Writing about Reading Books about Writing #2 'On Writing' - Stephen King

The bookshelf that holds my growing collection of 'books about writing' has started to bow so with renewed determination I have begun adding them to my GoodReads account - surely if I populate my 'To Read' list with their titles I am sure to read them, right?

I am drawn to books about words and the people who write them. I have been thinking about why I enjoy the genre and I have reached a conclusion - I am intrigued by the way the creative process plays out differently for each individual - and I like the life story tucked behind. What I have found in my reading so far is much more than sets of writing rules. There is a sense of the person who has grappled with imposter syndrome, self doubt, incredulity from friends, and possibly family, as well as contended with the ebb and flow of imaginative energy to embark on the creative life.

So this brings me to my latest read - Stephen King's memoir 'On Writing' which is featured on every online list of writing advice. The memoir is significantly shorter than King's works of fiction and was published in 2000, which I initially figured wasn't that long ago, but one can quickly become deluded when they reflect upon how long ago it was since they sat in a high school classroom. I read Stephen King voraciously from Year 10 through Year 12 - my late teens were the apex of my horror reading. I sometimes wish I spent some of this time reading the books all English teachers have read by the time they leave school - but alas I did not have that reading list, and I am still yet to find it - so 'K' was the section I hung around in the Laurieton Library.

I found solace in school, and reading and whilst I cannot exactly recall where I was when I was reading - was it on the school bus? Or was I lugging tomes of horror to roll call? Who knows. I just know that 'Cujo,' 'It,' 'The Shining,' 'The Stand,' 'The Dark Tower Series' and 'Black House' (which was co-written with Peter Straub) allowed me to escape into the deep to become entangled in plot lines twisting around upon themselves and to lose everything in the languishing accumulating detail that characterises many of King's works.

In reading the opening chapters of 'On Writing' I was struck by King's sense of humour but also some of the difficulties he faced at different stages in his life. Here was the tale of an author writing demons whilst gripped in the fight against his own. I think most whom have a penchant for capturing what it is they see in the mind's eye for the page, or canvas, or other medium, know that the process of creating is an act of vulnerability but one that is inherently important - 'Come to it anyway but lightly. Let me say it again - you must not come lightly to the blank page.' I took my time with 'On Writing.' I added notes to my Common Place Book and spent time ruminating over the messages to determine what could possibly apply to my writing and the way that I set up the practice of writing in the classroom.

Here's thirteen extracts that resonated with me:

1. '...stopping a piece of work just because it's hard either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it...' - sage advice.

2. '...it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so that you can carry it with you.'

3. 'Unless he is certain of doing well [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules.' - this gem from William Strunk (The Elements of Style is on my 'To Read' list).

4. 'Paragraphs ...are maps of intent.'

5. 'If you don't like it later on, fix it then. That's what the rewrite is all about.'

6. 'At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations?' - I think this would make a great poster for the classroom.

7. 'If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.'

8. 'I like to get to ten pages a day, which amounts to 2000 words.' - routine and commitment a prolific writer makes.

9. 'One word at a time.'

10. '...you must be able to describe it, and in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition.'

11. 'Talk, whether ugly or beautiful, is an index of character; it can also be a breath of cool, refreshing air in a room some people would prefer to keep shut up.'

12. 'The most important things to remember about back story are that a) everyone has a history and b) most of it isn't very interesting.'

13. '... you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.'

As King states, 'Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around' for without art, what is there?

Review Reading #1 'The Reading Zone' - Nancie Atwell

Each year several scholarships are awarded to NSW teachers who wish to embark on a study tour to collect resources, conduct interviews, create resources to ultimately enhance their pedagogical approaches and those of their colleagues. I applied for the Premier's English Teachers' Association English Scholarship in 2016 and whilst I didn't win, I thoroughly enjoyed the application process - reading, writing, and reflecting on the ways in which I teach writing and reading. In preparing, I contacted several schools to possibly arrange visits and I also applied for an Internship at the Center for Teaching and Learning. 

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Internship program at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in Edgecome, Maine. One aspect of my proposed study tour included the internship to further my understanding of Nancie Atwell's approaches at the Center for Teaching and Learning, the demonstration school she established in 1990.

Flying to America to to partake in an internship is not something one can usually just do but it just so happened that my partner and I were planning to go to America for a belated honeymoon. We had been putting it off (for nearly three years) - saving a bit more, waiting for a better time, etc. Sometimes you just need a bit of an incentive to get organised and the Internship was it! So work and touristing have combined into our 2017 trip! We will be visiting a range of places before I visit CTL for four days in April before we fly back home.

To prepare for the Internship I have been assigned some readings. I am going to tackle these as well as my preparations for next year - a unit of work to write, Faculty Handbook to collate, Scope and Sequence to update, etc. over the next month before school begins for 2017.

