Location, Location, Location

South Downs NWP convenor and secondary English teacher Theresa Gooda remembers the power of space after lockdown and restrictions.

During 2021’s October half term I was lucky enough to escape west in my very rusty, old camper van for a few peaceful days in Dorset (we won’t talk about the alarming noises the engine made on the 350 mile round trip from Sussex). What a forgotten pleasure after repeated lockdowns and no travel for so long.

Each morning I woke up green hills and pheasants crowing, and was able to fling open the doors (on the non-raining days at least) and the luxury of writing my morning pages from bed - with the landscape in touching distance. It was awesome, in the old-fashioned sense of that word, and got me thinking about the importance of space and location in writing once again.

The South Downs NWP group has always favoured environment and landscape. Our very first meeting, back in 2013, took place on a busy summer’s day in the Pavilion Gardens in Brighton. Since then we have written along the banks of the Arun, on beaches, in museums, in tea shops, pubs, and once in a lifeboat rescue centre. Location seeps into the writing, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes slipping in quietly like the gentle chatter in a cafe. I’m fascinated by the ways that the character of writing changes depending on where we are.

Each NWP group has its own way of working, and most of us are enjoying remembering and rediscovering those ways as we revert back from more than 18 months of online meeting and writing. For now, South Downs NWP are continuing to meet via Zoom, but I’m looking forward to planning our next adventures in different spaces.

Celebrating the Spread

South Downs NWP Convenor and secondary English teacher, Theresa Gooda, shares her experience of writing as part of the UKLA Teachers’ Writing Group.

As we pass ‘Freedom Day’ and the heightened messages about ‘stopping the spread’, it has been wonderful to welcome a different sort of spread: the proliferation of teachers’ writing groups. It is heartening, in these troubled times, to know that the practice of teachers writing, the opportunity for personal reflection about writing, and the possibility of changing practice through regular dialogic conversations with colleagues about writing, continues to spread.  Because we know, of course, that voice (in writing as well as speech) is ‘created’, both unconsciously but also deliberately constructed, in dialogue with other voices (Bakhtin, 1986).

As well as being privileged to lead the South Downs NWP group, and recently been invited to be part of the wonderful UEA NWP group, I have also lately participated in a new venture at UKLA: their Teachers’ Writing Group, run by Ross Young at Writing 4 Pleasure. They share similar principles with NWP about being part of a community that promotes research-informed writing teaching, and about the importance of being a writing teacher generally. 

Like much of our lockdown and post-lockdown life, meetings are remote, via Zoom. In the first meeting, in early June, participants were invited to experiment with dabbling as an idea generation technique alongside the reading of a children’s book. 

In July’s meeting, the work of writer-teacher Peter Elbow was championed, and in particular the value of free writing. 

Mostly though, the group achieved that joyful, valuable thing we all need: of carving out space and time to write. I’m already looking forward to August’s meeting.

No Cigarette Breaks

Jenny Corser, Head of Junior English at an independent boarding school in Norfolk, writes about her switch from facilitator to writing participant through NWP, the joy of writing outside the curriculum, and her group’s transition to Zoom one year on from the onset of the Covid19 pandemic.

In every other way, I consider myself to be a ‘facilitator’ of learning. I create situations, tasks and environments to enable my students to write.

But belonging to an NWP group has taught me about the importance of me being a participant in my own classroom. The importance of writing alongside my students in order to share their experiences. To experience the fear of the blank page staring back at you, and then sense of accomplishment when you have completed a piece of creative writing.

How can we justify asking students to write if we are unwilling to model it ourselves? Without that, teachers could easily become hypocrites: “write a poem, but I’m not going to write one” and “read your poem aloud, but I am not willing to share mine.” It’s a bit like the doctor who lectures her patient to quit smoking, and then goes outside for a cigarette break! 

Being an NWP writing teacher also replenishes me with inspiration.

