Write N.O.W. Notebooks Getting Started

WRITE NOW: Getting Started

1) Organize Notebooks

2) Over-dramatize what a cool thing WRITE NOW Notebooks

are... Do this ALL the time... Tell about all the kids in New York and all over the country who use them, and how real writers (authors, reporters, etc.) use them. Tell the kids YOU TOO will be keeping a Real Writer's Notebook.....

3) Emphasize to the class using WRITE NOW Notebooks

will become a class "team" activity... Sharing in class will be

safe...Everyone's ideas will be accepted. Let them know how

much you respect their willingness to TAKE RISKS when they

share their thoughts/feelings in writing.

4) Tell them before writing fiction, most authors keep Real

Writing Notebooks (aka WRITE NOW Notebooks) as a way of

gathering and storing ideas... More fully developed Fiction Stories can be DEVELOPED FROM WRITE NOW entries later on.

5) Discuss the concept of "STEALING" ideas. Ask them if this is acceptable...Most of the class will respond in unison that it is not. Tell them in our WRITE NOW class, it is

EXPECTED!!! This will get their attention ! (Actually, later on we talk about "borrowing ideas" as opposed to STEALING !!!)

Two Non-Negotiables are:

1) All entries MUST be written in their “I” voice... You cannot emphasize this enough...The first couple of times  students begin to share entries, every single child should recieve feedback about adhering to this standard.....This will help them differentiate whether they are writing fiction or non-fiction.  My approach and use of the notebook is different from many others.  I ran two kinds of writing workshops- REAL Writing and FICTION Writing.  I am convinced young writers in 3-4th grades benefit from this a great deal.  The Fiction Workshop at this age starts out highly structured as they learn about story elements, with gradual release as they become proficient.

2) Every detail written in the WRITE N.O.W. Notebook must be:

Real/True/Authentic/Actual/Honest/etc.  

These are REAL stories,  REAL thoughts, REAL feelings, etc.

For the resistive and hesitant children who say they don’t want to share...Tell them you know... But assure them within a week or two they will be begging to share...Tell them you’ve seen or heard kids before who didn’t think they could write or get in front of a group and share their writings, but assure them once we get started and they see how this thing works, they will be begging and won’t want to stop! 

Just a note here.  I know there might be homeschooling parents wondering if this approach Notebook/Workshop approach is workable for them.  My response is yes, provided the children have at least a few other peers to interact with from time to time.