WRITE BETWEEN THE LINES
  • Home
  • SOLSC 2021
  • Teacher Talk
  • Contact

SOLSC: Day 30 It's like Chopped!

3/30/2021

3 Comments

 
Picture
We’ve been having fun in class. Lots of it. We’ve been having fun writing. 

I know that’s not a surprise to those of you participating in the 31 day Slice of Life Story Challenge. You likely wouldn’t willingly submit yourself to daily public exposure of writing that hasn’t had several passes through the writing process if you didn’t find some joy in writing. Exposing yourself on the page is a vulnerable act, and feels more so if you do it only once in a very great while. Enter the daily writing challenge. One of its purposes, as far as I can tell, is for writers to get out of their own way. To lose the inner critic and let fly. It’s a  gift and  it’s been working for me. I love to write but am no stranger to the paralysis that can freeze me on the page. Committing to write and post daily, even on the days I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall trying to shake some ideas free, has been huge.
 
In school, it’s always been a different story. I love to help kids free themselves up and write. Quick writes have been a part of my workshop for years, ever since I experienced their joy and power in a workshop with Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher. I love the low stakes way they can draw a student to a page and encourage play. They’re not for publication, although they could be seeds that will blossom later. They’re for possibility, and they help writers blast past the preconceived notion that a fully formed piece comes out and lands on the page.  I love the way they can open the mind and heart and turn on the brain. A short prompt, a poem read and responded to, a picture...then set the timer for ten minutes and go. It works for them, my excited writers, like the 31 day challenge has been working for me. Seeds are being planted.

As Robert said today when given a handful of words and the challenge to craft a scene that included them, “It’s like Chopped! You have to use everything in the basket to make something good, but you can’t think too much about it. You just have to go!”

Wise child.

3 Comments
eddie hren link
3/30/2021 01:35:38 pm

Love this. It's interesting each year how so many have these little differences in how they see this experience. I, for one, go too deep with pretty much all of my slices. But I can't help it. I marvel at how well others can produce lovely posts each day without psychologically mining the depths of their souls in order to do it. It's exhausting. Ha. So thank you so much for your perspective. I want to steal your free writing exercises more often in my workshop so that's, also, for the idea. Great post!

Reply
Erica J link
3/30/2021 03:54:15 pm

I love that connection and I definitely agree with the power of quick writes and other lowstakes writing for students. I have definitely seen it in action and I think it makes writing fun for students again.

Reply
Alice Garza
3/30/2021 07:06:32 pm

Thank you for this perspective. This has been quite an experience. Enjoy the writing time with your students. I agree, it's exhilarating to help students grow as writers and to watch what happens when they take to their writing sticks.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Mary Archambault

    A story a day.
    I'll try it.

    Archives

    March 2021

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly