I finally decided to do it. I had hemmed and hawed for a long time before committing, but finally I did it. I signed up to become…the Writing Club Advisor. Eek! I wasn’t at all sure that I wanted another school-related thing on my plate, yet I wanted to share my love of writing with students in a “freer” zone. Sure, the kids in my classroom know I write and I share that process and my enthusiasm on an ongoing basis. However, I can’t say I’m in love with essay writing and it seems to have a bit of a strangle hold on the fourth grade writing curriculum.
Ok, I feel guilty even writing that. I need to work harder to feel the essay love! There really are parts of essay writing I love…the feeling of finding just the right compelling evidence, the perfect quote, the stirring lead or satisfying conclusion. There’s a lot to love. But overall the genre is not what stirs me to write, and we do a lot of it. Maybe it’s the fact that my own life isn’t spiced with strong opinions. I’m more inclined to find a common ground than to take a divisive or rebellious stance. Is personality trait something that influences genre preference?
At any rate, I took the plunge and created and posted flyers for Writing Club. I deliberately did not send notices home with students. I didn’t want parents to sign up their children. I wanted students to self-select to be in this club–Students who are motivated to come and write.
Then I sat back and waited to see if there would be any response. And there was! Ultimately, 23 kids from 4th-7th grade signed up! Wow! I debated about capping the group as the forms trickled in, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Last Tuesday was our first meeting. After a truly impressive amount of after school snacking (writing is hungry work! Well, pre-writing really…), we formed a circle on the carpet. I gave a brief introduction and then said, “So, let’s start by getting to know each. Can you introduce yourself and say why you signed up for Writing Club?”
If you ever need a cure for teacher burnout, sit in a circle of motivated student writers and listen to them all state some variation of “I’m here because I love to write.” My personal favorite was, “I want to write stories to inspire other people.” Or maybe it was, “I’m here because I really want to write, and…..(very long pause)…and yeah, I really want to write!”
We started with a prompt. For ten minutes, the room was silent other than the scratch of pen and pencil and the shuffle of notebook pages. Another antidote for burnout–Capture that sound and sell it on Teachers Pay Teachers!
I’m so glad I finally decided to do this.
Nix the comfort zone 
Inspiring! I can’t wait to hear the stories that come out of this. What a wonderful feeling to have been amongst young writers. Ah… now I’m imagining all their pens and pencils moving across the page… I’m so glad you took this on.
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I’m also looking forward to seeing how this evolves!
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I wish we had a writing club. May be time to start one. You are the perfect person to sponsor them. I hope to hear more about this club in future posts.
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This first session is just 5 weeks so I can fine tune things if I need to do so for the next session 🙂
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My burnout cure has been choir. I meet with them once a week during recess and we sing our hearts out. It’s beautiful and inspiring. And everyone who is there wants to be there so they put their whole heart into it!
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Oh! You should write about that! There is such power and joy in choral singing!
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THIS IS AWESOME, MOLLY! Good for you! Maybe you can take a field trip to the Telling Room in Portland. (It’s free!) It was one of the best experiences I had as a teacher (and a writer) when I was leading the writing club for 5th grade. 🙂 (many years ago!) Enjoy Enjoy ENJOY!
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Hi Amy! Dan here. I have been a fan of my favorite (MBH!) Maine writer for years! Wishing you happiness and a life of gratitude.
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Thanks, Amy! I’d love to hear about your writing club experiences. I’m pretty much winging this 🙂 Hope all’s well with you.
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I second Amy, THIS IS AWESOME. How wonderful that you are doing it. Fantastic that so many kids are interested. There is no doubt that a lot of beautiful words will bring ideas to life on paper. And a sprinkle of essay love, we all could use some of it.
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It will be interesting to see who keeps coming 🙂
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23! Fantastic. What was the prompt you used? Burnout! The curse of some many dedicated, caring teachers. Glad to hear of your writing group.
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I was surprised by the turnout and am considering capping the next group. This first session is 5 weeks so I can try to smooth out some bumps for the next one. Oh, and the first prompt was an object prompt–a frisbee. This week the prompt was a choice between two four word “word pools.”
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I didn’t know you were a friend of Amy Wheeler’s! Small world.
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Yay! Two thumbs up for you, Molly. Way to nix the comfort zone!
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Thanks, Amy! 🙂
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