Even though there is something that draws me to the stereotype of the alcoholic slovenly writer, I went for a walk this morning because I know that blood and oxygen flow helps ideas and images move. I encourage kids who are stuck in their writing to walk around the room if they are having trouble writing. I have wondered if there is a sensory integration process in effect–swinging our arms, alternating our legs, helps our system organize our thoughts.
There was a student who wrote in his journal that kids moved away from him when he sat at the table; he wished they didn’t know he was tagged special ed. He volunteered to share that writing with the class. After that bravery, he was stuck, no more to write. I suggested he take a walk around the room to see if his ideas would start coming to him again. His teacher said, “You don’t usually get to do that so take advantage of it now.” She was nervous about what could happen if we encouraged him to “wander.” What did happen for him? He came back to his desk after a couple circuits of the room and drew an intricate picture with captions to go with his writing. Before the bell rang, he wrote in his writer’s notebook a short list of ideas for the next day.
Nelson Agren (Man with a Golden Arm) said, “I always think of writing as a physical thing,” Belgian writer, George Simenon, who wrote over two hundred books said, “I need to work with my hands. I would like to carve my novel in a piece of wood.” Hemingway reportedly used to have the feeling that his fingers did much of the thinking for him. After his vision became too weak for the typewriter, Thurber wrote very little for a number of years. Source: Paris Review
Before kids sit down to write quietly, we often take a writer’s walk as a class, as short as five minutes, no longer than 15. Each student has a little writer’s pad and pen to record what they see, hear, smell, feel and associated thoughts. Actual experience is easier to write about than abstractions. Then we can go back to our paper or computers and start the process of organizing content into the structure of the genre we are learning to write– with our minds full of images and ideas to communicate.
I wonder what would happen if kids were allowed to walk around the room every fifteen minutes while taking hours of standardized tests. I can help with writing but my idea for standardized tests will stay a question.