WCArticles

THE WRITING CLASSROOM
By Mary Emma Allen
KEEPING A CHARACTER JOURNAL

"When I get stuck with my character, I have her write in a journal," a writer remarked at a workshop.

Young writers keep journals for themselves. These often are class writing projects. Now have them write in journals as one of their characters. This can be:

*Part of a social studies project about characters living in a different era or different part of the world.

*A science lesson, recording items a character finds or discovers or an adventure midst scientific discovery.

*A writing lesson which will evolve in a story or newspaper article about the character.

*An art project, as they draw illustrations in their journal, too.

However, in a journal that they write for fun and for getting to know their character, they don't have to worry about correct writing. The character can ramble just as anyone would in a journal. These thoughts later can be corrected in the story or article.

The students' journals may be handwritten in a notebook. Or they may want to type the journal into a computer. If young writers have a handwritten journal, they can carry it with them, jot down thoughts and develop the character wherever they are.

How Will a Journal Help?

*The character's innermost thoughts can be revealed. The character's every thought might not be used in the story. But this gives the writer better insight into his/her character and puts you inside their mind. The writer may almost start to think like that character when writing in the journal.

*Dialogue will sound more natural. Writers will become accustomed to talking like that character as they write in the journal and develop expressions particular of him/her.

*They may gain insight into other characters. Of course, these insights will be from the journal writer's viewpoint of how the main character thinks. However, this should help in developing reactions to these characters.

*The writer may develop ideas for story incidents. As one writes in the journal, new thoughts about incidents in the characters' lives may come to light. The journal may take on a life of its own and help develop your story as well as the character.

*This can be a cure for writer's block. Just as the writer at the conference mentioned, young and older writers may find this a good way to progress with the story whenever you find yourself unable to write further.

Examples From a Journal

As I progress with "Papa Goes to War," my YA novel based on genealogical research, I've had fun writing a journal for Mandy, my main character. As she struggles with the experience of having a step-mother and a father leaving to fight in the Civil War, she writes in her journal.

May 2- "I don't want Papa to marry Hannah. She's okay to keep house. But Papa doesn't have to marry her. Josh and I can live with Grandma even if Aunt Mary is there with William and Lyddie. We can squeeze in somehow. But Papa said if he doesn't marry Hannah we have to go live with cross old Aunt Sally. I guess that would be worse.

Why did Mama have to die? Why does Papa have to fight Mr. Lincoln's war? Why can't life be like it was?"

May 4 - "Papa married Hannah yesterday. Then he went to the train in Elmira to leave with Uncle Gus and Mr. Jamison and the other soldiers. Papa says I have to be a big girl and set an example for Josh. Sometimes I feel 10-years old is grown up. But not today. I didn't cry though when Papa left. I'll do that after I finish writing and no one can see me."

Other Uses for Journals

As I've worked on Mandy's journal and acquired a better understanding of her as a person, I've come up with the possibility of using this for another book. What if a girl in the present day finds Mandy's journal. She reads it and finds solutions for problems in her life.

Or this could become a time travel story with the character experiencing two worlds, the past and the present.

Keeping a journal can be a way to keep one's thoughts flowing and characters developing. Try having your students keep journals about characters they want to write about.

(c)2002 Mary Emma Allen

Mary Emma Allen writes for children and adults and teaches workshops in classrooms, at conferences, and online. Her book, "Tales of Adventure & Discovery" is accompanied by a coloring book she illustrated. Visit her web site: http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea; e-mail: me.allen@juno.com

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words?, By Bea Sheftel

When I taught third grade at St. Bridget's in Brooklyn, New York, we were to teach essay writing. It was the first year for children to actually put sentences together to form a one page essay or story. Many teachers complained that they couldn't get the children to write more than a few sentences. Here is what I did to stimulate my children's creativity.

I searched through magazines for interesting pictures, photos, graphics, etc. I cut out the pictures and mounted them on 8 1/2 x 11" card stock. I chose this size because it was large enough to hold up for the class to see.

I made enough pictures for the entire class plus extra. When it came time for the essay writing I held up the pictures so the children could see them. "You will come up and select one of these pictures and write a story about it. It can be a true story or a made up story."

I let the children use their dictionaries to check their spelling. I feel it is important to teach children the writing tools they will use throughout their lives. I also had several Thesauruses available.

Once the children selected their pictures I told them to write one page or more of a story or essay. They had to think of an appropriate title as well. I gave them the rest of the class period to do the work. Then they handed in the pictures and their essays.

The next day I read some of the essays and stories to the class. They were remarkably well done. As third graders they wrote mainly in simple sentences, but still their work was interesting. I was pleased at the creativity they exhibited. The children also said they enjoyed the lesson.

What kind of pictures did I use? Ocean and river scenes, picnics, landscapes, farms, carnivals and other things that I felt would interest the children. They gave me back stories of vacations at the beach, of family picnics, of visits to farms, days at carnivals or driving with the family to the country.

The next teacher's meeting I shared this with the other third grade instructors. They all thought it was an excellent idea. Another teacher suggested bringing in magazines for the children to go through and create their own story albums for open house. The theme was "Me and my family."

With the help of parents we gathered catalogs, calendars, and magazines. This was to be a joint project for all the third grades for our open house display. Again the children amazed us.

There were catalog people figures cut out and pasted onto the pages next to inserts of pets and hand drawings of houses or apartments. The children created their own family albums and wrote about their lives. They had two weeks to complete this project with some work in class and some at home. We saved the cardstock for their covers and used drawing paper and looseleaf for the inside pages.

Each child put their name on the front cover along with an appropriate picture. We stapled all the pages of the individual books and placed them on the children's desks for open house. It was very successful. The kids enjoyed the project and the parents liked the stories. As teachers, we were pleased that our children were learning how to write in whole sentences and paragraphs.

