The next opportunity you have to talk with your kids, ask them this question: “How often are you asked to write in school?”
Cathy Larson, owner of Write Away U (WAU), a Rossmoor-based writing company rolling out its eighth summer writing camp, hopes the answer is “every day.”
With the shift to the Common Core State Standards, teachers are building more writing into their curriculum, but Larson is still amazed at the number of kids who respond with answers like “once a week” and “once a month” when asked this same question every summer.
She is also struck hard when she hears comments from them about not having the freedom to pick their own topics, not getting help when they get stuck, and being told all the things they’re doing wrong.
Imagine writing from your own heart about something personal, only to have someone tell you all the things you did wrong: misspelled words, wrong verb tense, lack of periods, introductions that are too long, or paragraphs that are misaligned.
Larson says, “These rules are important for final pieces, but unnecessarily halt the creative process. Our company is dedicated to building independent thinkers and lifelong learners, so we design summer camp around freedom: freedom from evaluation, from red ink, from time constraints, and from fear of doing it ‘wrong.’ We give kids the freedom to learn to love the writing process. But what we are really building is confidence — a child confident in knowing he can write and that writing is nothing to fear.”
Larson and the WAU staff work over the course of eight days to help kids experience not only more writing, but also help them find the joy in it.
While reinforcing the skills learned in the classroom, the staff encourages the kids to play with language, practice new writing strategies, and experiment with topics.
The staff also reinforces the habits of good writers through modeling and the review of models, all while reminding the campers that writing is about discovery, fluency, voice, experimentation, storytelling, and transformation.
If you’re the parent of children who love to write, then consider yourself, and your children, lucky. This love of writing will serve them well throughout K-12, into college and beyond. WAU loves working with kids who enjoy writing. These kids embrace the process, get excited to try new strategies, and even write at home on their own for fun: short stories, fan fiction, blogs, and poetry.
If you’re the parent of children who avoid writing, complain about any writing task, and struggle to get words on a page, however, then join the ranks of those who feel your pain. But don’t despair, WAU also loves working with these kids — the kids who struggle and need a little more encouragement. In response to questions from parents about reluctant writers, Larson says, “I believe the kids who struggle do so because they’ve lost their way. They’re stuck and disgruntled. They’ve had no freedom or choice in the only environment where writing is expected while growing up — the classroom. In this environment, they are expected to write what they’re told, when they’re told, and how they’re told. Then when they turn in the piece into which they’ve poured time and energy and heart, a teacher tells them all the things they’ve done wrong. I don’t blame these kids for hating the process. Who would want to continue to write after that?”
For more information about Write Away U’s summer writing camp, contact Cathy Larson at 562-259-8892 or through the website at www.writeawayu.com.
Registration for summer camp 2017 is currently open and spaces are still available for all grades, incoming second through seventh.
This article appeared in the April 5, 2017 print edition of the News Enterprise.
