I am staring at a blank white page. I tell myself to type and start putting those little black letters across the page. Just get something on the page! Sometimes, this is the hardest part of the writing process. In college, my writing professors noted my ability to get content on the page and how this was a gift for a writer. On the other hand, the red pen was dominant on all my papers, and a few were “not worthy of a grade!”
In writing, two sides of the same coin must run parallel in instruction. Susan Wise Bauer does a nice job of addressing this in her writing program, The Complete Writer Series. The first side of this coin is the structure. This includes formatting, mechanics, purpose, and audience. The other side of this coin is the content, or subject matter, itself. These are two separate skills that both need to be developed.
Now, there is no need to abandon your current writing program. There are simple ways to encourage skill development in both style and content. My favorite is free-writing prompts. These are ungraded, fun, low-stakes writing assignments that take place outside of your writing program. The point is to get the creative juices flowing and get something on the paper. The prompt can be simple, like, “What is your favorite pizza topping and why?” or a more detailed prompt like, “You have discovered a new species of animal; describe this animal in detail and its habitat.” Remind students that these are not graded and that you want them to focus on answering the prompt. A useful tool can be the Write Abouts or even the Rory Story Cubes. Then, you can return to these prompts later to work on proofreading skills (still ungraded).
Another great option is student journaling. This is an excellent task for older students, and with hundreds of journal options, you can select one that speaks to your student’s personality. Ask students to keep a journal and specify journaling time during your week. This could be a designated day in your writing schedule or even a daily time when students sit down with their journals and make an entry. Journaling is unguided free-writing. No prompts are given, as it is a time to simply put words on paper.
The act of putting words on paper teaches your student how they best get over that writing hump. Are they a list maker? They might make lists of ideas until the right one makes sense to them. Are they a bullet journal organizer? They might jot down notes and ideas in no particular sequence as ideas come and then connect the points later. Do they create manuscripts from chaos? Do they practice formatting even when taking notes? So much can be revealed about your unique writer through non-graded free-writing assignments.
Non-graded assignments also make outstanding contributions to your student's growing portfolio of their academic work. Sometimes portfolios are used for reporting purposes, but often, they are a delightful time capsule of your student’s growth. Taking time to get words on paper equips your writer to tackle writer's block and provides you with buffer assignments in your student's writing program to give you rest from grading papers. ~Rebecca