Teaching is a rewarding, yet often draining profession in which we are constantly giving our precious time and energy to students. Belonging to an NWP group gives me time out of my busy week to be inspired with new ideas that I can easily adapt for the age groups I teach. Something else that NWP has given me is the permission and freedom to experiment with teaching techniques that are not necessarily on the school curriculum; for example, book or journal making. There is a real joy in watching students concentrate on sewing the binding of their book and then decorating the cover to make it their own.  

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of our NWP group being on Zoom once a week. At first, I must admit I was skeptical. I could not see how it could translate from our lively monthly meetings gathered around the table at the University of East Anglia - with paper, glue, scissors, gel pens - to being muted on a screen.

But I was wrong!

Whether it is because we meet more regularly so no one feels they are writing ‘from cold’. Or because we are a close-knit group some of whom have been on writing residentials. Or because it avoids that mad rush out of the school gates, driving through traffic and searching for parking. Or perhaps it is because it allows us to write in our homes (perhaps with pyjama bottoms on!) where we feel most comfortable and relaxed. Whatever it is, the formula works.

Over the course of 52 meetings, I have filled two books full of poems, lists, drawings all of which I intend on sharing with my Department. As one member of the group recently commented: “it’s tonic.” 

The Significance of Writing Communities in Post-Lockdown Schools

NWP Secretary and Norfolk Year 3 teacher Sam Brackenbury reflects on the challenges - and solutions - for post-lockdown writing.

Writing will be on the minds of many teachers as we prepare in England and Northern Ireland for March 8th, and follow the lead of colleagues in Scotland and Wales who have already begun their phased return.

It is the subject that has seemed to have ‘suffered’ more than most during lockdown and, in some ways, this is not surprising. Learning is often a shared venture, but for writing, the presence of adults and peers seems particularly important for children. To commit ideas to paper and to take enjoyment from doing so they need their writing community.

The pandemic, and the subsequent move to home learning, has shown the value of the writing communities that we foster and nurture in our classrooms. Children need shared writing sessions, that almost palpable energy which comes from writing together. They need discussion with their peers to hear how they bring meaning when interpreting, describing or reflecting so that they can broaden and deepen their own command of language and ways of seeing the world. They need teachers, writing teachers, as models of how to think and act as a writer.

But more than this, they need that unique connection that comes from writing creatively or reflectively together as a group of people. So, as we approach the next few weeks, perhaps we should consider how writing, and our writing communities, might be used to reconnect, catch up and process the past few months. In turn, they might also support academic recovery.

We know that many children may have written very little despite all the effort and thought that has been devoted to designing remote learning. I know this is true of certain children in my classroom. Equally, many children will have experienced writing through typing, either for the ease of teacher feedback as they write on live documents or because parents have found this the only way to engage their children in writing.

Therefore, we might need a means to get pens and pencils moving again!

We should consider how low threat, high investment writing activities would allow children to feel free to choose what they might like to write about. These might be lists or short burst writing opportunities and, as we know our children, we will be aware of what will be safe and appropriate and how much direction to provide so as they are not overwhelmed or limited by the prompt.

Carefully chosen stimuli surrounding concepts such as thankfulness; their home; or themes around hope connected with nature may also facilitate conversations that help to process the impact of being apart from their peers and significant adults. It might be that we decide something light hearted is needed – again we know our children best! At the very least, these could facilitate talk and an opportunity for children to begin to feel comfortable sharing ideas publicly or in pairs and practice essential speaking and listening behaviours that might not have been exercised for some time.

Equally, it is likely that children will have engaged in far fewer dialogic conversations over the lockdown period and such discussions could come from exploring choices of words and explaining a response to a piece of writing, likes, dislike and the connections that have been made. Perhaps we might find that these discussions are easier because the writing is personal to the child. As always, we should remember that when we write, and talk about writing, we bring a piece of ourselves so acknowledging this gift and the bravery of sharing will be essential. Also important will be to remember the right to share only a little or nothing at all, and partake through listening respectfully.

We might consider the role of journals and how they allow the children to invest in the writing process and provide a safe space for them to experiment, invent, make mistakes and, eventually, develop a their identity as writer. This might need to be rediscovered! It might be that we need to simultaneously address handwriting and spelling to help remove barriers that might interfere with writing. There is real benefit to such practice and we know that writing by hand leads to quicker generation of ideas and, for older children, more effective note taking. However, it could be helpful to consider how these might be focused upon discretely and where or to what degree such an emphasis might be placed on these elements so that writing does not become intimidating or stifled.