Bea Sheftel spent many years as an Early Childhood teacher teaching PreK through third grade. She taught in Brooklyn, New York at St. Bridget's, and St. Stanislaus school. After moving to Connecticut she continued to teach at St. Bartholomews. She is now a freelance writer as well as a substitute teacher. She is currently putting together web pages and a book for homeschoolers.
http://members.tripod.com/~Beawriter/America.html

Harnessing Imagination in Struggling Young Writers, By Hannah Hayes

Gerardo walked and talked tough. But looking into his deep brown eyes, I never failed to see a struggling child who melted my heart.

In 1992, I was asked to put together a summer program at the inner school where I taught ESL to Spanish-speaking children. The ESL/literacy program was funded by a private university, staffed by graduate assistants in Education or in TESL (Teaching
English as a Second Language). The program gave language support through literacy, and most of my lessons involved reading and writing, along with hands-on activities. The children spoke only Spanish at home and hovered on the edge academically.

As a graduate student in a writing program, I was not studying to become a teacher. But when the graduate assistant at St. Pius dropped out midterm, they hired me quickly to finish out the semester. The supervisor liked what I did with writing, and she kept me on even though I wasn't technically an "Education" student. As a writer, I fully understood her thrust about teaching language through literacy; I taught there for nearly three years.

Gerardo had learning disabilities beyond my capacity to help. I often felt frustrated, and tried to explain to his teachers and my supervisor that I did not have the tools to give him what he needed. They assured me that whatever help or attention I gave children like Gerardo could only help. Gerardo's brother was a gang member. His parents worked hard to keep him away from the streets and the influence of his older brother.

In the spring of my second year, when warm weather beckoned and I could barely keep their little bodies in chairs for 30 minutes, I had the children write about where they would be ten years from now. Gerardo, who rarely could string two sentences together, wrote laboriously for 20 minutes. When he read his entry aloud he described his life as a "homey." As he read a vivid description of the clothes he would wear, the car he would drive, and the girlfriends adorning his car I was floored. If I hadn't watched him write it I wouldn't have believed it. When it became apparent that a "homey" was a gangbanger, I didn't know what to say. How could I trash the first piece of eloquent writing this struggling child had accomplished in two
years?

My problem was solved when his best friend, another tough boy called Armando, looked at him with disgust. "Man you're stupid," he said. Athough he refused to
elaborate, another boy chimed in with tales of jail, shootings, and joblessness. Gerardo listened and his eyes took on the innocence - and sadness - that made me feel as if my heart were pushing against a metal clamp. "What do you think, Gerardo? Do you want to revise it?" I asked him after his peer critique.

He nodded his head. At the end of the class he turned in two sentences. "When I grow up I will be a taxi driver. I will drive people around the city."

That lesson showed me how children - even seriously challenged ones like Gerardo - could write if I could find something that struck a chord close to their hearts. That summer I was determined to find something to make the summer program meaningful. I knew some children came at their teacher's recommendation. With
no exposure to English all summer, these children would otherwise return to school in September and take several weeks to get back on track. Other children, like Gerardo, came because their parents wanted to keep them off the streets.

I imagined them walking past kids playing ball in the street or hanging out on the stoops on lazy summer days. Although summer school is more common these days, when I was a child it was a sentence every child dreaded. I did not want that with "my" children.

I vaguely had a plan that each child would create his or her own book as a summer project. We would discuss, write, edit and put it together on a computer. They would design a cover, and it would be their own creation. How to make it their own - as Gerardo's unfortunate tale showed me - was another question.

The very first day of summer school Gerardo wrote his nametag in a common gang script. I quietly pulled him aside and asked him to re-do it.

Our classroom had several new computers, and they drew the children like magnets. One of the games given to me was Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? In this
geography game the children pursued a criminal around the world. In order to follow the suspect, they had to answer questions about the country. For example, a
witness in the museum might give the clue: "He was asking questions about the rainforest." Children would be given a choice of locations to choose from, and if they chose the correct place they were treated to a delightful animation of a fleeing suspect, or a lurking bad guy.

The children played nothing else, but the younger ones became frustrated when they couldn't get the answers. I bought a used almanac, and paired them off with older kids and before I knew it they were doing research. An idea was developing in my mind when I saw the children race through their journals with very little thought to return to the game they had left the day before, to the suspect they'd left in the copper mines of Zambia.

I picked up the cue, and suggested we write our own detective stories. As they played the story they took notes "like real detectives." When they wrote their draft I had them add details everyday. What kind of detective are you? What's the suspect like? As they chased them through various countries I encouraged them to look up more details of the country and use their imaginations: what would it be like living in this country?

Their imaginations took off, and Gerardo's in particular. It took very little prompting to imagine his life beyond the confines of 18th and Ashland, and I never would have thought a computer game could turn 10 and 11 year olds into such exuberant authors. My supervisor was so impressed with their stories she found money to have glossy covers printed and the books bound at a print shop. The principal gave us the display case in the hallway, so when the children returned in September the whole school saw their summer projects.

That was ten years ago, and when I pass through that neighborhood today I often wondered what happened to Gerardo, and if they succeeded in keeping him out of
gangs. I didn't return to St Pius that fall since I gradated, but I like to think about Gerardo walking by that glass case in September, his head a little higher and a little more pride in those tragic puppy eyes.

Hannah Hayes is a freelance writer in Chicago whose work has appeared in national newspapers and magazines. While she currently teaches Professional Writing at DeVry University, she frequently visits her son's classroom where children continue to inspire her. Visit her web site at http://www.HannahHayes.com