The idea that you can rock your world through writing was not a concept that Penny Fisher learned from her teachers when she was in grade school.
But that is just what Fisher is teaching today, drawing on her experience at West Windsor’s Village School, including her role as the district’s supervisor of K-5 curriculum and instruction, and as a parent.
Fisher gave a presentation on “Your Child’s Journey as a Writer” to an audience of about 100 people last month at the Village School PTA meeting. Related events are taking place over the next few months, with a recent program on reading workshops at Village School and another on writing on Wednesday, January 9.
Fisher’s programs explore Village School’s workshop approach to teaching, based on Columbia University Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. In a typical writing workshop, the student attends a mini lesson lasting 15 to 30 minutes and practices writing in an independent session that includes a brief conference with his teacher. Toward the end of the workshop, he participates in a group sharing session with the rest of his classmates.
The workshops focus on writers who use writing to do powerful things in the world in which they live. While the workshop model addresses the “how” of effective writing, such as grammar, structure, and punctuation, or writing strategies, it emphasizes the “why” of writing.
Why write, and why strive to be a better writer? Among the reasons, Fisher says, are to be understood by others, to leave something of yourself behind for others, and, from a practical standpoint, to get your job done and make money.
A student’s first priority should be to write with purpose and intention. Once he has put the heart of his message on paper, he and his teacher focus on improving the quality of his writing by applying the skills he learns from mini lessons.
To illustrate the point, Fisher shared a narrative written by a fifth grader:
The story started with a seemingly ordinary event, a friend opening a bag of potato chips. But it was no ordinary opening. The bag “exploded,” sending chips flying everywhere, wedging into the carpet, the furniture, the clothing, and the hair of those present. The writer remembers the event not with disdain, but with fondness. The exploding potato chip bag gave the young author a reason to laugh, and, in recalling the event, she thinks of her friend with affection.
Interesting as the story was, it contained several grammatical and punctuation errors. However, after conferring with her teacher, the young author was able to correct most of her mistakes without being told specifically what had to be corrected. She ended her narrative by sharing that on dark nights, she thinks of her friend and sees a shining star.
Fisher says it’s important for students to choose their own topics based on what matters to them rather than be given specific topics by a teacher.
Fisher’s workshops are modeled after Columbia’s “balanced literacy” approach to teaching, which combines explicit instruction, independent writing, and student-teacher conferences. Fisher credits Lucy Calkins for the balanced literacy approach and also cites the teaching methods developed by educators Katie Wood Ray, Carl Anderson, and the late Donald Graves, who wrote “Writing: Children & Teachers at Work.”
“The idea was why not teach kids to write the way real writers write,” says Fisher. The approach uses children’s own interests and builds on their strengths. “It includes reading, writing, and also grammar, word study — or spelling — and other subjects,” says Fisher. “We haven’t abandoned spelling and grammar, but we do it in a way that honors the kids’ developmental process.”
As a teacher, Fisher says, “I felt like I had gotten permission to teach writing based on children’s interests, not the formulaic approach. I watched kids come alive” during the writing workshops.
The workshops, Fisher explains, consist of three basic parts:
Mini lesson. The teacher connects the day’s teaching to what the students already know and provides explicit instruction of a skill or strategy related to one of the qualities of good writing. Students rehearse the skill or strategy being taught and then use this skill or strategy as it makes sense in their own writing.
Independent Writing Time. Students work on their pieces at various stages in the writing process. Students take part in small group instruction. Teachers hold one-on-one conferences with students.
In addition to writing essays or narratives, students can practice journal writing, write in their notebooks, or do practice exercises to experiment with language and style.
Sharing. The teacher chooses one of several options. A student who tried the skill or strategy that was taught may read that portion of her writing. The teacher may share a piece of writing that supports a particular skill. Students may read their work to other students to get feedback. The teacher may preview a skill or strategy to be taught the next day.
After the workshop, teachers may publish or display writing samples that students are proud of. One teacher at the Village School created a “museum walk” featuring selected written works.
In the ideal workshop, students do all the things that writers do in the real world: research, explore, collect, interview, talk, read, prewrite, draft, revise, edit, and publish.
More parents showed up than Fisher expected at last month’s presentation. “We had chairs set up for 60 or 70 and we ended up with standing room only in the library. The partnership with the parents is critical,” says Fisher.
At the workshop some parents wanted to know how they could use the writing workshop process at home. Fisher recommended a book called “Assessing Writers” by Carl Anderson, a literacy consultant and author of several other books on young writers. Fisher offered several examples from the book for addressing specific issues:
Issue: “Although my child has written several entries about his topic in his notebook, he isn’t sure what he wants to say about the topic (e.g., the message or the ‘heart’ of the writing).” Suggestion: “Talk with him about the question, What is important for my reader to know about this topic?”
Issue: “My child relies on the same sentence structure, sentence after sentence, and the sound of her writing is flat.” Suggestion: “Analyze the kinds of sentences in a book she is reading, and invite her to try some of these kinds of sentences in her writing.”
Issue: “My child’s meaning is unclear or confusing.” Suggestion: “Suggest that she respond to these questions: Why am I writing this piece? Why is it important? Then use this thinking to help her rewrite the part of her piece in which she is trying to make a point.”
Issue: “The words my child is using in her writing are general, not specific.” Suggestion: “Tell your child to make a picture in her head of the topic she is writing about, brainstorm precise words that are connected to the topic, and then try to use them in her writing.”
Fisher has practiced what she preaches, and has also suffered the trials of the more formulaic approach to writing that was common when she was growing up. Fisher was raised in northern New Jersey, where her mother was a teacher and father was an ironworker. She recalls her elementary school teachers framing writing assignments with questions that elicited responses “that we thought the teachers would like.
“Later I discovered that I liked writing and that I was pretty good at it.”
She went to Valparaiso University in Indiana as a music performance major in the class of 1984. After graduation she shifted gears and ended up in a teacher preparation program at William Paterson College. She taught in Ridgewood, New Jersey, a district that was participating with the Columbia University Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.
Fisher and her husband, a music educator and marching band director in northern New Jersey, have a son and daughter. With respect to writing Fisher has been able to practice what she preaches with both of them. Her daughter, now a student at Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, had trouble writing when she was in grade school, and educators led Fisher to believe that she would never be a decent writer. After Fisher worked with her using techniques from the workshop model, her daughter’s writing improved over time, and she is now considered an excellent writer. Her son, who is studying archeology at William Paterson, has even drafted a first novel. “They don’t see writing as a chore.”
On students’ journeys as writers, it’s important for them to know their strengths and weaknesses, and to know that there are techniques that will help them improve their writing, Fisher says. It’s important for teachers and parents to be an audience for the students, and to let them know that what they have to say matters.
Says Fisher: “We want our kids to be independent thinkers.”