Throughout these experiences, we as teachers should write alongside our children and think aloud our own writing process and responses to writing. We should model vulnerability and uncertainty, being stuck and revising words, as well as how we are generating ideas and establishing these into phrases and sentences.

Writing has certainly been different over the past few months and it is important to recognise that for some there have been some really positive outcomes from writing at home. Some children will have had many fantastic life experiences and discussions with their parents that will enrich their writing and we might also find that certain children have developed learning behaviours at home that will make them more independent and self motivated. Inspired by the successes of the virtual NWP teacher writing groups, my colleague and I committed to holding one live session a week with our classes and considered how we might use Padlet for the children publish their work. This led to successful writing for many children. I told them how much I enjoyed writing with them and missed this time in class. They returned the sentiment, explaining how they loved the online sessions and wanted to write for longer so I am looking forward to this continuing in person next week.

It is not the entire answer but devoting careful attention to our writing communities could be part of how we appraise the emotional or academic consequences of the pandemic and help the children to reconnect with each other this half term and beyond.

No more guilt about carving out creative space

Whodunnit Group Convener Marjory Caine discusses her return to writing through NWP.

‘Yes, I used to write, too.’

This was in response to a chance conversation at a NATE session on writing led by Simon Wrigley. We had been asked to jot down our writing memories and then discuss. Was this current lack of writing present across the whole English teaching cohort?

I joined the Whodunnit Group and found many tentative writers – those of us who wanted to write but just did not have the confidence, the time, the incentive, the stimulus. You name it, we had the excuse – but yet we asked our students to write every day – and then judged them.

Simon and Jeni’s approach was a breath of freshness into a classroom practice stultified by assessment objectives and fronted adverbials. As a group, we learnt to write together and share, and appreciate the richness writing brings to us as teachers, and now, writers too.

At the same time, I had started a doctorate investigating the creative writing of my A Level English Language students’ creative writing coursework (yes, in that brief flowering of creative opportunity in the classroom). What I had researched I found in the community of practice of the NWP meetings. 

And I found my voice.

It was a thrice trepanned skull in the Wellcome Collection. And that was where I found a way into the Neolithic world of my character, Rhia. Each writing session would end up with another appearance by her. And then I started writing at home. I made time. I thought about plot and structure. I shared my writing fears with my students. And wrote alongside them. Confidence improved both in the students and in me.

Writing retreats were made possible. I no longer felt guilty about carving out creative space. Here were members from other NWP groups who were willing to share and support. I felt like a writer. I thought like a writer.

And there was always another session with Simon leading our group with exciting and varied prompts. Then came the time when Simon asked me to lead the group. Since then, I have enjoyed the termly challenge of sourcing my source material. The venues are always stimulating because the group members are keen to write. We have been walking writers through Roman London, stood by the River Thames and heard its song, gazed into the faces at the National Portrait Gallery, toured the many stories in Westminster Abbey and many more. Always, I am amazed by the variety and breadth of writing that emerges from a Saturday morning in London.

In the seven years I have been with NWP I have changed from being someone who used to write, to someone who writes regularly, because it is part of who I am. I enjoy the creation of a poem, a piece of prose. I write fiction and non-fiction. I respond to my environment, to the people I know, to new experiences. Having my work valued by the group has given me the right to say that I am a writer who writes. Playing with language, working at finding the best phrase, figuring out a poetic rhythm: these are challenges that enrich my writing life.

Yes, I write. I am a writer.

Dip your pen in; writing's lovely

Alison Jermak, secondary English teacher, NWP secretary and NWP Wembley convener writes about her NWP journey and and the value of belonging to a writing group.

I have become quite determined to make space for my writing in my life, because it is one thing that I do for me – that was why I started writing independently at home again really, to make some time for myself between teaching and raising my children.

