Developing Stamina: Meet Writers Where They Are

At 5 am each school day, the alarm went off and I coaxed myself out of bed. Switching into my exercise clothes, then filling my water bottle, I worked out for about 30 minutes. For several years, daily exercise had become a part of my routine.

Then came the COVID-19 shutdown in March. Suddenly teaching from home, I faced the challenge (as so many of us did) of figuring out how to teach my third graders remotely. This involved hours of time sitting on the computer. My exercise routine was upended. Rather than put on my sneakers first thing in the morning, I woke up and walked straight to the computer, where I sat for a few hours getting all the work ready for the day. The time at home was consumed with trying to reach my 26 third graders remotely while also helping my own children navigate their online schooling and emotions. 

For many of our students, the school shutdown last spring resulted in interrupted and inconsistent learning. Not only were students taken out of their familiar school setting, many faced trauma with relatives and friends getting sick and passing away from COVID-19. Financial instability and emotional issues affected many families. While we are “back to school,” this looks different in every way from how it looked last year. Some children continue to learn remotely, some learn in a hybrid manner, and others are face-to face but with masks on and/or behind plastic shields.

The stamina I had for exercising needs to be rebuilt, as do all the routines and rituals that went into my daily habit of working out. So, too, with writing stamina for our students. We cannot expect students to pick up where they left off. We need to meet them where they are today. 

When we think of stamina, whether with exercise or writing, we might be tempted to think only of the moment – the moment of doing jumping jacks or moving the pencil across the paper. Yet, so much more goes into getting to that moment and then staying in that moment. Stay with me, as I compare trying to build up my stamina for daily movement to students growing in their stamina for writing. (For the full Google slide presentations with links, click here.)

 

I’m working my way to being an active person again, building up muscles that have atrophied and working on becoming fitter and stronger. It won’t happen overnight, but I will improve with daily practice, with a community supporting me, with mentors, and with modifications that allow me to participate at the level that fits my current abilities. Our writers will get there, too. They need daily practice, mentors, a community that supports them, scaffolds to help them bridge from their current level to the standards, and celebrations of their process and effort. 

How are you helping your writers build back their stamina?

Some more stamina resources:

Melanie Meehan’s video

Resources Teachers Can Share With Families: Increasing Writing Stamina and Volume at Home

Stamina in our Youngest Writers 

Building Stamina in Primary Writers 

Ten Possible Minutes: Sacred Writing

 

Giveaway Info: 

• This giveaway is for a copy of ONE of the following books (winner’s choice): A Teacher’s Guide to Writing Workshop Essentials: Time, Choice, Response by Katherine Bomer and Corinne Arens, Every Kid a Writer: Strategies That Get Every Kid Writing by Kelly Boswell, or Joy Write: Cultivating High-Impact, Low-Stakes Writing by Ralph Fletcher. Thanks to Heinemann for donating one of these to the winner of this giveaway. (You must have a U.S.A. mailing address — Sorry, no FPOs — to win a print copy of the book of your choosing. If you have an international mailing address, then you will receive an electronic copy.)
• For a chance to win this copy of one of these books, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, November 8th at 6:00 p.m. EST. Marina Rodriguez will use a random number generator to pick the winner’s commenter number. Their name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, November 9th.
• Please leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Marina can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Heinemann will ship the book to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)
• If you are the winner of the book, Marina will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS – MEET WRITERS. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn’t received within five days of the giveaway announcement.