Anne Hendler

The Creative Writing Issue – Anne

Ann E. Hendler

Helping Students Find Their Voice
– Anne E. Hendler

 

Creativity. Either you got it or you don’t, right? Either you’re a right-brained person or a left-brained person, right? We all know that this is silliness and has been proven untrue, but does that mean we believe it?

I don’t really identify as being a creative person. However, language learning is, in part, a creative act and so tapping my students’ creativity is part of my job. Sometimes they protest. I tell them, “You don’t have to be particularly talented or particularly good at something. You just have to be particularly yourself. That’s enough.” And they have not yet ceased to amaze me.

I started doing creative writing activities with my students to help them express themselves when they were too shy to share their ideas orally. Here are some of the things I’ve tried and what I’ve learned along the way.

 

Cinquain Poetry

Write,

she said,

a Cinquain poem.

Fill each word with

Meaning.

Creativity

Innate? Teachable?

Writing, drawing, dancing

Changes how we see the world

Imagination

Observe.

Students do things

In their own unique ways.

Treasure each bright mind, beating heart.

And learn.

 

I started with Cinquain Poetry. A Cinquain poem has five lines. In one variety, each line has a set number of words (one, two, three, four, one). In another variety, each line has a set part of speech (a noun, two adjectives, three -ing words, a phrase, a synonym to the first noun). In a third variety, each line has a set number of syllables (two, four, six, eight, two).

One of the benefits of Cinquains is that within the structure of a Cinquain, students can feel the safety of having a “right way” to do it. It has enough structure to make it a challenge and enough freedom to make it a choice. The result always uniquely represents each student and even they are amazed at how differently they all approached it. More importantly, they collaborated and helped each other with it.

 

Personification of Vices

The second creative writing task grew out of a unit on vices. My students read an example poem called “Gossip” written in the first person. Then I asked them to go home and choose a vice and write a similar poem for homework using some of the new phrases they’d learned. I had no idea whether they’d try it or not. They had an example, but no structure at all. No detailed instructions. No step by step of how to write a poem. Their results surpassed my wildest expectations and were as diverse, unique and creative as the students themselves.

I learned from this that my students are brave. That when we take away the structure and steps, they still want to be heard so badly that they will put themselves out there even when they aren’t sure of the “right way”. One of the boys wrote about alcohol and anger, a reflection of his life at home. A girl wrote about lies and rumor, connected to an experience she had at school. Another abandoned the topic entirely and just let her words fall from the sky. And I would never have seen any of it if I had bound them with rules and structure.

 

Recipes for Success

After spending two weeks learning about goal setting and steps to achieving dreams and sharing their specific dreams, I came to class with a stack of recipe cards. During the class we wrote a recipe for banana pancakes on the cards. Then I pulled out a bowl and spoon and we passed it around adding (sadly, imaginary) ingredients and giving it a stir to make pancakes. I asked them to write a recipe for success for homework.

The results were varied – some used measurements they made up themselves and others combined recipe vocabulary with success vocabulary and created success pancakes. The icing on the cake (or perhaps I should say maple syrup) for me, though, was when a photo appeared on my student’s Facebook page of her personal recipe (175cm of tall, etc). Not only was she using English outside of class, she was adapting it in her own ways and sharing it!

I learned from this that my students will adapt a structure to suit what they think a product should look like, and also that they’re all different. Some are more concerned with content than presentation, and others are more concerned with presentation than content. Some are equally concerned with both but still give me something different from what I expected.

Not all students like all forms of creative writing, but when they find things that they like, they really run with them. More importantly, finding their creative voices gives them courage to try other things – like performing a play or learning a song.

I am really glad my students and I had this chance to explore their creative sides. Together we learned that with a little structure they can help each other and gain confidence to create poetry, but the structure is not as important as the ideas and thoughts that they bring into it. Creative writing doesn’t come from the textbook or the teacher or the task. It comes from the writers’ trust in themselves and each other and willingness to believe, if only for a moment, that they are enough.

 

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Published by

Anne E. Hendler

Anne is just a teacher. She believes that every voice is valuable - be they teacher or learner - no matter the highest degree of education they have attained, the type of institution in which they work or organizations in which they are involved, the types of learners they serve, or the country in which they were born. Anne resides in South Korea and can be reached on Twitter @annehendler.

10 thoughts on “The Creative Writing Issue – Anne”

  1. Thank you so much for this Anne! I can’t wait to share this with my teacher-trainees! Not only will it help them recognize themselves as writers, but they may also be able to find a bit more hope and belief that their students can do the same.

    The “what I learned” sections of each writing task really struck me. As new teachers (explorers) of creative writing, it’s often too easy to dismiss the potential within each writer because we never really know what to expect. Your observations show us that not knowing is truly where the magic comes from. That is true creativity. <3

    1. Dear Josette,
      That’s really what it did for me and I hope your trainees get something out of it. What I love about the writing projects my students do is the unexpectedness. As a teacher it really helped me become more open to the gray area between “right way” and “wrong way” and to meet my students as they are rather than as I want them to be. Thank you always for your support.
      Anne

  2. I want to thank you for this opportunity.sharing experiences is itself a new one.we usually think that writing is a hard skill to teach.however making writing a real fun is one of the best way to overcome all difficulties and encourage all students to try.trying to be creative.trying to write even with little sturcture and few skills.writing should be no longer a struggle to low performers.we should manage to enveil this potentiel within each learner.

    1. Thank you for your comment. I agree with you that writing does not have to be a struggle. I think that enjoyment of writing can lead to better performance and uptake of feedback in the future. I hope you and your students will always be able to express yourselves creatively without fear.

  3. Thank you so much dear Anne for this inspiring post. I enjoyed it a lot . I have even written my first three versions of Cinquain poetry.. which was interesting and challenging. I hope I can try some of your ideas soon with my students.

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed the post and gave Cinquain poetry a try. I first tried it a few years ago when a lecturer for an online class asked us to do “something creative” in our final assignment. If I had known then what I know about creativity now, I wouldn’t have stressed so much over that assignment. I want to help my students see writing as fun and not stressful and I hope yours will too!

  4. This is so inspiring, Anne. Thank you! Trusting in ourselves and believing we are enough are two messages that came at the perfect time for me. This is the beauty of language, we get to build that bridge between who we are and who we want to become. Creating and writing require that love for who we are and that trust in ourselves. What a powerful reminder to seek that in our students.

    1. Thank you Laura. What you wrote really struck me: “Creating and writing require that love for who we are and that trust in ourselves.” I think it’s the same for the teachers as it is for the students and creating the community in our classrooms where we can share with each other can only happen if we trust and care for ourselves first. What a powerful message that can be for us all.

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