The Nuts and Bolts of Preparing Students for NaNoWriMo

This is part of a SERIES of posts about engaging my students in National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo, a challenge to complete the manuscript for a novel in the course of a month.
 
NaNoWriMo's winding down and I've been continuously impressed by my sophomore students' level of energy and excitement around completing their first-ever novels. My last post in this series will include their voices and their individual experiences-- the positive ones as well as a few that may serve as cautionary tales (if you're considering trying this yourself). In the meantime, these next few posts will focus primarily on the instructional planning and the supports that were in place before, during, and after November's write-fest. This one details the prep leading up to the first day of NaNoWriMo. Enjoy!
LATE SEPTEMBER PREP


Phase 1: The Hero's Journey

• Students were introduced to Joseph Campbell's hero's journey as well as some Jungian archetypes common to ancient and modern narratives. 

• Each step and archetype of the hero's journey was explored through multiple forms of storytelling such as mythology, literature, poetry, song lyrics, and films.

• Students were challenged to reflect on their own lives relative to the hero's journey and the archetypes that impact them as hero's of their own story.

OCTOBER PREP

Phase 2: Genre Study

• Using a Google Form, students generated a list of their favorite genres of fiction.  They then voted on the one genre from the list that they'd use for a genre study and how the hero's journey unfolds in the narrative.  This year's choice: fantasy fiction.

• Individuals proposed novels to use for the study by creating "billboards" and adding them to a class slideshow so that students could vote for the top six choices. 

• Book clubs (literature circles) were formed for each of the 6 novels. Each book club determined their own reading schedule, developed a contract conveying group norms, members' roles, and expectations, and met at least once a week to discuss the novel.  Students were given class time to read (individually or in groups, depending on the group's agreed-upon norms) and annotate with the purpose of identifying stages of the hero's journey and whatever archetypes they could find.

• Book clubs were tasked with completing a slideshow by the end of the three weeks that detailed the fantasy novel's hero journey and archetypes.  This essentially created the conditions that made group discussion more purposeful in that members had to agree to which hero stages they would include in their group's presentation.

Phase 3: Hello NaNoWriMo!

• As groups engaged in their genre study, they were given a number of writing prompts for creating their own hero journeys.  These "zero drafts" were shared on their blogs and during "open mic" sessions at the end of class, which-- in turn, fostered a supportive culture for sharing and providing constructive feedback on ideas. 

WriteAbout.com is where our blogs live

• NaNoWriMo was introduced by sharing fun videos about the annual event created by experienced NaNoWriMo participants. 

• A parent letter was sent home introducing NaNoWriMo with a request for prize donations (for word wards, goal achieving, etc)

• Students engaged in lessons and activities provided by the NaNoWriMo site along with a free student booklet. I used most of it but modified the lessons so that they were on Google docs rather than an edit-able pdf file.

• As the Book Clubs went into their final stretch (mid-October), students chose one of their stories (from their collection of zero drafts) to further develop by creating character profiles and by experimenting with different ways of organizing plot outlines.

LAST WEEK OF OCTOBER 

• Students were introduced to the NaNoWriMo site as well as the Young Writer's Program site (geared specifically toward teens).

• Students had a couple of practice writing sprints to guage how many words they could type within the span of an hour, and-- using those numbers, determined which writing goal they would choose: 15K, 30K, or 50K, which was then broken down into daily word count goals (500, 1000, or 1667).

• Calendars were distributed to help time manage and keep track of word counts and goals.

• Contracts were signed (the contracts NaNoWriMo provides in the student booklets are both funny and reassuring to first-timers).

• In the final days of October, having already developed the concept and characters for their novels, students created book covers that included graphics and an enticing blurb for the back cover. These were posted on a discussion board to generate excitement and to provide positive feedback as a writing community.

Example Book Cover

• On the last day of October, students were encouraged to bring a writing totem to school for the start of NaNoWriMo (totem = good luck charm).  Some of the totems were profoundly personal. Nicole chose to write the story of her grandfather's army days and so her totem was his actual dog tag (more stories like that to come...)

Students' totems from both classes

I hope this has served to help rather than overwhelm. As soon as I have some time freed up, I'll add links to most of what's listed above.  In the meantime, if there's any particular detail you'd like me to elaborate on in a separate post or a resource you'd like to have access to, please let me know in the comments.

Next: Instructional Supports Provided to Students during NaNoWriMo

Diving Into NaNoWriMo as a First-Timer (Whilst Holding a Hundred Young Writers' Hands)

This is part of a SERIES of posts about engaging my students in National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo, a challenge to complete the manuscript for a novel in the course of a month.


Happy NaNoWriMo Eve!  

Tomorrow marks the first day of the 18th annual National Novel Writing Month, a "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach" to writing the complete first draft of a novel in 30 days. 

I've only seventeen regrets in my life and they are that I've missed NaNoWriMo for the past seventeen years. I'm done procrastinating and, b'gosh, I'm going to write that novel that's been knockin' on my belly's door, the one that costs me hundreds of dollars each year in therapy co-pays for ignoring it!  Time to clear up this creative constipation.  This is happening.

