they occur?

3. Negative Writing Experiences • How have they affected your writing? • Have they affected your attitude(s) about writing?

4. Free Writing • What do you already know about it? • Stream of consciousness • Try it!

5. Theory Base • Freedom of choice does not undercut structure (Atwell 1994). • Voice is the writer’s presence on the page (Romano 2004).

6. My Initial Questions & Problems • Student writing was dry and formulaic • Student writing lacked voice • Students had little to no concept of writing for pleasure and/or for themselves • Without voice, helping them to improve their writing was like making a soufflé out of a stale saltine • Without emotional investment and some pleasure, TEKS and TAKS requirements were harder to fulfill

7. Voiceless writing is addressed “to whom it may concern” (Graves 1994).

8. My Students’ Stories, My Stories • Lower elementary writing was fun! • A.J., Juan and The Girls

9. Student Insights • “I’ve never written this much in my life.” • “Writing helps me deal with things.” • “I didn’t know I had so many stories in my head.” • “Writing is supposed to be fun when you’re little, but not when you’re older. Then it’s serious.”

10. ELA TEKS Addressed by Free Writing • 15A-Write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas, problem solve • 18A-Generate ideas and plans for writing by using pre-writing strategies • 18B-Develop drafts by categorizing ideas, organizing them into paragraphs, and blending paragraphs with larger units of text

11. TAKS Writing Criteria • Score Point 1: The writer does not engage the reader, therefore failing to establish a connection. The composition does not sound authentic… (They engage me constantly, they are some of the most unique people I have ever met, and connections? We have TONS of connections…)

12. TAKS Writing Criteria • Score Point 2: There may be moments when the writer engages the reader but fails to sustain the connection. (Maybe, but for the most part, their voices sustain a connection with me even when I’m not at school…)

13. TAKS Writing Criteria • Score Point 3: The writer engages the reader and sustains that connection throughout most of the composition (Getting closer here…) • Score Point 4: The writer engages the reader and sustains that connection throughout the composition (YES! Now they’re describing my kids!)

14. Literacy involves the written AND spoken word. They HAVE voices. Where do they go when they write?

15. [Peter] Elbow felt it was crucial to separate composing from editing: writers should first write freely to get their ideas down in an unrestricted fashion….(Dornan, Rosen, & Wilson 2003).

16. Collaborative Reflection • What can you use with your own students? • How would free writing have to be modified for your students? • How do you feel about free writing when it comes to your own generation of topics/ideas?

17. Bibliography Atwell, Nancie. (1998). In the middle: new understandings about writing, reading, and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc. Dornan, R., Rosen, L., & Wilson, M. (2003). Within and beyond the writing process in the secondary English classroom. New York: Pearson Education Group, Inc. Graves, Donald. (1994). A fresh look at writing. Ontario, Canada: Irwin Publishing. Romano, Tom. (2004). Crafting authentic voice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishing.