MINIMIZACION Reducción en
ASEO Y LIMPIEZA
Following an authentic model for writing in the classroom allows students to feel what it is like to be a writer. It is so much more than simply ‘doing’ writing tasks.
Following an authentic process results in well-developed pieces of writing; pupils follow a truly creative process and have the impetus to write for themselves.
The core focus of an authentic writing process is on giving pupils a credible opportunity to develop their own voice, have a choice about what they want to say and how they say it and the chance to write with freedom.
Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. Activities
and demonstrations should focus on exploring where and how we get ideas from in the real world of writing and giving pupils time, space and stimulus to begin to form and shape ideas for their own writing for real life purposes and audiences.
Often, when people talk to writers about their work, one of the most commonly asked questions is where they get their ideas from. Ask children to talk in pairs or small groups to list as many places as they can think of where a person can get ideas to help their writing. After a couple of minutes,
get children to report back and create a class list. Where can we get ideas from? Children might mention: things that we see/notice, something heard, memories, other books that we’ve read, a song that we heard, dreams, imagination, daydreaming, playing, films, toys, family events, arguments, etc.
Listen to other poets talk about how they go about writing their poetry:
https://www.clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poet-interviews/how-do-you-go-about-writing-your-poetry-0 What ideas can they pick up from this? 2015 CLiPPA winner Joseph Coelho, 2018 CLiPPA Highly Commended poet Ruth Awolola, 2015 shortlistee John Lyons and 2019 shortlistee Philip Gross all talk about the importance of keeping a note of ideas in a notebook or on a phone.
Give each child a notebook of their own that can be theirs for ideas, inspirations, sketches and drafts of poems. Let the children know that these books are only for them – there’s not aparticular amount of writing you expect them to do they can write in any way they wish, and they can also sketch and draw. It’s also important to make clear that you won’t be marking them. It is important that the rest of this session is conducted in an outdoor learning space, where
children have time and space to engage with and explore the natural environment outdoors. This should be a space where they can enjoy nature, so if your outdoor environment has a garden, or space for planting, this will work well, or, if you have access to a local park, woodland or green space, such as a school field or forest school area, this will be ideal. You may want to bring some specific items for the children to engage with in the space, for example:
o large magnifying glasses
o pooters to collect minibeasts safely
o digital cameras to capture images from the environment to inspire ideas for art and writing
o notebooks, paper and drawing and writing equipment to record responses to their activities
o a ground mat to sit on if the ground is damp
As you enter the space, ask the children to sit quietly, close their eyes, breathe in and out and be still; listening to any sounds they can hear around them. Give them time to simply relax and sit quietly in the space, modelling this yourself with the other adults.
Now, read the final poem in the collection, Trees and Me. Give some time for the children to discuss their initial responses. What does the poem make you think about? How does it make you feel?
Re-read the poem once more, and ask the children to consider why Zaro Weil might have chosen this as the final poem in the collection. What sense does it leave you with at the end of the book? What might it encourage you to do yourself? If you were to talk to the trees, what might you tell them? If you listened to the trees, what might they tell you?
Now turn to the epilogue on pages 178-179 and read these words aloud: twilight / go gently /
and let your eye be caught / by little things. Why do you think Zaro Weil has included this
epilogue? How does it compare to the prologue at the beginning? What do these two pieces do to bookend the collection? How does the mood change from the prologue piece to the epilogue? Why does she tell us to go gently? What little things around us might our eyes by caught by?
Now, ask the children to close their eyes and breathe in and out deeply, then ask them to open their eyes and reflect on being in the space. How do they feel being out here? How is it different from being indoors? What could they hear when they were being still and quiet? What can they see around them?
Take Zaro Weil’s invitation to go gently and let your eye be caught by little things and allow the children to spend as much time as possible in the space, giving plenty of freedom for them to explore the space, engaging with each other and the nature all around them.
Allow the children time and space to create and note down their own ideas for writing around natural elements that they are observing, experiencing or interacting in. Be clear that they are not writing the poem, but they are gathering language, vocabulary and ideas through notes and drawing.
To help them explore their ideas prior to writing, share with the children different strategies that support them in sharing and noting ideas. This might take the form of a brainstorm, where you just write down words, phrases, lines or questions that immediately come to mind or a concept map, with a word like trees, or autumn, or a phrase like Little Robin With a Red Chest at the centre, and then offshoots that focus on different elements like the sensory experiences of seeing these things, being in this space and the actions of feelings of the people in the setting, You might also encourage the children to visualise what they want to write about and draw a picture that shares what they see in their mind’s eye, that could be the starting point for writing.
Now give time for the children to reflect back on the ideas they’ve collected and think about which they feel might be most successful to take forward to a draft piece of writing in the next session. It is important for you as a teacher of writing to reflect on your own feelings about writing
alongside the children and review ideas you have collected in your own journal. Our recent research highlights the importance of teachers as writers of poetry. Give them some time to either begin to write down ideas or to sit and think about what they might write later.
Some children may choose to start by drawing, doodling or sketching ideas initially. Refer back to Junli Song’s illustrations in the text. Her drawings have been inspired by the poetry, but as she says, she aims to create images which can tell multiple stories.
They might start by jotting down favourite words or phrases, they may want to splurge their ideas like Kate Wakeling, they may have a line that is their starting point, like Sue Hardy-Dawson, they might make a mind map around the theme or title, like Ruth Awolola.
Remind them that they don’t have to start writing a poem straight away, they might just begin by collecting words, phrases, ideas and images that can be used later. However, if they have an idea that they want to start exploring immediately in a poetic form that is also fine.