I'll be a newbie-- not just as a novel writer, but as a teacher who's holding the hands of her entire sophomore Humanities class as we all take the proverbial leap en masse.

Oh, geesh...I'm realizing the full weight of this endeavor as I write.  Goddess help me.  Rubber duckie totem, where art thou?  

Ah, there you are. I'll be okay now.  So I'm a little petrified.  That's normal, right?  It's probably good that, whilst modeling the writing process, I'm able to also model the fear and trepidation that comes with setting a daily word count of 1667 and committing to a total of fifty thousand words [rubs duckie].

I'm thinking if I crank out a few short blogs each week to share my experience, it might be useful to other first-time educators who are going in as blind as I am.  

It won't be a perfect novel.  It won't be even the least bit pretty. Hell, it might not even get done, but if I'm asking a hundred teens to try it and I'm cheering them on and lighting all kinds of fires beneath their feet, the least I could do is jump in there with them so we can all suffer, bleed, laugh, and celebrate together.  

It's the write thing to do.  

Part II: The Nuts and Bolts of Preparing My Students for NaNoWriMo 

Differentiate with Digital Tools: Five Free Web Apps

This is a presentation I gave for my district-sponsored Digital Learning Conference.  

I love sharing at this local conference each year because it's teachers teaching teachers! If it helps others, all the better.  

The link to the slideshow is HERE should you want to comment or ask questions. 

Idea: Easing into the Launch of a Class Blog

I stumbled upon a process for launching a class blog that was non-threatening to struggling writers and yet, still engaged the more confident scribes in the room.

For our first post, I had students collect ten images (self-created or not) representing different aspects of their lives or personalities.

They then created a slideshow with the images and embedded it into the main page of their blog.  The only requirements: (1) images must be "appropriate" enough to show a roomful of grand-folks, and (2) no text.   No text piques readers' curiosity and prompts them to comment with their questions, thereby inspiring the blogger to draft another post in response.

The next day, I had students create a list of "Top Ten" (any topic of their choosing). I used my own blog as an exemplar, sharing my list of "Top Ten Moments of Bliss" (in no particular order):

1. Snowboarding with Tommy, my nephew
2. Receiving my Bachelor's degree- my whole family was there.
3. Falling in love and realizing it for the first time
4. Rock climbing, making it to the top, breathing, and then turning around to take in the view
5. Biking down the Sandia Crest trail
6. Backpacking around Cuba, up to the mountain valleys (lush)
7. Bungee jumping off of a New Zealand mining bridge (where bungee jumping first originated)
8. Walking along the Nova Scotian coastline
9. Waking up on mornings after a big trek along the New Zealand coast (Akaroa)
10. Floating on a river through a cave- looking up and seeing glow worms (they looked like stars!)

I asked the class which item on my list was most intriguing to them and conveyed how I could use their feedback to determine the topic for my next post.

Happy blogging!
P.S. I use Google Sites as a platform for our class blog.
If you'd like a template that you can simply copy, leave a comment and I'll kick it your way.

Idea: 30-Day Challenge Blog

Matt Cutts, in his short TED Talk, shares how he was inspired to change one little thing in his life and commit to it for at least 30 days. It changed him in ways he didn't anticipate.  Since my advisory students were setting academic goals, I decided to share Cutts' Talk with them since it validated my own advice about how changing habits takes time and a commitment to being consistent over a period of time.

I love moonlighting as an advisor.  Sure, I'm an englush teecher at heart, but I chose that path as a career because it held the most potential for positively impacting the lives of others, and being an advisor significantly ups that mojo.  Also, much of what we address is stuff I need reminding about to keep my own house in order, which brings me back to the 30-Day Challenge.

What I hadn't anticipated was how inspired my students would be after veiwing Cutts' Talk.  They proposed we each take on a goal for the next month just as Cutts had done.  I loved the idea, especially since it furthered my own advisory agenda! 

That evening, I built a group blog using a Google Site as the platform.  First we used it to brainstorm ideas for goals, then once they were decided, we chronicled our attempts to either rid ourselves of our habits or develop them.   We spent roughly ten minutes at the start of each class crafting our posts and providing supportive feedback to one another.  Those students who had a hard time deciding on a goal found it easier to piggy-back off of an idea that was already started, like turning in work on time, or drinking a certain amount of water each day.  

Shortly after, another advisory class joined us and our blogroll grew to 37, including the other teacher, who had a newborn infant and felt the family pet was being neglected, so her daily goal was to spend at least 5 minutes playing with her dog.  

Even though the challenge was optional, most of the students joined the blog by the second week, having been inspired by the other class joining us or by the attention given to bloggers whose pursuits from the very first day became a topic of discussion among peers. 

Looking back, I can see there was a wonderful burst of organic energy around this endeavor.  Teachers know this kind of momentum is pure gold when it comes directly from the students themselves, inspired by their own ideas and interests.  Still, there are times when that energy requires the invisible hand of the facilitator to ensure the flow, intensity, and direction of the energy so that it's sure to be sustained.  And that's where I kind of dropped the ball.

