journaling-stay in the dirt

Dear Katie and Owen, I want you to find and share your butterflies!

You've seen butterflies, correct?  The ones which flutter across an open meadow, here or there lightly touching down on a flower? They come and go, right?  They are not there for long. It is difficult to capture them with a photo, they sit only so long before they are off and on to the next thing.  The breeze stirs them along, the sun shines on their colorful wings.

So it is with learning to write.

Writing is beautiful, colorful, delicate like butterfly wings. Writing words and thoughts and feelings-don't last long.  The ability to put pen to paper in a coherent way, the process of forming a picture with your words-comes and goes. Thoughts flutter this way and that. It takes patience to get the photo of the simple, intricate creature. It takes patience to write, to learn to write. Nothing is new about this thought. Many a grand writers have pondered this. But this thought was new to the 8 late elementary age students I taught on Tuesday.

Why are you taking this class? I asked.

Silence, then.

"My parents signed me up for this class."
"I don't know, it is BORING."
"This is the hardest subject I have."
"I have NO idea why I am taking this class."

These sweet students don't know to look for butterflies yet. They aren't looking, they aren't even planing a meadow which would draw butterflies to it. They are studying something even more basic, they are studying the dirt which would grow the plants, which would bring butterflies. They are stuck in wonder.  Not in wonder over the richness of language or the beauty of imagination, but wondering, "why do this, this writing stuff, is pointless".

They are stuck in the mud, dirt, soil. They are at the bottom.

But the dirt is important. It holds the roots. But soil deplete of nutrients is worthless. It won't grow anything. The foundation is gone and therefore any option of a meadow and butterflies is more then a dream. It's an impossibility.

BUT, if we choose good soil. If we add nutrients. If we turn it over and over with new, full of life pieces, we can change it for something rich, we can grow deep roots. And so it is with the basis of good writing. Good writing is a gift. We know it when we read or listen to it. It captivates us. It draws us into that meadow to see what we can see. It paints us a glorious picture.

What does dirt or this "boring" foundational class (for these elementary age scholars) have to do with good writing?

Knowing strong sentence structure, using strong verbs and descriptions, adding in who-which clauses, etc, gives a foundation to creative thought. It communicates to an audience our knowledge of an subject or a solution to a problem...it allows the picture in our minds to grows to seem real, alive and be shareable.

So to the 8 students, I saw Tuesday, I say, "stay in the dirt". But don't just look at it. Play with it. Feel it. Try adding different parts to it and see what happens. Learn how to know good dirt because when you know it, it can lead to full meadows and butterflies.

Someday students, your butterflies of thoughts will come. The more you invest in your dirt and meadow the more butterflies will flutter down to your flowers. You have something to give. You have something large or small the world needs to know. You were made for something great by an even greater creator, God.

And for everyone, practice patience in the dirt, read good writings, immense yourself in the foundation work, so when you see a butterfly-a good storyline, a new character, a plot twist, a new research nook, you'll know them. And when your dirt is good and the meadow blossoms, the butterflies of words and stories will be rich and vibrant and worthy of sharing in front of your friends, family and the world.

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An exercise to help students see how, knowing the make-up of the dirt they are currently playing in, can help them write better.

Objective: Helping your students see, which sentence comes alive to your students? The one with rich, cared for and tended to dirt?  Or the one which is barely giving anything to the meadow's plants?

1. Start by having your student draw a picture of this sentence, "Cat ran." This sentence is normal dirt. It is basic. It is a simple communication of a thought.
2. After they attempt this drawing, have them show each other. You'll have a plethora of different looking cats and lots of different ways to run-a simple beginners picture. Their minds have all the creative juices needed. But they don't have a foundation yet to build upon for the reader.
3. Next have them grow their sentence creatively (after all they have been playing in the dirt for 2 years now. The above was a second year writing class :).  Ask for adjectives for the noun cat. Ask them to answer, how or when or where it ran, add some prepositional phrases, article adjectives...
And example from our class, "The huge, spotted cat, ran quickly down the step side of the blue mountain." Kids can get pretty creative with the second sentence. They have no shortage of humorous thoughts. :).
4. Now have them add all the details to their picture.  The picture comes alive!
5. Help them see as long as the students know the dirt-the foundations to language and writing-the seemingly tedious part, they can get beautiful and creative sentences which explode in their and their readers imagination.  And those moments are just like seeing butterflies.

-note to Katie and Owen (or anyone who reads this).  You mom, does not claim to be an excellent writer and I'm sure the above words have errors in them.  I want you to know I'm open for you to help me learn to write better, right along side of you!  Stay the dirt, look for butterflies.  Love, Momma