Learners Write

Writing is hard. It is work that requires thinking, planning, organizing, and remembering all at once, while at the same time requiring attention to spelling and sometimes even to the shape of the letters in a word. Writers have to push down the annoying chatter in their minds about capitals, periods, paragraphing, and other mechanics that threaten to overwhelm their ability to think, plan, and remember. Add to this the flow of emotions about the subject you are dealing with, doubts about your own abilities, and worries about what people will think about the finished product—even as I write this paragraph, I am aware of all those thoughts and feelings. I am ready to get up and go on a permanent coffee break!

Yet I ask adult literacy learners to do this hard work. I know from experience how easy it is to get distracted, to give up, or to take a break and never come back to a piece of writing, so I do everything I can to start and keep the flow of writing going.

Begin by asking learners to write something. Depending on the abilities of the learners, it might be a sentence, a paragraph or two, or a longer story or essay. When I make a writing assignment I suggest a topic, but I always begin by saying, “If you came with something in your mind that you want to write, that is what you should write today. Ignore my suggestion and start writing.”

If the learners are very basic writers, you might be doing the Language Experience Approach (LEA) with them, where you do the writing for them as they tell their stories.

Even learners who usually write for themselves may need a scribe occasionally. I am always willing to write or type for any learner who is telling a story close to the heart, whose emotions interfere with the mechanics of writing. I will scribe for a learner who gets tired midway through a piece, or who has to leave early. My goal is to have them get something down on paper.

Safety First 

When I give the prompt, I remind learners about keeping themselves as safe as possible: When you start to think about this topic, you know there are many roads it could take you down. Some of those roads will lead you to dangerous or unhappy places, others will bring you happiness or something more neutral. Choose the road you want to go down before you start to write. Then write about things that will take you down your chosen road.