Start an NWP Writing Group
An overview of what is involved in running a successful writing group.
Seven steps for starting an NWP writing group.
When you've done all of these, you might like to enhance your group by writing together online.
1. Gather together a small group of colleagues who are interested in writing.
5-10 people seems ideal to start with. Fewer and you may not gather enough momentum to keep going - it's not possible for everyone to make every meeting; more and the identity of your group may become difficult to manage. Most groups change their membership and grow over time, often developing as new groups. But, to begin with, it's useful if you all live and work near each other; in that way, you can strengthen your group by sharing classroom applications and responses in between your writing meetings.
2. Invest in some equipment.
This is part of making a commitment. Writing is hard and may involve periods of 'writing silence' so people need a place they can retreat to and only re-join the group when they feel ready to do so. Each person should invest in a favourite pen and a new writing book or journal. Some may prefer to use laptops, though these can prove trickier and less versatile for the gathering of leaves, drawings, leaflets, scraps and other useful writing debris - especially outside!
3. Fix a time and a place to meet.
You'll probably need 2-3 hours, though your first meeting may be shorter. Saturday morning 10am-12:30pm has proved popular. The place needs to suit writing. Groups have preferred plenty of stimulation, refreshments, quiet corners in which to write and a reasonably secluded place in which writing can be read aloud without embarrassment to yourselves or inconvenience to others. Some groups use classrooms and homes, others have found that public museums and galleries - parks, woods and riverbanks in the summer - are all ideal (see the gallery for ideas); there's usually a cafe and a corner where you can gather and re-gather - as well as plenty of space to wander about - and new things to see and hear which stimulate close observation and imagination - and may resonate with people's memories or concerns.
4. Plan a quick writing exercise to get people started - something to 'loosen up the writing muscles'.
This might be
There are lists of ideas elsewhere on the site. It is worth agreeing beforehand whether this 'quick writing exercise' will be shared or not - and who will lead it. It is often good to have a shared AND a private piece. In that way people can get into the habit of trusting each other with instant responses, and of letting other, more considered, writing 'brew' inside them for a while. Sometimes it is good to share a few words, but let people keep their more immediate extended thoughts private - at least until you have learnt to trust each other and agreed how people will respond to each other. The duration of these quick writing exercises, often in the comfort of a cafe, varies. Most groups have found 20-40 minutes about right - depending on the time you have for a more sustained burst of writing - and allowing time for sharing afterwards.
5. Decide the main writing activity.
Most groups have found this is best left to the individual to decide. However, at first, some writers may appreciate some guidance such as:
6. Agree where and when you will re-gather to share.
Many people are very nervous about sharing their writing at first, hampered often by a history of hastily delivered external judgements while their emotional state was still raw. Others may seek critical responses and can get impatient with unfocused praise. Understanding these differences is critical to the health of any group - particularly for young writers in a classroom. NWP groups have promoted each writer's authority to share only when ready.
Confidence in your own 'authentic' writing voice can be hard to come by, but will not necessarily be advanced by conforming to other people's ideas of some 'standard'. It can be good, therefore, to 'silence the critic in your head' (Claire Steele 2012) and just write quickly without stopping or adjusting or editing too much. Of course, it's valuable to revise and reorder, to pick your words carefully, to expand on certain moments and delete others; even to re-order whole passages for greater clarity and 'patterning'. But there will time for those things later. Some people find that too much time spent agonising at the beginning over the perfect crafting of the opening sentence, can develop into an unhealthy 'displacement' activity in which little fluent writing takes place, ideas are still being talked about rather than written. Trust that the act of writing - 'playing' with writing, if you like - will supply you with answers to those problems which may, to start with, seem uncertain. It's important to explore the medium and trust the process. During writing, when you are alone with your thoughts and the page, memories surface, thoughts erupt, directions shift, voices discover themselves unexpectedly, in ways which can be quite different from how you may have 'told' the story before. Some things proceed by doing, not by planning (or procrastinating). There will be surprises.
How you share will emerge from individuals' wishes. However, most groups have found it useful, at first, to
This process may be better in pairs at first, but where the group is possible it can be fascinating to read around the group and hear what different writng has emerged during the session from similar stimuli.
More established groups have also used these sessions to share writing which has been written outside the group meetings. This may well require much longer discussion and may be more easily managed through individually agreed writing partnerships. Members of the group may agree to take turns to 'present' their writing, or provide copies for others to discuss. Online sharing can help this process happen over time. In such discussion, some groups practise referring to 'the writer' in the third person, while the writer herself/himself listens without commenting. This means that observations can be received less personally. Discussions provide feedback to the writer about how voice, values and effects emerge from choices about structures, patterns, register and vocabulary, and from resonances with other texts.
