Bud the Teacher

    Here’s my most recent column for the local paper.  Hope it’s useful.  Are any of you participating in NaNoWriMo?  I’d love to hear your stories.  I thought about joining this year — but my life is just too full.  Besides - -I’m doing the nonfiction version of NaNoWriMo through this blog.

—-

 So often at
school, one of the biggest challenges of teaching writing is not to help
students with the finer points of writing so much as it is to help them get
started actually writing. Once a student
has an idea that they care about, the writing comes easier, and we then have an
authentic reason to discuss writing with students.

 That can be
tricky, though, as every student is just a little bit different. What is motivation for one is not always
motivation for all. To get all students
writing, and writing more, I need a really good hook, something to get everyone
started. The real world is no
different. Many people want to write,
but need a reason to do so. Luckily, the
month of November provides just such an opportunity, and it costs absolutely nothing.

National Novel Writing Month,
founded in 1999, is “a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought
fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and
effort involved,” according to the sponsoring group’s website. The group is expecting 60,000 participants
worldwide this year, all passionate people who want to get some writing
done. 

Robin Dean is the regional
coordinator for NaNoWriMo 2005 for

Fort Collins

. She says that about fifty

Fort

residents are
participating in this year’s event. In
an e-mail, she told me that, “there is an astonishing diversity of backgrounds,
interests, and writing experience among people who attempt NaNoWriMo, which is
a big part of the fun.”

I discovered the event thanks to
one of my students, now graduated, when she began her first novel last
year. She’s at work on her second
now. 

The whole goal of NaNoWriMo is that
every participant write a novel of at least 50,000 words. The group’s website consists of writing
resources, forums, a handy word counter progress bar, and a meeting place for
frustrated or excited writers to get together and discuss their work
together. “Winning” the contest means
that you make the monthly goal of 50,000 words. No prizes, no grades, and certainly no test scores.

It’s an English teacher’s dream. Do
I expect that every novel produced by participants in NaNoWriMo to be the
finest literary creation ever to see light of day? Of course not, and neither do the NaNoWriMo
organizers. However, seven participants have managed to find publishers for the
work they produced during previous years’ events.

But it’s not about that. It’s about taking time to write and about
practicing writing.

While classroom instruction in
writing should take time to focus on grammar and the details of writing well,
we also need to take time to honor the biggest reason that people write – their
passion for the subject and for the writing itself. NaNoWriMo encourages and focuses on passion,
and asks writers to let their minds and imaginations run wild through their
words. Punctuation can wait until the
second draft. 

Too often, schools and teachers are
too focused on the details and teach the passion right out of students’
writing. When we do that, we fail.

 It is not
too late to join in the fun, if you are feeling up to the challenge. Families might even want to try NaMoWriMo
together. The practice will be good for
everyone’s writing abilities. The group
has a page, called the Young Writers Program, set up for the under-18
crowd. It even features a weekly
vocabulary lesson along with other motivators for students.

Parents and students can use
NaMoWriMo and the resources available on their website as great writing
starters. Pick a topic and get started
writing today. You might even discover a
budding novelist lurking in your family. Wouldn’t that be something to be thankful for and to share around the
Thanksgiving table?

Bud Hunt is on the board of the
Colorado State University Writing Project, teaches in

Longmont

and blogs at www.budtheteacher.com.