28 October, 2004 “I must write.  I must write at all costs because writing is more than living.  It is being conscious of living.”  Anne Morrow Lindberg. Lucy Calkins says that she writes to hold what she finds in her life in her hands and to declare it a treasure.  She sees writing not as a process of recording details but of making significance of them.  Karla Kuskin, author of The Philharmonic Gets Dressed, says that her writing “starts with catching glimpses and snatches.  The Philharmonic Gets Dressed  began on my daughter’s birthday when she lifted up the dress on her new doll to check out its underpants.  Watching her, I suddenly remembered my childhood fascination with underwear, and the chant, ‘I see London, I see France, I see Karla’s underpants’… and my book began.”  Cynthia Voight wrote the trilogy of books about Dicey and her family when she saw the strained faces of a family of children staring out of the windows of a car parked in the shopping mall parking lot. In our library we have a series of books called “Writers at Work”, written by Malcolm Cowley.  After interviewing hundreds of authors he claims that although each writer’s process is individual and unique to them, each writer still begins with something “precious” to them and then they make meaning out of it.  Each month a group of teachers and parents are meeting to discuss the topic of writing at Prairie Creek.  We are having very rich conversations around this subject and each member of the group is reading some very fine works on writing.  We are reading works by Ralph Fletcher, Joanne Hindley, Shelley Harwayne, Lucy Calkins, Nancie Atwell and Natalie Goldberg, to name a few.  These authors are writing about the writing process and about how to create settings for children that will foster a love of writing and a lifetime of writing. As we met last night and talked about what we had been reading, it became very clear to us that Prairie Creek has really been doing this very well from the beginning.  Mini lessons, writing and conferring with teachers and peers, share sessions, publication celebrations, author’s chairs, writerly conversations, writer’s notebooks, all these components of the Writing Workshop are happening at our school.  Classrooms are set up in a ways that encourage children to write, share their writing and examine their craft. We want our children to live rich literary lives at school and we know that this happens in richly interactive settings that allow children to follow their passions and pursue their projects with energy and enthusiasm.  While we value teaching children strategies and skills in their writing process, we have learned that, if children are going to make significance of the little things in their lives, declare the small details of their lives as treasures, start with catching glimpses and snatches, we have to give them time, support, and a setting where this can happen.  In a study in 1985, Vera John Steiner researched people who grew to be very successful artists and scientists and found that the one common thread in their lives was that “they pursued their play with intensity and determination”.  She also quoted Getzels and Jackson, in a study done on creative thought.  This study found that what distinguishes creative individuals is more “an openness to experience and an interest and enthusiasm for life” than any particular set of skills.  Steiner’s study claimed that the home atmosphere supported the adventurous spirit of these young people.  It was “the parents’ enthusiasm rather than specific instruction in art or science that first helped their development.”  There’s something for us to learn here at school and at home as we seek to support our children’s growth as writers.  We have to be the cheering audience!  We need to help our children compose lives that support their literacy.  We need to provide ways for them to weave literacy into the passions and projects and people of their lives, both at school and at home.  We have to see the intellectual value of free exploration, independent projects, and self-initiated work and play.  At school we will teach your children skills and strategies but we will also allow them to play intensely, and encourage their enthusiasm and determination.  Lucy Calkins states that there is no better place for children to live richly literate and inquisitive lives than in their homes and neighborhoods. Help your children discover their passions and interests and get behind them.  Do everything you can to get them to pursue them.  A word of caution here!  I’m not talking about getting your child into every community class you can think of, or of filling up their days with music lessons, art lessons and other pursuits.  I’m talking more of hobbies, collections, interests, the things that fill their free time.  Lucy Calkins gives examples of children turning their back lawn into a nature preserve, complete with rotten logs and plants for attracting wildlife, organizing environmental clubs, learning about dog obedience.  What’s the purpose here?  It’s to get your children to read, write and talk about reading, writing and life itself with their friends and families.  This is what I mean by weaving literacy into their passions and projects and composing lives that support their literacy. Over the next few weeks I’ll share more with you from my reading about writing and from our conversations.   At the beginning of the year last year I encouraged families to think about the ways they support literacy in their homes.  I want to remind you of that conversation and over the next few weeks I’ll try to share ideas with you about how to do that.  I welcome your ideas and comments. One final thought.  Have a safe Halloween with your children and please remember not to send left-over candy in their lunches next week!  Have fun at Pumpkin Carving! Caroline