7. Keep meeting and writing and sharing and reflecting.
Most group leaders have found it productive - at some point - and it doesn't need much prompting from teachers - to ask people what they think the implications are for what we might do in the classroom. NWP, however, begins with supporting teachers as writers, reflecting on the process for themselves first. There are resources to help group leaders with that. It is certainly well worth teachers reflecting on their own writing histories - and their own writing journeys once they have been involved in the project for a few months.
NWP has also developed prompt sheets to help teachers interview and observe the young writers whom they teach. Part of the research activities of NWP is to gather evidence from classrooms and to publish our findings. Group leaders and others may wish to contact research and publications members of the NWP executive when they feel ready to share.
It will also be necessary for each group leader to attend one of the termly NWP meetings or NATE's annual conference at which ideas for research, publication and project development are shared.
When you've met for a while, you might like to enhance your group by writing together online.
If you'd like some support in launching a new NWP writing group, please contact Simon Wrigley: [email protected]
Seven steps for starting an NWP writing group.
- Gather together a small group of colleagues who are interested in writing. They should commit to write for at least 20 minutes a week, attend and share in at least 6 out of 10 meetings a year, and complete 'My Writing Now'. They should understand that they will be collecting evidence of the effect of group membership on their own teaching of writing.
- Invest in some portable equipment: post-its, notebooks, pens, pencils, postcard collections, small objects (bric-a-brac, stones,shells, feathers, buttons, language ephemera - tickets, printed packaging, brochures etc). Gather a box of books/papers on the teaching of writing by teachers like Peter Elbow, David Morley, Ursula le Guin, Lucy Calkins - and established writers like Ted Hughes, Zadie Smith, Alice Munro or Eleanor Catton. Anthologies of poetry and short prose texts can be useful too! Having plenty of copies of 'My Writing Now' prompts helps to remind people of one of the main 'tools' of the project to help collect evidence of nwp 'writing journeys'. Base-lining early means that the changes brought about by belonging to a writing group can be more clearly seen.
- Fix a time and a place to meet.
- Plan a quick writing exercise to get people started.
- Decide on the main writing activity - increasingly this may be total freedom.
- Agree where and when you will re-gather to share - and how.
- Keep meeting and writing and sharing and reflecting.
When you've done all of these, you might like to enhance your group by writing together online.
1. Gather together a small group of colleagues who are interested in writing.
5-10 people seems ideal to start with. Fewer and you may not gather enough momentum to keep going - it's not possible for everyone to make every meeting; more and the identity of your group may become difficult to manage. Most groups change their membership and grow over time, often developing as new groups. But, to begin with, it's useful if you all live and work near each other; in that way, you can strengthen your group by sharing classroom applications and responses in between your writing meetings.
2. Invest in some equipment.
This is part of making a commitment. Writing is hard and may involve periods of 'writing silence' so people need a place they can retreat to and only re-join the group when they feel ready to do so. Each person should invest in a favourite pen and a new writing book or journal. Some may prefer to use laptops, though these can prove trickier and less versatile for the gathering of leaves, drawings, leaflets, scraps and other useful writing debris - especially outside!
3. Fix a time and a place to meet.
You'll probably need 2-3 hours, though your first meeting may be shorter. Saturday morning 10am-12:30pm has proved popular. The place needs to suit writing. Groups have preferred plenty of stimulation, refreshments, quiet corners in which to write and a reasonably secluded place in which writing can be read aloud without embarrassment to yourselves or inconvenience to others. Some groups use classrooms and homes, others have found that public museums and galleries - parks, woods and riverbanks in the summer - are all ideal (see the gallery for ideas); there's usually a cafe and a corner where you can gather and re-gather - as well as plenty of space to wander about - and new things to see and hear which stimulate close observation and imagination - and may resonate with people's memories or concerns.
4. Plan a quick writing exercise to get people started - something to 'loosen up the writing muscles'.
This might be
- a list of words you are liking at the moment;
- a simple stem-structure such as 'I like ...'; 'I hate ...'
- it might be a 'scavenger hunt' of the place you are in - looking for things which respond to different words/ideas;
- it might be shared objects, places, people, events, pictures or texts to discuss or write free responses to;
- it might be free-writing without stopping for 5 minutes.
There are lists of ideas elsewhere on the site. It is worth agreeing beforehand whether this 'quick writing exercise' will be shared or not - and who will lead it. It is often good to have a shared AND a private piece. In that way people can get into the habit of trusting each other with instant responses, and of letting other, more considered, writing 'brew' inside them for a while. Sometimes it is good to share a few words, but let people keep their more immediate extended thoughts private - at least until you have learnt to trust each other and agreed how people will respond to each other. The duration of these quick writing exercises, often in the comfort of a cafe, varies. Most groups have found 20-40 minutes about right - depending on the time you have for a more sustained burst of writing - and allowing time for sharing afterwards.
