One of my writing mentors said that the best writers are the ones who give themselves the most permissions. I have been teaching gifted elementary students for the past eight of my 28 years of teaching. Gifted students, at least the ones I have taught, tend to be highly verbal. These young students come to me ready to write. They just need permission.
Today with the Common Core standards and the new testing systems (PARCC for us), teachers have become more and more fearful of creative writing. Writing is not fun anymore. It is a given on the test, so we must practice writing to a prompt using at least two texts as support. “Show text evidence” is a common critique written on my student’s reader responses.
Creativity relies on permission. I use writing workshop style. The students know the expectations; however, they are also free to roam around the room, to write in different mediums (paper and pencil or word processing), and to explore different forms.
One day I was asking my students to write a haiku poem. I introduced Laura Purdie Salas’ “Why-ku” poetry form. Some of my boys got together and created their own form. They called it “Psyku!” Here’s how Reed explained it on our kidblog site: “This is an out -of-the-world dumb type of writing. You just make up a topic and have it crazyfied! It can be something about a dumb person or a wacky topic.” The syllable count (which actually has a pattern to it) is 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 5, 7, 5, 8.
From Nigel, an original creator of the Psyku:
I can’t see. It’s dark.
OUCH!! A brick wall.
I can’t see. It’s dark.
I know I’m not blind.
I can’t see. It’s dark.
Maybe just a long blink.
I can’t see. It’s dark.
My glasses lenses are clear.
I can’t see. It’s dark.
Hold on. I just found the light switch.
I posted this wild and wacky poetry form on Poetry Friday and had seven poets respond with a Psyku! See the post and comments here. My students were elated. Their confidence was boosted sky high, and other students wanted to invent their own poetry forms as well.
From Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (who is no stranger to poetry challenges. She hosts a ditty challenge each month on her blog.)
Any questions?
Above is below.
Calm is uptight.
Inside is outside.
And wrong’s always right.
High-fives? Unheard of!
They’re now low-fives instead.
And all underwear
should be worn over the head.
We end at the start.
The start is the end. I’m hungry.
Trying on the forms of other writers gives students freedom to be creative. On Michelle’s site, Today’s Little Ditty, I read about J. Patrick Lewis’s poetry form called the zeno. I introduced this form to my students, and they came back to it again and again. Writing about murmurations, Emily chose this form and used Animoto to further express her thoughts in video form.
My students come into my class with amazing abilities. They have minds full of imaginative ideas. I open up the door and allow them to let go, to try on new words and forms, to experiment with technology, and to be inventive. I believe that creativity is the lacking ingredient in the standards and standardized testing. And creativity will be the savior of our society. All a gifted writer needs is permission. After that, they will amaze you.
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. Margaret has a Masters degree in Gifted Education and certification by the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards. She received the Donald Graves Award for teaching writing from NCTE in 2014. Her young readers novel, Blessen, was published by Border Press in April, 2012. She blogs regularly at http://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
Margaret,
I find that my top kiddos and my top teachers have something in common. They BOTH need permission to “let something go”. Freedom to create is powerful; not helpful when structures fight against that very intellectual freedom that is so necessary!
Thanks for sharing the student work!
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Bravo for infusing technology and creativity into your teaching, Margaret. I think gifted children, in particular, need permission often to spread their wings and take risks. How marvelous for them that you give them just the opportunity.
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We all seem to think we need permission to do creative things with students these days. It is nice to know someone is passing the gift of permission to be creative on to her students. I hope more folks — at all levels and with all student populations — can find a way to do this.
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Margaret~
So refreshing to hear you talk about permission in writing. I agree we all need to give ourselves and our students permission. I teach first graders who I like to believe are still fresh and work without (society or school imposed) boundaries, but this is not always the case. I have had writers who appear to need support getting started or generating a topic, then just as we discover a “sweet spot” an idea that sparks them I hear. “Oh, am I allowed to do that?” This puzzles me as I have never given them a writing prompt or demanded a style or genre. First grade allows us to be creative and free, we have permission. These writers who are already cautioned in first grade concern me more than any of my other writers.
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I got a first grader this year. He was the one who made me realize that they need us to open up the creativity door. He would give me one sentence answers full of school acceptable language. When finally he realized that I wanted him to respond from his own thoughts and ideas, he took off. He became the one to ask, “Are we writing today?” Ah, music.
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Margaret, I love the idea that gifted writers need permission. Actually, that’s what all writers need, I suppose… just to give ourselves permission. Thanks so much for sharing your thinking today on Two Writing Teachers!
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I sometimes hesitate to use the term “gifted” because so many of the methods I use with them are good for all children.
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Wow- this is such an interesting post. You’ve got me thinking about so many things. “Psyku” – what a great writing adventure for your students.
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“All a gifted writer needs is permission. After that, they will amaze you.”
I learned this this school year and it has changed everything!
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I think sometimes we rely too much on the lesson plan. I tend to veer off the road quite easily and my students love leading me.
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“Creativity relies on permission.” So true! Not just for gifted kids, but all children. School by it’s very nature takes this away. You open up the world of writing for your students while channelling that creativity with your expectations. No small task! Your students (and you) continually amaze me.
Julieanne
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We just have to pay attention. They want to be creative. If we notice the moments when light shines, it’s likely to shine again and again. Students rely on us to tell them what is “right” and “good.”
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Don’t we all wish that every student could have this opportunity. I’m happy you give your students the chance (permission?) to write and create their own ideas. They do wonderful things.
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I agree that students need to allowed freedom to write. Too many of my struggling students don’t like to write not only because it’s difficult, but also because they are afraid its going to be marked up and its so prescribed.
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I don’t see how test-generated writing is authentic. Real writers rewrite and rewrite. We need to give students opportunities to try out without fear of judgement.
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Wow. This post was filled with such richness: your beliefs on what writers need in this narrow, test driven time; different poetry styles to try and invent!; students seeing themselves as mentors for teachers (another wow!); the seamless use of media such as Animoto paired with writing. I’m rather blown away! Do you teach only writing to gifted students across grade levels or do you teach one grade of gifted students all subjects? Such a powerful post with many things to come back to.
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I teach gifted students in grades 1-6. We do an academic pull-out program, so I am able to schedule my students for the ELA (Reading and Writing) block. I usually work with multiple grade levels at one time.
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“Creativity relies on permission.” YES!!!! I completely agree with every syllable in this post!! I’ve found that the students who come to me with much academic success struggle with writing creatively. They are looking for the “right” answer. Nudging them and giving them permission to find their own right answer is tough, but so worth it! What a creative form of poetry and beautiful poems penned by your amazing creative writers! Thank you for sharing…I am so inspired!
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Michelle, interesting how you mentioned the struggling writers because I was thinking sometimes they are the ones handed the worksheets while the more gifted writers get opportunities for creativity. Margaret’s amazing post reminds us of the power of freedom, choice, digital literacies and an amazing teacher as a model and guide!
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Students (especially gifted ones) are teacher pleasers and want to perform to your expectations. When you expect out of the box, creative thinking, they can be thrown off course. This is another subject for another post, but perfectionism is a difficult thing to overcome.
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That “It’s dark” poem is pretty awesome.
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