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USING FREEWRITING TO MAKE SENSE OF LITERATURE

Freewriting and the sense of inquiry it generates, used with secondary level English language learners as a way of introducing them to the exploratory, open-ended thinking that reading literature requires.

Three principles teachers might consider when incorporating freewriting.

Freewriting about the literature curriculum is strategic

Instructors can begin a class with freewriting; as

students enter and settle, the process can create

a space for reflection and focus on the learning

to come.

Freewriting about the literature curriculum is short and exploratory

Writers will give it their all for that brief 180 seconds (writing without stopping or “thinking about spelling, grammar, and mechanics; not worrying about how good the writing is) even whether it makes sense or is understandable.

It is important for teachers to engage in freewriting with their students as a way of modeling the process of meaning making. That means that when the timer starts for a three-minute freewriting

session, teachers should start writing too.

Sharing, responding and rewriting about classroom texts in community.

Listening to and enjoying freewriting of others.

Asking questions about what

was almost said.

The writers read aloud what they have written in the preceding three minutes, to either a partner, a small group,

or an entire class.

Pointing to energy spots

Participants listen to a peer read from a short freewriting passage to describe what is “almost said” or what they want to hear more

about.

At the end of two or three minutes of freewriting, read your work aloud and ask listeners to point out an especially strong word or phrase or image.

For this latter group, freewriting is a brief,exploratory exercise, with pen, pencil,or keyboard, emphasizing the creation of unbroken language in constant motion—without stopping, without thinking too much,

and without editing

Freewriting about the literature curriculum involves teachers and students.

By SPENCER SALAS, KYRA GARSON, SHWETA KHANNA, AND BETH MURRAY

United States, Canada, and India