I have been reading Atwell's work for a few years now after I was directed to her texts by Professor Wayne Sawyer from Western Sydney University. He sent me some initial chapters from the first edition of 'In the Middle' published by Heinemann in 1987 and then I went hunting for all of her texts. I was overjoyed when a new edition of 'In the Middle' was published in 2015 - how serendipitous! After engaging with the work of Nancie Atwell I am reminded of what a driven person she must be - she is a prolific writer, reader, and you know, has her own school. Amazing.

Review Reading #1 The Reading Zone - Nancie Atwell

ISBN: 978-0-439-92644-7

ISBN-10: 0-439-92644-0

Publisher: Scholastic Teaching Resources

Publication Date: November 7th, 2007

Stockists

Sample Pages

I am going to respond to the texts by writing a 'Letter-Essay' - a technique students at CTL utilise to reflect on the texts they have read. This is the letter provided for students to guide them when writing their own letter-essays. Students receive a copy of this letter to stick into their workbook.

Dear Reader,

I have just finished reading Nancie Atwell's The Reading Zone. This text explains what constitutes the 'reading zone' and a range of methods and strategies to assist students to reach this place in their own reading. I felt an immediate magnetism to the idea of the 'reading zone' because I have always loved reading and I have the propensity to get so caught up in a story that I simply must continue to find out what is going to happen next. I love the anticipation of continuing reading a text and the feeling when dipping back into a book to see what the characters are up to - will they solve the problem? Will there be an explanation? Will they find the inner strength to overcome an obstacle? The thrill is almost addictive and it is why I have sometimes have trouble choosing books because I do not want to waste my valuable reading time. I want to be immersed in a world and drawn immediately into a story so I am back in the 'reading zone.' So, is it any wonder that I am deeply saddened when my students loudly proclaim - 'I hate reading' and 'I don't read' like it is a feat? Atwell's book gave me some practical strategies to utilise to assist students with their reading to ensure that they too can develop the habits of a reader and experience the joy that accompanies the 'reading zone.'

Atwell writes in a very honest and straight forward manner with references to both research and anecdotes from her time in the classroom. She effectively details the practices and approaches at CTL whilst reinforcing the school's vision and the humility of staff/student interactions. The underlying element to each successful strategy is exactly that humility, the staff member who cares about and knows their students. The conferences between pupils and their teacher are evidence of adults who put the time into knowing what it is that each student needs. I love the reinforcement of this throughout The Reading Zone and all of Atwell's texts. Schools are places made up of people helping other people.

I often get asked about what 'work' students do with our reading program at school what students do once they have finished reading? The Reading Zone outlines an effective way for students to respond to texts using a 'letter-essay' to their teacher or peer. This accompanies regular reading conferences to determine where students are up to with their reading and whether they are reading texts that are too hard, too easy, or 'just right'. The letter-essay gives students a chance to write an in-depth response to a text that they have read. This text is not something assigned by a teacher or on a prescribed reading list but it is a novel chosen by the student after listening to 'Book Talks' and having conferences with their teacher who knows a range of texts to recommend to readers. There are no chapter questions, reports on every single text a student reads but a considered response to a text a student feels strongly about – either positively or negatively!

The Reading Zone provides an excellent overview of the way that the reading workshop at CTL runs and whilst it is filled with success stories, it provides honest ways to work through issues to provide structures to help students who aren't regular readers and ways to give all students an opportunity to experience the reading zone. 

The things I totally loved about The Reading Zone are:

THE IDEAS AND STEP BY STEP PROCESSES:

• Students complete 30-minutes of reading every night for homework.
• CTL works with parents to ensure students are successful as readers. A letter goes home at the start of the year and parents are sent a letter if students are not partaking in their reading. After the third contact a meeting is arranged to discuss reading (as it is so important to student success!).
• Students are given choice of reading material in reading workshop.
• Reading voraciously and reading quality texts supports the development of comprehension skills so comprehension strategies are taught in Mini-lessons - to individuals, small groups, or the class when and if there is a problem. 
• Teachers conduct quick conferences to determine whether texts suit students' ability and to ensure they are not holding onto a text they should have ditched. They also record pages read to ensure HW is completed.
• ‘Someday’ titles – after listening to a Book Talk by a teacher or peer students are encouraged to write the title down if it is something they think they may enjoy.

QUOTES AND ANECDOTES:

I love the way CTL operates and the way students are exposed to a rich and worthy curriculum that builds their autonomy and abilities as critical consumers of texts as well as effective composers. The quotes Atwell disperses through her prose just sing to those wanting to try something different:

• ‘The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you’ – William Dean Howells.
• ‘Children learn to read only by reading. Therefore, the only way to facilitate their learning to red is to make reading easy for them’ – Frank Smith
• The personal anecdotes like, ‘I’m being realistic. I cannot read all the literature and also edit all the writing and plan all the lessons, write all the evaluations, attend all the meetings, and teach history, too. But I can become intimate enough with young adult literature to connect particular readers with the particular books they crave. Intimacy with my kids’ books has become the goal.’

I loved this text for an overview of what Atwell does and if you are interested in the ideas I recommend that you jump into In the Middle: A Lifetime of Learning about Writing, Reading, and Adolescents

Yours truly,

K