As the month rolled on, it became difficult for some to keep up with their daily posts, especially during the weekend when it wasn't a part of their usual day to post to a blog.  A few students had set some high-maintenance goals and started falling behind.  Admittedly, I was a slacker myself when it came to maintaining consistency since I let the blog time slide if there was a school-wide event or grade-wide activity we had to complete.  The other advisor's dog got the ball thrown a few times but by the end of the month, it was clear that tug-time on the rope would remain a rare treat. 

There was definitely  a loss of momentum by the time we reached the finish line. Many had already dropped out of the race and watched as the remaining goal-setters hobbled in.  Regardless, throughout the challenge, some really cool things emerged that helped me to see it as something worth replicating and improving upon.  

Something I hadn't anticipated was how much (and how quickly) I could learn about my students through their chronicles.  The goals they set served as a formative assessment, conveying their interests, values, and a sense of their personalities.  

A few wanted to publish a photograph each day, and their pictures were like a window into their worlds.  Oftentimes, I was taken aback by the beauty they had captured, which conveyed a special connectedness to the natural world. 

One of Noah's photos

Others set athletic goals, like jogging a mile each day or doing something at daily dance practice that would push them further toward a longer-term goal.   Dominic went from a 7:18 mile to ending the month at 6:27.  Ashley wanted to be sure and say something nice to someone each day. She told her mom how much she meant to her and she blogged that her mom wanted to know what she did wrong.   Ivan set out to compliment five people a day, telling them how much he admired them for their humor or athleticism. Curious about the reaction he kept getting, which was a mix of suspicion and gratitude, he began wondering if people, across the board, were under-appreciated.

Christina decided she'd "try not to be mean" to other people, and in the process, she realized it wasn't as hard as she thought.  In my comment to her post, I wrote, "Could it be that being more mindful of our own actions toward others helps us become better human beings?  Does it help us see ourselves in a light that's closer to who we actually are?  Or is it a way toward becoming more compassionate, toward others and toward ourselves?"

Rayne decided to go meatless and curse-less.  It didn't last the month, but after a couple of weeks, he noted there was a change in his mood and wasn't sure if it was the lack of meat or expletives that was doing it.

Mikaela tried to break her habit of saying, "I'm sorry," something her friends told her she did all the time.  She wrote about how they began helping her with the challenge since, even though she tried, she couldn't catch herself saying it. It compelled her to reflect on where it was coming from, which lead to some interesting insights around her own self-concept.

So, I'm going to try this again at the start of the Spring semester with the same advisory group, and I'll build on what worked and change what didn't.

What worked:

• Making it optional and not attaching a grade to it
• Inviting other advisories- perhaps this time, inviting the entire sophomore class!
• Supportive commenting

What didn't:

• Inconsistency.  We'll make it a for-sure start-of-advisory ritual, no matter what's on our plate.  
• Weekend lag.  We'll decide, as a group, to give ourselves a break over the weekends, unless otherwise compelled to keep it up.  I'll try to be a model for the "keep it up" crowd.

What I'll add:

• Reflecting on the experience of the first round so that we can address goals that might've been unrealistic or impractical, what worked, what didn't (their perspective)
• Adding resources on the blog for generating ideas and how to set realistic goals, with students' contributions
• End of writing time share-out to the class, for those who'd like to, or for those who'd like to give kudos to someone deserving whose blog they read
• Amp up the public spin on it with students' permission, sharing kudos on our school's Facebook page.
• Discussion around the quality of comments and the effects they have on bloggers' motivation 
• Allowing for students to set their blogs to "private" if they want (Google Sites makes this possible)
• End-of-week celebration, in some form
• A reflective written piece, or a video blog for their ePortfolios: "take-aways" around goal-setting 
• End-of-month wrap-up party, and possibly the launch of a third round...?

Emmy's dog: "The most photographic dog ever!"

Idea: Prewriting Strategy- "List of Memories"

At the start of the year, I have students fold a piece of paper into six squares and choose from a list of categories to put into each of the boxes.  The categories are: happiest moments, saddest moments, most embarrassing, scariest, proudest, angriest, most regretful, etc.

They then list memories that fall under those categories- at least four to a box, and then afterwards, a star is placed next to the one memory in each box they would most like to write about.

In groups, writers share the lists and their peers help them decide on a second memory from each box that they would like them to write about (keeping the audience in mind). Those are starred, too.

For each day after, students begin the class by taking time to do a "zero draft" (no-risk) using one of the ideas from their list. Students share their zero drafts to elicit questions and comments written on stickies (we call them "writer's gold") which are placed on the draft for later use, should it be a piece the student chooses to take through the entire process.

Tech note: The last time I did this, students posted to our class blog. Peers responded online, oftentimes requesting the writer choose a topic from the list they were especially curious about.  The only thing I felt made it worth doing online was the larger audience (thus more feedback) for each of the writers.