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Dreamstime
Edutopia
Cultivating Joy in Writing in the Elementary Grades
An online writing group—which could be adapted for in person
learning—builds confidence in students’ ability to express their ideas.
By Justine Bruyère
March 2, 2021
I’m a birder. Late last spring, while observing a flock of Canada geese
overhead, I learned that geese share the leading responsibilities in
their V formation. Ornithologists have determined that the V formation
creates a lift (reducing energy expenditure) and assists communication
within the flock. As I watched, I wondered what educators might learn
from these birds.
By now, you’ve probably heard of literature circles, where small groups
of students discuss a text and discussions are guided by their
experience, understandings, and queries. Similarly, according to James
Vopat, writing circles involve a small group of students “meeting
regularly to share drafts, choose common writing topics, practice… and
in general, help each other become better writers.” The authoring takes
place in a safe community, where students share ideas, give feedback,
and grow as authors.
In the fall of 2020, amid the pandemic, I held weekly virtual writers
workshops with two small groups of young authors (6- to 8-year-olds and
9- to 12-year-olds) from all over the United States and across Canada.
Participating students spoke English, Spanish, and French in the home,
presented neurotypically and with neurodiversities, and varied in their
motivation to write. The time we spent together was not about teaching
any prescriptive form of writing or preparing for standardized writing
assessments. Instead, I hoped to cultivate authoring joy while
connecting virtually across country and state lines.
Hopes for this work included that children would:
feel empowered to select writing topics (in any genre or form),
feel safe to contribute to and collaborate on authoring together,
use mini lessons to focus on the 6+1 writing traits,
have time to reflect on and respond to writing choices, and
share their group and solo writing.
For our fall online writers workshops, we spent 75 minutes together
each week for six weeks. Our lessons loosely followed a schedule that,
more than anything else, valued group and solo authoring:
Welcome & mini lesson (10 minutes)
Writers circles (20 minutes)
Solo authoring (30 minutes)
Author’s chair (10 minutes)
Next steps (5 minutes)
With these essential elements and a schedule that prioritized shared
leading, created lift, and provided opportunities for authentic
communication, we embarked on a virtual authoring journey. Herein, I’ll
share examples from the 9- to 12-year-old writers circle.
SELECTING WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT
To begin, I surveyed the students about their interests. I then
searched for and compiled a few videos that were safe to watch, were
under 3 minutes, and connected to students’ interest areas. As a small
group, we watched the YouTube videos and students voted on which one
they would most like to use as the basis for our writing. When they had
selected a video about a dog and a deer, we viewed it twice with the
goal of noticing, wondering, and questioning.
Justine: What did you notice or wonder? What questions do you have?
Student 1: I wonder where the deer’s family is at.
Student 2: I notice, well actually, I wonder if they are in the dog’s yard?
Without rushing, students shaped stories about the animals from the
video. Like the Canada geese flying in a V, these small groups quickly
became communities in which each of the students led at different
times. Leading the group provided needed practice for their solo
authoring time, a time when students authored a story unrelated to our
writing circle piece.
BUILDING THE STORY
In the next sessions, we watched the video again and students reviewed
what they knew about the video. They began acting out (within Zoom)
inner monologues of the two animals. Knowing who the characters were
was important to our story development.
Student 3: Who are you?
Student 4: I’m Albert. Who are you?
Student 3: I’m Stacey. Want to play?
Student 4: Yes, you run fast!
Authoring together acted as a positive precursor to solo writing,
offering the chance to share the development of the story. Most
students used the writers circle outline in their solo writes, and the
shared writing served as an inspiration for solo authoring. We know, as
adults, that writing is an often difficult process, and yet teachers
frequently direct students to sit quietly and write. In some classroom
settings, speed is prioritized over ideas, voice, and presentation.
Like the geese’s V formation, the writers circles afforded a lift, a
boost, that students needed to work on their own.
REVISING THE STORY
As we approached our final sessions, students looked for ways to add,
subtract, and revise both the co-created story and their solo writing.
Our remote settings emerged as a way for students to learn about people
from different places, speaking different languages, and with different
experiences. As most learners resided in different regions of North
America (Nashville, the Canadian Prairies, and California), students
seemed relieved to know that other kids also found aspects of writing
difficult. During our writing circle time, they included personal
details as they put forward ideas.
Student 1: Sometimes when I write, I realize it doesn’t make sense when I read it out loud...
Student 4: Me too!
Student 3: Or I change my mind about the story and forget to go back.
Students modeled openness by admitting when writing wasn’t easy.
Connections like these helped to normalize the process of writing. Just
as the V formation improves communication for the geese, this writing
circle improved communication for students.
At the beginning the writing circles required lots of modeling and
comfort building (especially with the younger group). As the weeks
progressed, though, my role lessened and students more willingly
engaged in conversing, imagining, deciding, and writing. This remote
learning workshop shone a light on the need for writing circles. Time
spent in writing circles facilitates strong communities, gives students
a lift, and reinforces the need for authentic communication.
Read this story and more at Edutopia
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