I pull aside a student who normally writes eagerly. He has nothing written. Nothing. Not a scribble. Not an erasure. Not a crossed-out line.
"Where's your work?" I ask.
"I don't have it," he says.
"You need it by the time we go out for recess," (my God, I'm using that term for the first time this year).
He shakes his head. I walk away. A minute later, there's still nothing.
"Where's your work?" I ask.
"I don't know where to go with this," he says.
"It's pretty straight-forward," I tell him. "What part are you struggling with?"
"I don't know. I have this idea. I think it's a really good idea. It could be a great story, but I'm afraid that once I start it that it won't be as good as what I think it will be. So, I have to be . . . careful."
"Okay," I say. "You can take it home."
He sighs.
"Do you ever get scared when you write?"
"I have a whole novel in my head that I'm afraid to get started with." He looks at me incredulously. "I'm not sure where the fear comes from. But I'm scared that it won't be as good as I hoped it would be."
He sits there in silence. I walk away again. I don't have time for awkward silence right now. I need to prove to myself that the kids are really into this writing. I need to make up for the grueling four and a half hours of testing that we've endured.
"Well, I look forward to reading whatever it is you end up writing. I'm sure it will be great," I tell him.
"Me, too. I look forward to the novel. You'll have it done by the end of the year, right?" he asks.
Yeah, I'm feeling totally busted with that one. And that's why I love being back in the classroom full-time. I can't talk my way out of situations. They can smell the b.s. They won't let me off the hook due to social conventions.
Either the kid is BS'ing, and you'll get CR@P.
ReplyDeleteOR:
The kid is telling the truth and you have a real writer.... A CAREFUL WRITER.
The proof will be in the pudding.
And IFF:
If you have a real writer...
And by that, I mean someone who can write in more than 100 character Tweet sentences. Someone who can write more than 2 -3 sentences in a paragraph, without going on and on for 1,000 words and saying nothing....
THEN
IFF you have a real writer....
Nurture him/her. Love, cajole, encourage, help, humor, push, pull, shove, and assist!
(I could add a lot more words, but you know what I mean.)
BECAUSE:
If you have a real writer, you have a gift to the world. And we need that gift, very very badly.
ANDS:
If you have BS? Umm... I dunno. Hows about an incomplete or a flunk on this one assignment?
Could be B.S. In this case, though, I think I have a writer. I've had many kids who can write well over the years. This kid is a writer, though, and there's a difference. His language is still not up to speed, but he'll get there. He's a writer.
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