Book of Choice: Bird by Bird/first third

Book of Choice: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamontt
Three Big Ideas
Bird by Bird offers some down to earth advice applicable to both my personal writing and writing in the classroom. In Part One: “Writing-Short Assignments” Anne Lamontt offers some good advice on keeping it small. She tells of her one inch picture frame which sits on her desk as a reminder to think small. She says this reminds her that she only has to “write as much as I can see through a one inch picture frame”. Thinking in terms of a very “small” place to write is more manageable than a world of choices. My students that I work with in the Resource Room context usually have a huge story to tell and they tend to do it with few details and with just a few sentences. If I choose to have them narrow their focus and write with a closer lens, I know they can be encouraged to include more details. In my own personal writing, the closer lens will give me the opportunity to focus on detail as well.
In “Shitty First Drafts”, she shares something a friend shared with her. The first draft is the down draft—get the writing down on paper. The second draft is the up draft—fix it up—say it more accurately. The third draft is the dental draft—check every tooth and inspect them well. The implications for my classroom would be that my students need to see the writing process modeled. I need to “talk” though the process as it is modeled. They also need to have opportunities to revise their work to become good writers. The implication for my own personal writing is that I shouldn’t get discouraged if it doesn’t go well the first or second writing. There may be some part of a writing that I can revise and expand into a new writing. The important thing is that I am writing.
The section on perfectionism offered some good advice. I agree that perfectionism could ruin your writing. Some of my students just can’t get a start on their writing. They will just sit and think. They are their own worst enemy. Just getting the words on paper is what they need to focus on. As Ann Lamontt shares, “Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground—you can discover new treasures under all those piles”. One change I need to make in the writing program in my class is that I need to implement student portfolios. I currently keep folders of student work samples, but they are pieces I select and keep. I want the students to have access to their own portfolios so they can see their own growth and revisit their work. It would also work well to have them take a section of a previous writing and expand it as a future assignment. I also need to keep a portfolio myself for the same purposes.
The first third of Anne Lamontts book has offered a humorous look at the writing process. I love her stories about her family and her writing experiences. I look forward to hearing the rest of her story.