Published in the Aug. 19 – Sept. 1, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Many teachers face the frustration of students feeling intimidated by learning how to share their thoughts and information by putting words down on paper. The process of writing is not a physically strenuous activity. Writing, however, does exercise the brain because it requires the use of mental abilities such as creative, analytical, and organizational thinking.
Last year, I started a “Junior Journalism” program where I went to classrooms at the invitation of teachers and taught the students the “pizza process” style of writing. This method breaks down the process of writing into four components: content creation (gathering the ingredients), writing tools, technique, and style. In the 90-minute workshop, I taught students the basics of writing for publication by the analogy of making a pizza pie. Then we worked together as a class to write a 300-word opinion column later published on this page.
From my experience doing these workshops, I saw there are many excellent teachers who work hard to guide their students to learn the grammar, punctuation and spelling rules required for writers. But many students are not able to translate these rules (or “tools” as I call them) into writing fluency. A big part of the problem, from my observation, is that students don’t know the secrets to coming up with original and interesting ideas through brainstorming and other methods. It’s hard to make a pizza without ingredients.
As with any skill, the process of writing takes practice and time to master — and the really good writers will admit that they’re still mastering the art and craft of writing. I have a hunch many students would enhance their grades and enjoy writing assignments more if they mastered basic but essential techniques in creating content as well as the nuts and bolts of writing. The best way to achieve this mastery is to write with the intention of publication rather just getting a grade on a paper. Students would get more in the time they spend learning to write if they took a “junior journalism” approach.
If you are a teacher in the Morgan Hill Unified School District teaching between first and eighth grade and might like for me to come to your class and do a junior journalism workshop, please email me at [email protected].
