Writing Connections with Raina Telgemeier

by Mary Quattlebaum

Is the classroom or your personal journaling experience starting to pall? One way to spice up the journal-keeping process is to add visuals.  That’s how Raina Telgemeier got her start as a graphic novelist when she was 10 years old.  In a recent interview in the KidsPost section of the Washington Post, Raina talks about her newest graphic novel Ghosts and how she began keeping a comics diary when she was a kid.

Below are writing lessons for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.  Telgemeir’s website also has teacher’s guides. 

WRITING/DRAWING YOUR LIFE:  Classroom Discussion, Part 1:  You might start by showing kids various examples of graphic novels (Telgemeier’s Smile, Sisters and Ghosts; Jennifer Holm’s Babymouse series, Gene Yang’s Secret Coders series).  Though most tell a fictional story, Smile and Sisters chronicle events in Telgemeier’s life.

Classroom Writing:  Instead of the usual journaling-in-words-only that is done as part of the classroom writing experience, encourage students to do what Telgemeir did as a kid.  In a “comics diary,” she recorded her days in comic-strip form.  This loose, sketchy process helps kids to avoid getting hung up on creating “realistic” drawings and instead encourages them to focus on what’s key to the day/emotion/scene in very stylized drawings.  Students might do just one panel with dialogue balloons that captures an experience or several linked ones.

You might also have them bring photos from home or have some magazines on hand so they might cut and paste in backgrounds, relevant images, etc.

Examples of Prompts (these also work for traditional journal entries):  What made me scared today?  Angry?  Excited?  Annoyed?  Happy? Before writing, have students close their eyes and focus on their day and call a particular emotion/event to mind.

Classroom Discussion, Part 2:  After about a week of keeping a comics journal, ask students which they preferred, comics journal or the more traditional writing journal. Or perhaps a combination.  What did they like/dislike about all three?  What did they enjoy/learn from the comics diary experience?  Did doing their own comics diaries change the way they looked at/read graphic novels?

www.maryquattlebaum.com

   

Summer Travel Sketch Journal Kit

by Joan Waites

The end of the year is already here or coming soon for most schools.  How did another year zip by so quickly?

Whether you are spending summer days close to home, at the park, local pool, or traveling for a fun vacation, keeping a travel sketch and writing journal kit handy is a great way to keep the creativity flowing for kids of all ages.  Recording what you see or experience in pictures and words will keep those memories alive for years to come.

Have your children take as little as 15 minutes a day to observe something around them. An everyday object in the home, a bird or bug in the backyard, or a sandy beach with colorful umbrellas can be recorded in a quick sketch along with some descriptive words or sentences.  At the end of the summer, you will have a visual diary to remember small details that might otherwise be forgotten.

A travel kit can be something as simple as a small notebook, pencil and some crayons contained in a zippered pouch.  A pencil or cosmetic case makes a great take-along bag to bring anywhere you go.  If you’d like to add additional items to your travel bag, here are a few things I recommend:

*Small sketch journal with heavyweight paper that will hold up to wet media.

*Drawing pencil and eraser (a mechanical pencil works well and doesn’t require sharpening).

*Permanent black fine tipped ink pen such as a Sharpie or Micron pen for sketching and writing.

*Small set of watercolors and or some watercolor pencils or watercolor crayons.

*Water brush (a self-contained brush with a watercontainer in the handle). 

Wishing you all a wonderful start to the summer!

www.joanwaites.com

DRAW WHAT YOU SEE

by Joan Waites

I’ve recently become acquainted with the work of sketchbook artist and author Danny Gregory. Inspired by his book Everyday Matters, a Memoir (Hyperion, 2003), I’ve started using some of his drawing and journal techniques with my students.  In his book, he describes teaching himself to draw in a sketchbook/ journal using a “slow, careful gaze” when rendering the objects or scene he is observing. Instead of drawing what you know, draw what you see.

For example, if I place an apple on the table for my young art students to draw in their sketchbooks, most will begin by quickly drawing a circle. While it’s helpful to start drawing using basic geometric shapes, by slowing down and really observing the apple carefully, we can see that it’s most likely not a perfect shape. One half may be larger; it may have bumps, scratches or even a worm hole. All of these details make that one particular apple unique. Along with the sketch, I ask that they write down five unique observations they noted while drawing.  This helps to get them to slow down and really think about what they see.

