The Sound of Pencils on the Page: Freewriting in a Junior High School Classroom
Issue: Vol 6 No. 3 (2014)
Journal: Writing & Pedagogy
Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics
DOI: 10.1558/wap.v6i3.555
Abstract:
Many writers find that freewriting is crucial to their work, and it has been around long enough to be part of the common language within composition studies. Freewriting is defined as the sustained, often timed, approach to writing-without-stopping. What is “free” is the direction the writer may take and the freeing of ideas through writing. Despite the recognized benefits of freewriting, it has seldom been studied in secondary classrooms, and teachers may be reluctant to implement it on a regular basis. This article presents case studies to examine what, if any, benefits are found when daily freewriting is implemented. Two junior high school classrooms were studied for a semester. Data included student freewriting samples, interviews with students, pre and post surveys on students’ views of writing, and observational notes. In addition to the qualitative data, a collection of quantitative data (fluency rates and pre and post writing apprehension scores) created a mixed-method study. Findings include many benefits from regular freewriting. The classroom routine provided a sense of peace in a very busy day; freewriting helped develop confidence and comfort with writing; student writing quality showed flexibility in thought and style of writing depending on topic; and students engaged with course content. Several implications are made for teachers, including the importance of carefully establishing the routine and expectation that students will write during this time. In addition, teacher modeling of the freewriting showed a positive influence on the students’ writing experiences.
Author: Amy Alison Lannin
References :
Alphin, E. M. (2000) Counterfeit Son. New York: Harcourt Children’s Books.
Belanoff, P. (1991) Freewriting: An aid to rereading theorists. In P. Belanoff, P.
Elbow, and S. Fontaine (eds.) Nothing Begins with N: New Investigations of
Freewriting 16–31. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Belanoff, P., Elbow, P. and Fontaine, S. (1991) Introduction. In P. Belanoff, P.
Elbow, and S. Fontaine (eds.) Nothing Begins with N: New Investigations of
Freewriting xi–xviii. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Binns, D. (2004) Effects of prior writing-to-learn instruction as students make
the transition from high school to college. Proquest Dissertations and Theses
Section 0099, Part 0681 (AAT No. 3146541).
Brande, D. (1981/1934) Becoming a Writer. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.
Britton, J., Burgess, T., Martin, N., McLeod, A. and Rosen, H. (1975) The
Development of Writing Abilities (11-18). London: Macmillan Education.
Budd, L. C. (1999) Relationships between initial writing and revisions that lead to
final drafts. Proquest Dissertations and Theses Section 6080, Part 0681 (ATT
No. 1396289).
Calkins, L. (1983) Lessons from a Child: On the Teaching and Learning of Writing.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Cheshire, B. W. (1982) The effects of freewriting on the fluency of student writers.
Proquest Dissertations and Theses Section 0079, Part 0530 (ATT No. 8304805).
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990) The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York:
Harper.
Daly, J. A. and Miller, M. D. (1975) The empirical development of an instrument
to measure writing apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English 9:
242–249. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40170632.
Elbow, P. (1981) Writing with Power. New York: Oxford University Press.
Elbow, P. (1998) Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
Elbow, P. (2012) Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Emig, J. (1994) Writing as a mode of learning. In R. E. Young and Y. Liu (eds.)
Landmark Essays On Rhetorical Invention in Writing 89–96. Davis, California:
Hermagoras Press.
Fowler, E. D. (2001) The Effects of Four Writing Strategies on Fifth Graders’
Production of Written Ideas Across Three Aims of Discourse. Research Report,
University of Texas – Austin. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED
458 596.
Fox, M. (1993) Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning,
and Living. San Diego: Harcourt.
Graves, D. (1983) Writing: Teachers and Children at Work. Portsmouth, New
Hampshire: Heinemann.
Gruwell, E. (1999) The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens
Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. New York:
Doubleday, Main Street Books.
Hardin, G. (1992) The threat of clarity. In M. Morain (ed.) Bridging Worlds
through General Semantics 52–60. San Francisco: International Society of
General Semantics.
Hillocks, G. (1986) Research on Written Composition: New Directions for
Teaching. Urbana, Illinois: National Conference on Research in English.
Mullin, A. E. (1991) Freewriting in the classroom: Good for what? In P. Belanoff,
P. Elbow and S. Fontaine (eds.) Nothing Begins with N: New Investigations of
Freewriting 139–147. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Murray, D. M. (1982) Learning by Teaching: Selected Articles on Writing and
Teaching. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Odell, L. (2000) Assessing thinking: Glimpsing a mind at work. In C. Cooper and
L. Odell (eds.) Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers’ Knowledge about Text,
Learning, and Culture 7–22. Urbana, Illinois: National Council the Teachers of
English.
Ong, W. J. (/2002/1982) Orality and Literacy: Technologizing of the Word. New
York: Routledge.
Newkirk, T. and Kittle, P. (2013) Children Want to Write. Portsmouth, New
Hampshire: Heinemann.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1997) Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions.
New York: The Guilford Press.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1995) Literature as Exploration (5th edition). New York:
Modern Language Association of America.
Smith, F. (1994) Writing and the Writer. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.