#SOL18 3-18-18 Writer's Club

Writer’s Club- Year One

As in so much of life, the dream and the reality are two different things. What I envisioned: an extra hour of workshop tucked in after school a couple of days a month where my most passionate and motivated writers come to learn advanced crafts of writing and apply them to the polished little gem-like pieces they each created.

In the first quarter, when we were getting underway, I asked what students hoped for from Writer’s Club and designed mini-lessons to match. Meanwhile, students prepared pieces to submit to a writing contest through our state ILA affiliate.

The tension between a laser-focus on “advanced crafts of writing” and being student-driven, became apparent late in the second quarter, after we sent off the single submission we were allowed for the writing contest. Having to select a single submission put a strain on our community. In the midst of that strain, they decided to do some writing together. I was relieved at the thought of collaboration rather than competition, which I knew would be healthier for our community of writers.

It was then that they got super-excited about creating a collaborative novel. They co-created a setting and a loose plot outline, then they each designed a character and agreed that their novel would shift perspectives between those characters. It was and is organic, completely student-owned and driven. I thought, “Yes! Back-up work!”

I asked that they share their Google docs with me, and I have popped in here and there, but, in the spirit of back-up work, I’ve been hands-off. The challenge for me was, I eventually came to view this back-up work like an invasive weed. It took over Writer’s Club and was all many students wanted to do. Where were the polished little gems I had envisioned?  

If I didn’t closely monitor, the back-up work snuck into regular class time and displaced assignments. The Writer’s Club mini-lessons I planned began to feel like an intrusion. No one was interested in preparing submissions for other contests I found. I knew something was going well, since I got twice as many hugs from my 6th graders leaving writer’s club as I did on any other day, but I was a little sad because Writer’s Club wasn’t what I’d envisioned. I wasn’t prepared for back-up work to become THE work of Writer’s Club. Clinging to my vision of Writer’s Club kept me from appreciating what my students had created.

I realize now that for our last quarter together, I need to get out of the way and figure out how to make my mini-lessons applicable to the back-up work. I need to think about endings. What can I gift these writers in these last weeks before I send them off to middle school? How can I celebrate our actual work together as writers rather than regretting that it didn’t match what I had envisioned?

I chose the title of this piece to remind myself that I will have an opportunity to do this again. I value attempts--even in myself. This was year one. I will do things differently. I will tweak. Maybe I will make peace with back-up work being the work of Writer’s Club in the future. The opportunity to reflect and revise is one of the gifts of our profession. Meanwhile, I will remind myself, I’m sending ten sixth graders into the world confident in their identity and agency as writers.