“It's like the feeling at the end of the page….When you realize you don't know what you just read...I might as well go up and talk to a wall….'cause all the words are having no effect at all….Something has to happen to change the direction...What little filters through is giving you the wrong impression...It's a sorry state I say to myself” Missing Persons
“All first drafts are shit” Ernest Hemingway
Writing has changed and will continue to change. With the onslaught of text speak and social media oriented text, writing in a more formal sense seems to have deteriorated. Combine this with decreased reading experiences, and many students in middle and high school find themselves lagging behind or struggling to develop their writing skills. Some folks throw up their hands and say we can’t fight it. Others fight to help students develop the ‘lost art’ of writing. Complacent writing will not improve with complacent teaching. As teachers we can’t turn our backs on the power of words, regardless of media.
Learning to write, or the development of writing skills, stands as perhaps the most important skill a student takes with them from their formal education. Like the many interesting things middle schoolers do, their writing always provides an adventure. High school writing reads a little bit better sometimes. Some go with earnest and serious, others witty and creative, and still others write like they talk to their friends. Effective writing represents a means to achieve unlike most other school skills. It is a means to convey, convince, and persuade - in short, writing helps a student achieve world domination (or at least dominate their world). Yet, good writing is increasingly hard to find as complacency grows and we accept poorly written work as the new normal.
There is nothing worse than bad writing. Actually, strike that - bad writing is ok. Poor spelling or grammar, and haphazard punctuation - all tolerable. Passive, weak or repetitive sentences - ugh! Complacent or lazy writing is tedious and awful. When the writer puts little effort into their work, I have to ask myself two questions - Do I really have to read this? and Are we doing enough to help students develop their writing skills? Realistically, one of the few skills taught to students that they use outside of schools is the ability to effectively communicate. Therefore we should really put considerable effort into supporting the development of students’ writing skills.
Among my favorite strategies to implement in my classroom to develop writing skills and student investment in the writing process are The Words Not Written (WNW). The strategy works on several levels. Despite the long term benefits, students (and some of their parents) also like to ‘question’ the WNW. The WNW are not nearly as hard as students think and have an immediate positive impact on their written work. If students put as much time into using the WNW strategy as they do into complaining about it, their writing will improve by leaps and bounds.
Different teachers use different names, but essentially this strategy emphasizes a list of banned words, phrases, and parts of speech. Teachers use this strategy to encourage students to expand their vocabulary and diversify their sentences. Students often write using a limited range of words and repetitive sentence structure, and rely on passive verbs that suck the life out of their ideas and paragraphs. On occasion I have told students that if I have to spend my evenings or weekends reading their work it had better not come across like the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher...Wa wa wawawa wa wa.
I use the term The Words Not Written as a nod to my Harry Potter leanings, with a touch of gothic horror to spice things up. Early in the school year students begin keeping a list of the WNW in their writing journals. I ask students to remove these words from their writing as they revise their drafts prior to turning in their work. In the brainstorm and first draft stages of the writing process, I remind students to use whatever words they want. Getting student buy-in is always tricky. For some students I emphasize how their grades will improve by showing them where these changes impact the writing rubric. For other students I appeal to their desire to be heard and taken seriously. Connecting improved writing to an adolescent’s desire to matter and have some power does have some pull.
The WNW list begins with a few words and you can add to the list as the year goes on. I usually start the year with three words on my list. Rarely do I finish the year with more than eight WNW (last year we finished with four words on our list). The list I begin the year with does not vary. It includes:
To Be - All forms of the verb ‘to be.’ These passive verbs act as speed bumps or potholes in sentences to disrupt flow and suck the energy from writing. Most of the time the writer has partnered this passive verb with a stronger verb in their sentence.
Very - Just say no to this adverb. My friend and OE mentor Dave Weston convinced me to stop using this adverb, and writer Stephen King supports this. Nothing good comes from its use.
Because - Again, not necessary.
After you present the list, allow a few minutes for questions and comments. After the moans and groans, begin showing your class alternatives. I always allow for a few WNWs to be used in the final draft (usually forms of to be). As the year goes on I reduce the number of WNW allowed. Making these changes prior to the publishing stage of the writing process can pose some challenges. This does take practice. Removing forms of to be in particular provides varying levels of challenge. Getting rid of the different forms of to be means encouraging students to think about their writing beyond the ‘just get it done’ level. What word should I choose….What is the best word for what I want to say… Is this the most effective sentence I can craft? These are important questions for young writers to consider. Teaching writing means getting students to think of themselves as writers, and part of that is for them to have these conversations during the writing process.
I generally focus on three ideas when working with students around the WNW. First, get rid of very. This consists of little more than hitting delete, crossing the word out, or erasing it. You don’t need very. In fact no one will miss it. If you must use an adverb, try one of the many, far more descriptive choices available. Using very equates to lazy and weak thinking when used by anyone outside of elementary school. Second, you don’t ever really need because. Replace because with a period and start a new sentence. Done. Also, changing because to cuz doesn't help either. Third, removing forms of to be means transforming the written work. One year I had a student who would just delete passive verbs and not replace them. His writing began to resemble a Christopher Walken diatribe - amusing but not effective writing. Removing to be challenges writers (most of the time). Examining the use of to be means finding out when a form of this verb is the best option. However, replacing to be is not as hard as folks make it out to be. Most of the time, the sentence in need of editing has readily available options. Often in the initial drafts the writer will juxtapose a form of to be with a more active verb. Encourage the student to emphasize the more active verb. For example, let’s help a student who has to revise the sentence, “I was thinking about my friends when I read The Outsiders.” Recommend removing was and changing thinking to thought. The was only serves as a pothole that diminishes the act of thinking. The new sentence, “I thought about my friends when I read The Outsiders” has more power. When the writer doesn't have this option, sometimes flipping the sentence around or combining two sentences works. This takes a little practice but has a few benefits. Not only do the active, strong verbs take center stage, but the flip or combine strategy adds diversity and complexity to a student’s paragraph. This helps alter the flow and rhythm of the writing. As you provide these suggestions, it helps to point out to students how they have everything they need and how their rough drafts provide a strong start. Students gain confidence as writers when they realize that they already possess the fundamental ingredients for good writing. Last, active and engaging written work persuades and explains ideas or opinions more effectively. Effective writing empowers the writer. Who doesn’t want to feel empowered?
Let’s throw in a little bonus suggestion that focuses on the classroom community as well as the individuals in that community. During writers workshop I provide board space for students who want help with a tricky WNW sentence. Students will put their sentence on the board. Other students can then go up and write suggestions for alternatives. The author can choose which option is best for their work. Instead of relying on the teacher for the answer, students see their peers as resources. Since students who often don’t think of themselves as writers usually have a knack for providing great ideas, suddenly their confidence grows bit by bit. As this happens the class changes from individuals who have to finish their assignment to a community of writers. We think. We write. We win.
The act of writing has changed and continues to change. That doesn’t mean we should just accept complacent or poor quality work. Complacent writing does not convey ideas or opinions. Nor does it do enough to describe essential components of the narrative or engage the reader. Sentences that use strong verbs, detailed descriptions, and paragraphs with diverse sentences envelop the reader like good music. The WNW promote the expansion of an individual’s vocabulary and writing skills, but represent a difficult challenge for writers. Over time, with exposure to, and practice with a wider range of words, a student’s repertoire of words expands. Developing a student’s skills as a writer takes time and practice. The process of transforming their writing, however, is one of the few skills schools provide that students can use throughout their lives.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back and remove as many WNW from this article as possible.