Writing Tip #1 (of 9): Images as Entry Points
Educators as Writers Series
This article would typically be for subscribers. I am publishing it as a preview for this year’s “Educators as Writers” series: nine writing tips - three a season - plus three Zoom chats on 11/17/20 (full), 1/26/21, and 3/16/21 at 6:30 P.M. CST. Become a full subscriber today and read the 2nd and 3rd tip.
This first tip is from Brenda Power, former editor at Choice Literacy and Stenhouse Publishers. She encouraged the writers she worked with to review pictures they took from their classroom and school. The purpose was to spark ideas and stories from our own experiences, which have great value. Especially helpful if you are stuck and not sure what to write about.
For example, I recall an image I took of 2nd graders reading with a partner on the carpet. They were leaning against the wall in pairs (pre-covid :-), immersed in a book of their choice. No one noticed me coming in. It was a reminder of the importance of time for students to read and for the teachers to be okay with giving them that time.
So often, teachers feel this need to pack activities into the literacy block. They almost feel guilty about "not teaching" even though they might use this time to confer or to simply observe and document reading habits. As a leader, I need to reinforce this.
We can use a picture to start a post with a rich description, which can then lead to a connected part of the text, which can then lead to the bigger idea to pull from our practice that readers might find relevant to their own work.
Here is the structure:
Using a photo, start with a rich description from a real experience - the environment, the dialogue, what you perceived about the students.
Transition to our responses about the experience, such as why we chose to facilitate it and what we hoped to gain.
Build toward a bigger idea about instruction, literacy, and/or leadership.
Our experiences are as important as any research study we might read or advice from a literacy consultant. Value your experiences by giving them your attention.
What did you think of this tip? Leave feedback or offer your own suggestions in the comments.
This is a fabulous way to generate thinking about children, our instruction and how knowing both well leads to better instructional decisions. I have a favorite picture of a very frustrated 4th grade writer that I keep with me at all times. It reminds me of the growth and change this student demonstrated within a writing unit that I team taught with a classroom teacher. The whole class discovered the writer within themselves during the unit. It wasn’t easy in the beginning but by the end, the students trusted me and their writing soared. The same boy that showed such frustration about writing actually wrote the the principal to urge him to have Free Writing part of every classroom- every day! Looking forward to writing with others. :)