5. Decide the main writing activity.
Most groups have found this is best left to the individual to decide. However, at first, some writers may appreciate some guidance such as:
- extend your writing from one of the first exercises - take a word, idea or phrase as a starting point;
- take a collection of words and see how they resonate with what you find;
- write in voices or from a particular perspective - what the woman in the picture was really thinking; how the artefact came to be here; what the tree remembers;
- use snatches of overheard conversations or 'found' writing to launch you into your own writing;
- find an object/picture/view that interests you and write about it twice, moving your writing position/perspective to do so - once from one point of view, once from another (some people call this exercise 'near and far')
6. Agree where and when you will re-gather to share.
Many people are very nervous about sharing their writing at first, hampered often by a history of hastily delivered external judgements while their emotional state was still raw. Others may seek critical responses and can get impatient with unfocused praise. Understanding these differences is critical to the health of any group - particularly for young writers in a classroom. NWP groups have promoted each writer's authority to share only when ready.
Confidence in your own 'authentic' writing voice can be hard to come by, but will not necessarily be advanced by conforming to other people's ideas of some 'standard'. It can be good, therefore, to 'silence the critic in your head' (Claire Steele 2012) and just write quickly without stopping or adjusting or editing too much. Of course, it's valuable to revise and reorder, to pick your words carefully, to expand on certain moments and delete others; even to re-order whole passages for greater clarity and 'patterning'. But there will time for those things later. Some people find that too much time spent agonising at the beginning over the perfect crafting of the opening sentence, can develop into an unhealthy 'displacement' activity in which little fluent writing takes place, ideas are still being talked about rather than written. Trust that the act of writing - 'playing' with writing, if you like - will supply you with answers to those problems which may, to start with, seem uncertain. It's important to explore the medium and trust the process. During writing, when you are alone with your thoughts and the page, memories surface, thoughts erupt, directions shift, voices discover themselves unexpectedly, in ways which can be quite different from how you may have 'told' the story before. Some things proceed by doing, not by planning (or procrastinating). There will be surprises.
How you share will emerge from individuals' wishes. However, most groups have found it useful, at first, to
- share thoughts about the process -
- how easy it was to decide on direction - where the ideas came from
- what emerged unexpectedly,
- whether there are places where the writer got stuck, or places where the writing flowed more readily - there may be phrases or ideas that people are ready to share, even if they are not yet ready to read the whole piece,
- what the writer would like to do next with their writing - with whom they would like to share it, if at all
- when people are ready to share, model attentive listening to tone and content (it helps to hear the writing before you see it),
- withhold judgement - feeding back about the shape of the piece, where it started, how it developed, what feelings and thougts it evoked
- feed back about the words, expressions, patterns and ideas which resonated - however personally ('that reminds me of ...)
- ask questions about the process - how easy it was to decide, anything else the writer thinks about what they've written - how they might wish to develop the writing.
This process may be better in pairs at first, but where the group is possible it can be fascinating to read around the group and hear what different writng has emerged during the session from similar stimuli.
More established groups have also used these sessions to share writing which has been written outside the group meetings. This may well require much longer discussion and may be more easily managed through individually agreed writing partnerships. Members of the group may agree to take turns to 'present' their writing, or provide copies for others to discuss. Online sharing can help this process happen over time. In such discussion, some groups practise referring to 'the writer' in the third person, while the writer herself/himself listens without commenting. This means that observations can be received less personally. Discussions provide feedback to the writer about how voice, values and effects emerge from choices about structures, patterns, register and vocabulary, and from resonances with other texts.
7. Keep meeting and writing and sharing and reflecting.
Most group leaders have found it productive - at some point - and it doesn't need much prompting from teachers - to ask people what they think the implications are for what we might do in the classroom. NWP, however, begins with supporting teachers as writers, reflecting on the process for themselves first. There are resources to help group leaders with that. It is certainly well worth teachers reflecting on their own writing histories - and their own writing journeys once they have been involved in the project for a few months.
NWP has also developed prompt sheets to help teachers interview and observe the young writers whom they teach. Part of the research activities of NWP is to gather evidence from classrooms and to publish our findings. Group leaders and others may wish to contact research and publications members of the NWP executive when they feel ready to share.
It will also be necessary for each group leader to attend one of the termly NWP meetings or NATE's annual conference at which ideas for research, publication and project development are shared.
When you've met for a while, you might like to enhance your group by writing together online.
If you'd like some support in launching a new NWP writing group, please contact Simon Wrigley: [email protected]