Interestingly, teachers approached during and after the workshop asking, "Can you visit our school? This is amazing to see what our kids are doing."
With 25 years of National Writing Project influence, K-12 teaching, research and conducting such workshops I simply have to respond, "You know this isn't me, right? I have nothing to do with how these kids are responding. It's the instruction. It's the choice of text. It's the models I'm offering and the prompts I offer. It's the fact that I know these kids have so much to say. These notebooks allow them to say it."
Here's the skinny. I know that Kwame Alexander texts resonate with middle and high school students. I also know that the writing of Jacqueline Woodson inspires amazing dialogue and possibility. Yesterday, I simply began with 16 Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes and had them write and talk with each other. We then made lists of 10 things we love and 10 things we hate. From there, we played some improv games with words and I brought a college student, Akbaru Niyonkuru, and his friends to model the Power of Words for the kids.
In an hour, their notebooks were loaded with the possibility of language. Then, I simply said, "Let's read as writers," and we read a series of Woodson and Alexander texts. I think I offered five models (and one classic script from Free to Be You and Me, "Boy Meets Girl"). We played for another hour reading the model texts and trying out what can be done with our hate lists and love lists.
Then, I simply said, "You've been give models. You have idea. Let's take ten minutes and write." When they were still writing after 11 minutes - 100% of them, I gave them five more and made the case, "You wrote beyond my expectations, so I let you continue. You all have something to say and are taking pride in writing your lives."
I then said, "I'm opening the Mic," and closed my eyes. "When I open my eyes, I hope a few of you will be at the Mic willing to read."
Boom. The line was lengthy and what they were able to compose in 15 minutes was astounding: poetry, speeches, reflections on Martin Luther King, advice for administrators, book chapters and several contemplations on a Superhero power they wish they could have. Not that I should have a favorite, but one young man who wrote almost 3 pages in 15 minutes, wrote about the superpower of empathy and how it transcends everything else.
It was a powerful day, with 100% of the kids engaged with each other, the workshop and the shared writing at the end.
Again, I reiterated to teachers, "This is not me. Yes, I am at a University and have a big screen and microphone. It is the design of instruction that has been invested in me through the National Writing Project." Models matter. Choice matters. A belief in all writers matter. Community matters. A sense of humor matters. Voice matter. And listening matters.
With those tools available to young writers, they shine 100% of the the time.
I am so thankful to writers like Woodson and Alexander for writing the texts I wish I had to use when I was a K-12 teacher.
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