Using this exercise in the classroom with your students, begin a drawing/writing session with a few ordinary objects from around the classroom--writing instruments, scissors, tape dispensers or more complex objects based on the age of the class. Ask the students to take a full ten minutes to really observe and draw what is placed on the table. Then ask students to note five or more details they observed while looking closely at the object. Take it a step further, and have children write a short story about the object, incorporating those five noted details.

Best wishes to all our readers for a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!

www.joanwaites.com

WRITING POETRY: A NOVEL APPROACH

by Jane Harrington

A creative friend of mine (okay, fellow writer and Pencil Tips blogger Jacqueline Jules) suggested I share some writing prompts from a book of mine, My Best Friend, the Atlantic Ocean and Other Great Bodies Standing Between Me and My Life With Giulio, a novel premised upon a high school freshman’s poetry journal from her English class. (Did I really just describe the book in fewer words than make up the title?) So, here are a few ideas from the missives of my protagonista, Delia:

Describing her teacher’s efforts to get his somewhat “blocked” students to produce SOMETHING, Delia writes, “He told us we should not feel ‘constrained’ by trying to make our poetry ‘fit into a structure’ as we write it. That to become good writers we need to ‘release the words and let them flap about on the winds of our creativity.’ He says the best writing comes from free writing about anything that inspires, and that later we can edit the writing down to its most ‘vital essence.’ And that, he says, will result in good poetry.” Delia responds well to this and has much fun with “flapping words.”

In other journal entries, Delia writes about how the teacher has the students using some unlikely sources for poetic inspiration, such as cellphones. He has them write out their text messages: “so boi wut up?” one student offers as a first line, noticing a similarity to rap or “fly” when he sees his texts set up as verse. The students also get an assignment to look to popular media, specifically advertising, to find uses of poetic devices. When one student passes a note calling the whole idea bogus, sarcastic Delia responds in her journal: “Read zines and watch the tube for homework? Yeah, sounds awful.”

There are other ideas that could be plucked from this short novel, so you may want to give it a read. Admittedly, looking to fiction for teaching ideas is sort of like asking a cartoon character for advice, but, hey, whatever works! Lots of libraries carry this book (and its prequel, which also has a ridiculously long title, much to the chagrin of librarians who have to catalog the things), and a BN or Amazon search should turn up cheapo used copies, far-too-expensive new ones, and reasonably-priced eBooks. I’ve yet to see a person reading these books without at least a few snorts of laughter, so you can always pass your copy along to a kid in need of a smile. (And I’m happy, always, to answer readers’ questions. There is an email link on my website.)

www.janeharrington.com

Creative Journaling

by Joan Waites

School is out, summer is here, and if we are lucky, we have a little down time to devote to some creative projects we have been dreaming about doing all year. One way to jump start these ideas are to maintain a creative journal. Combining visual art with words can be a fun and satisfying project for any age.

An inexpensive journal can be purchased, but also easily made by folding blank sheets of paper in half and then covering the outside with construction paper or cardboard that can be stapled, glued or sewn together. Bring your journal with you wherever you go…the coffee shop, the park, the bus ride or on your vacation. Always be on  the lookout for something that inspires you to sketch, collage, or jot down future story ideas. Don’t be afraid to try something new, or if every page isn’t a work of art. Record what you see in your travels, document a feeling, or try out new art materials and techniques. A few words may turn into a future story; a doodle may evolve into a finished illustration or painting.

A few ideas for your journal pages:

-Make a collage using materials such as photographs, newspaper clippings, movie tickets, maps or bits of fabric. Combine them with paint, pastels, colored pencils etc., and use a black ink or felt pen to write around or on top of your collage.

-Young children (who are not yet able to write) can make prints with leaves, acorn tops, or other found objects by brushing on tempera paint and then stamping the painted object onto the journal page.

-Use some of the story prompts and creative ideas my fellow bloggers have outlined in their previous posts.

Remember it is more about the journey and experimentation rather than having a finished or polished product. Enjoy the places your journal can take you!

http://www.joanwaites.com/