WRITING IN PLACE

by Jane Harrington

Green is washing over winter’s wan fields in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where I live, teach and write. I have some goats, and like them I am using the changing landscape as fodder—literally, in their case, as they tug at each new shoot for nourishment; figuratively, in my case, as I look to the awakening pastures to inspire my prose. I’ve recently taken to setting my fiction on these hills I call home, and I’m finding this to be a fruitful strategy. One such short story will be published in June in Chautauqua, a literary journal that showcases work each year by both adult and youth writers.

It seems that what I hear students frustratingly refer to as “writer’s block” is just a manifestation of being overwhelmed, of not knowing where to start. So, consider having the young writers in your life begin with what is in view, what they call home. Don’t think story. Just think setting and use simple words that first come to mind. The tree out there is bare and gray. Later, with the help of a thesaurus, it can become exposed, ashen. Then, some sounds might arrive when a March gust blows through the branches. (See MaryQuattlebaum’s “Vivid Words and Actions” for ideas on writing the aural.) And someone will surely plod through the mud to get to the tree. (See Jacqueline Jules’ “Follow the Snowprints” for ways to invite characters in.) Let the story grow in this way—slowly, steadily, like spring’s greening outside your window.

Common Core Connections: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3; 4.3; 5.3; 6.3; 7.3; 8.3.

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POST IT!: FIGHTING THE BLANK PAGE

by Mary Amato

Young reluctant writers are often turned off or afraid of the blank page. I made up an imagination game involving Post-it notes that gets kids excited. Give each child ten blank sticky notes. Tell your class that you are all going to create a new language by labeling ordinary things in the room with sticky notes. Each child has to choose ten objects in the room and invent new words for those things. Emphasize that you should be able to pronounce the new language. Let's use the clock as an example. In my new language I might label the clock, "hitzer." Kids will realize the importance of vowels!  Set a time limit for the labeling and when kids are done writing the labels let them put the labels on the objects. Take a group tour of the room, practicing how to say each new word. I created this game as a teacher after remembering the fun I had as a child trying to invent my own language. The new words gave rise to lots of stories about my newly invented culture. Have fun!

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THE CURSE OF THE BLANK PAGE

by Mary Amato

 You know the look. A student who is supposed to be writing is staring at the blank page. You can almost smell the panic. The blankness seems to be seeping into the kid's brain, causing all possible ideas to evaporate.

           In Jonah Lehrer’s great new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, he notes that few creative breakthroughs have occurred while the artist or inventor is actually sitting down staring at the blank page.

          Guest blogger Nancy Viau addresses this in her “Are You Bogged Down?” entry with some great suggestions to kick-start creativity. I’m going to add a simple idea that can be easily used in the classroom. If I’m working with students and I notice one falling prey to the curse of the blank page, I walk over and whisper: “Close your eyes and imagine that the story is playing like a little movie in your mind…what do you see?” The student begins to talk, describing the scene. I say, “Oooh, that’s great! Write that down!”

         Boom! Curse broken.

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