By Jennifer Avitia
Background
I began my teaching career in 1999 at age 26. My first students were third and fourth graders, and for seven years they taught me as much as I taught them. Since reading and writing were my favorite part of the day, I decided to try my heart at middle school (ELAR), and I have been teaching sixth grade ever since. Over the years, I have actively sought out ways to help my students develop their writing skills, and more importantly, their confidence in their own voice. The ongoing challenge has always been convincing them that they have valuable experiences and helping them find the words to express them.
I have discovered one of the barriers. Our job as teachers is to model writing, develop rubrics, and assign a variety of writing tasks to the students. We confer with them and offer feedback. While they need guidance and parameters, we sometimes unintentionally put them in a box. For example, if we asked our students to write a persuasive composition, and a student suggests the topic that kids should not have to go to school, we would likely turn that topic down, initially. However, the student may have a logical explanation of how this topic could work well, depending on the angle the student takes and the supporting evidence they may find for alternatives to going to school. An important piece of the puzzle is remembering to hand over the reins to the kids more often. That is hard to do, and sometimes the kids don’t even think they should take them.
A Student’s Story
I currently have a student I will call Gina. From the first day of school in August, she has bounced through my classroom door each day with a smile and a “Good morning, Mrs. Avitia!” Although she struggles academically, Gina jumps right into whatever we are doing everyday with a great attitude. She participates, and even when many students are grumbling about an assignment, Gina gives it her all, without complaints.
In my 20 years of teaching, I have always been pretty good at finding out about my students’ lives, stories, and interests. Whether it is through conversations with them, or reading their writing, it doesn’t take long into the fall semester to get to know them, especially the bigger things. This is why, one day just after we returned from Winter break, Gina surprised me. In response to a writing prompt that asked her to write about something she struggled with and overcame, she wrote about her mom. She described how it was hard when she lost her to cancer this past summer. Wait, what? How had I missed this significant piece of Gina? Her writing made me cry because of her eloquent expression (which sounded more like a high schooler than a sixth grader), strength that she showed in her words and her daily demeanor. I couldn’t believe that I had known her for four months without knowing this. Her strength and positivity she showed every single day, despite dealing with such a loss at age eleven, immediately made her one of my heroes. I read on…she explained how much she enjoyed and appreciated the treasured time she was able to spend with her mother over the last few years, especially since her diagnosis. She wrote about how, since her mom’s passing, she has bonded with her father and younger sister; how they lift each other up and support one another. How much more did she have to say? How much more do many of our students have to say, but never recognize an opportunity to say it?
This got me thinking about our students. Are we giving them enough opportunities to choose what they write about? Are we helping them learn how to recognize writing opportunities within their own experiences and interests? Granted, we need to help them learn different genres of writing, and how to write for a specific purpose. This is a real-world skill. However, we also should look for ways to create meaningful choices within those genres. Many times, kids think they have nothing to say, and they need help finding ways to tap into their own experiences. This can lead to authenticity and voice in their work, which is golden.
As my students and I worked through our Argumentative Writing Unit, we were past the analyzing mentor texts stage, in which we read examples of persuasive writing and dissected them for the author’s purpose and craft. We discussed what types of evidence the authors used and how their word choice affected their writing. It was the students’ turn to become the authors. I presented some topic ideas to the kids. I explained that they could choose their own topic; it did not have to come from my list. I reminded them that their topic would need to be debatable in order to produce argumentative writing. Students offered up their ideas, such as pineapple on pizza is good, to the age of voting should be lowered to 16. I walked around the room listening, and Gina stopped me.
“Can I write about my mom?”
Her question gave me pause, because I wasn’t sure how she would get a persuasive topic out of this. So, I asked.
“Just about how much I miss her.”
Her answer made my brain work quickly so that I would handle this delicate conversation with the utmost care. This clearly was not a persuasive writing topic. Afterall, it would be hard to argue with a sixth-grade child missing their recently deceased parent. Desperately wanting to find a way for her to write about her mother, but still practice the art of persuasion, it came to me.
“What if you wrote about how people should appreciate precious time spent with the people they care about? I know you did with your mom, and your insight could really help people, since we sometimes take our loved ones for granted.”
Her smile and enthusiastic nod made my whole day. It also confirmed that it is critical to be open-minded and creative when we ask our kids to write. Gina had a beyond-her-years story to tell. All students have life experiences, big and small, that they can share. We must find ways to let them write about it. The value in that goes far beyond a rubric or an end-of-year test. There are strategies teachers can use to help their students find those stories within themselves.
*Gina’s persuasive essay introduction
Strategy 1: Life Timeline
I asked students to create their own life timeline as a prewriting activity. I provided a template prelabeled with grade levels, pre-school to now. They spent time jotting down life events, such as, moves, interests, memories, and activities. Each time we prepare to write a new piece, they spot and jot; they think about the topic or genre and add related experiences to their life timeline. This has proven very helpful in making personal connections to the writing.
*Gina’s Life Timeline
Strategy 2: Topic/Genre Play
After students create their timeline, we try Topic/Genre Play. As a class, we pick any random topic, such as, Pokémon, basketball, etc. I ask the students what genres they think lend themselves well to certain topics. For example, when a student said ice cream, the kids immediately decided it would most naturally be a descriptive expository. Then, I asked the students to challenge me. I asked, “What genre do you think would be impossible for this topic?” As they named them, we stopped and tried each one. For a chronological expository, I showed them a picture of the Museum of Ice Cream in Austin, Texas. I explained that guests explore several eclectically themed rooms in which they enjoy activities, ice cream samples, and historical facts about the evolution of ice cream. They were floored! They learned that it is possible to take any topic and write about it in any genre. Sometimes it is simply writing about it from a different angle. Other times it requires focusing on one related aspect of the topic like Gina did with hers. With this idea that every genre can work with every topic, a whole world of writing ideas opens for kids. When they write about something they care about or have a real connection to, their writing is better. It is authentic; it has heart and voice.
Next, students choose an event from their timeline and write about it in several different genres, two minutes per genre. We pause in between quick writes so volunteers can share, and we discuss the elements of the genres in their examples.
When students have topic choice, they often get ideas from their own personal timeline regardless of the genre we are crafting. I remind them to revisit the Topic/Genre Play in their journals, and give them that 2 minutes to quick write about their chosen topic in the genre at hand. This small piece of writing allows them to test their chosen topic out, and if it works, it often becomes a starting point for their draft. In this student example, the writer chose the topic of limiting the number of Christmas gifts given to kids. His argumentative topic idea was inspired by a Christmas memory on his Life Timeline. Slides 18-22 contain the parts of his rough draft.
I had not yet used the Life Timeline strategy with this year’s students. When I had that conversation with Gina that day, it reminded me of how effective it can be.
*Background research article on Life Timeline strategy in the classroom
Conclusion
My first students, who were 8 or 9 at the time, are now in their 30’s. They are business owners, parents, teachers, and more. If I could time travel, I would go back to my first few years of teaching and hand over the reins more often when it comes to writing. I would be better at helping them find their voice. Imagine the stories they would tell.
Author
Jennifer is both a mother and a teacher of 21 years, having taught 3rd and 4th grade and is currently in her 14th year as a 6th grade Middle School English and Language Arts teacher in San Antonio, Texas. Her passion is working with students from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and helping them celebrate that diversity.
Peer reviewed through the Writers Who Care peer-review process.
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