I write for many reasons: to gain clarity and perspective, to calm myself, to challenge an idea, to connect with people, to throw something out there and gauge the reaction.

Our NWP Wembley group grew from the Whodunnit group that I am a member of. I started the group because I was leaving my first teaching job and before leaving, I wanted to introduce my colleagues to NWP. Meeting regularly once a half term has turned out to be a good way of keeping in touch.

I value the support, the attention, the wisdom and the experience of my fellow NWP writers. We all bring so much enthusiasm for writing, the conversations are always rich and the reading recommendations are good. 

I write in a notebook – I normally have two on the go so that I write in one and then redraft in the other. I reread my writing a couple of days later and highlight anything that interests me. Some of it will then make its way into a piece that I type up. On my laptop I have collection of short stories, life writing and poems that I like to think are fermenting. I then revisit pieces that jump out at me and I will redraft and redraft.

Currently I write for at least ten minutes every day. I’m better in the morning, but I will squeeze it in where ever I can. I write in whichever room in the house I can be alone in; noise at home bothers me, family members – they normally want something.

There have been times where I have taken a short break from writing – a couple of weeks when nothing really calls to me or I’m stuck in a piece and I can’t see where to go next. When I come back to it, the muscle memory kicks in and I’m off again. Once you start, I think you can’t help but think like a writer. I have a notebook by my bed and phrases in the notes section of my phone that have floated in when I’m out and about.

I enjoy the process of coming up with ideas, the unpredictability of it. I like researching and coming up with new ideas for prompts to try out with the group. If it excites me when I try it out, then I know it will work. I’m curious to see how the writers will respond. The variety of writers’ responses is also interesting. I’d like to do some research into the benefits of writing as a group in this way.

Students I teach know that I teach writing differently. Some get excited when I introduce free writing, they enjoy the freedom of it and ask, “When are we going to do free writing again?” Some are confronted by the blank page: “Tell me what to say.” Individuals like it when I talk to them about pieces that they have written.

Being part of the NWP has kept me in teaching. It’s the type of learning experience that I had growing up and that made me want to become a teacher. It’s something that I have a genuine interest in, I can practise writing, begin to master it by myself and together with the group. There’s plenty about writing groups to delve into research wise, it’s unexplored territory. 

I would like to encourage more of the teachers in my department to give writing with NWP a try. There’s so much else that’s in the way, but I would say, “Dip your pen in; writing’s lovely.”  

Back to School: September Writing Prompts

Through lockdown and over the summer I have managed to establish some good writing habits. My journal is never far away and, consequently, is bursting full.

Every year, though, September hits me like a train and those writing habits evaporate - generally alongside taking in the first pile of marking. It really shouldn’t be so hard to find the ten or fifteen minutes in a day to sit, reflect and allow the pen to talk to the page, but somehow it always is. Even though I know that it is good me, not just for my energy and well-being but as ever-present, brilliant CPD that will make a difference in the classroom.

Because our month of lockdown prompts proved so popular, Jeni Smith has been busy putting together another series of ideas to carry us all through September and the start of the new year.

Jeni explains how important it is to find that space for our own writing:

Writing is often the thing that we set aside for other things, for other people. We make appointments for the dentist, to see an anxious A level student, to help a colleague. Make an appointment with your writing. If you have a calendar write it in there. Colour code it. Put it on your phone and set the alarm. You need only fifteen minutes. If that is all you have between one thing and another, set a timer just short of the time you have available and get going.

The prompts for September are a mixed bag. Most of them should just set you going for a fifteen minute workout. Some may grow into something more extended so you may not wish to do a new prompt each day, but continue from where you left off. Many of the prompts have your professional life as a teacher in mind. I am inviting you, if you are so inclined, to use writing to reflect on your teaching. You may find you use just a few prompts over the course of the month. Many can be revisited daily. In the end, they are only prompts. Use them however you wish. You may even find that you use them as children do when they tell you they are bored. After you have listed a number of things they don’t want to do, they suddenly say, ‘Oh, I know what I’ll do.’ Go ahead!

So, no excuses. Keep your writing habit going through the new term, or cultivate a new one.