Unlucky Lists:
Raising Non-Writers and Non-Artists
S. Rebecca Leigh
In my work as a literacy educator at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, I often walk by a poster at the elevators that makes me pause and think: "Unlucky Arithmetic: Thirteen Ways to Raise a Nonreader." Published by The Horn Book, authors Dean Schneider and Robin Smith on their list "recommend" things like no reading in bed or listening to books on tape - that's cheating don't you know?
Whenever I look at this poster, I think to myself that there should be a writer's version and an artist's version, since my passion in working with children is about understanding multi-modal literacy. Inspired, I began a couple lists of my own. With apologies to Schneider and Smith, here are my recommendations for raising "non-writers" and "non-artists." I hope they help you look at your teaching in new ways, or spark good discussions with colleagues about how children learn.
The lists follow below, and you can also download formatted versions for printing at these links. The "Non-Artists" download is here:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/unluckyartists.pdf
The "Non-Writers" download is here:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/unluckywriters.pdf
Unlucky Arithmetic for Teachers: Thirteen Ways to Raise a Non-Writer
1. Tell children that writers write at desks, not under them and most certainly not on the carpet.
2. Correct all misspellings, including letters spelled backwards; Howe kaan wee reed mistaaks? Puuulease.
3. Squash the talk. Writing is for learning vocabulary and sentence structure. Talk is time away from thinking about their writing.
4. Absolutely, positively no writing-in-the-style-of another author. Children have to find their own voice.
5. Don't encourage drawing in writer's notebooks. They're for writing, obviously. If you allow drawing though, ignore the scribbles. There's no story there. Promise.
6. Once kids learn how to spell, throw out the markers and crayons. Only use pencil. That way, mistakes can be erased.
7. There is a time for reading and a time for writing. By no means mix the two. It can get confusing.
8. Limit writing on the computer. Serious writing only happens on the page.
9. Under no circumstances talk about the relationship between art and language in picture books. It's right there; they can figure it out, surely.
10. Lined paper is for writing, unlined paper is for drawing. Get it right. If you don't, who will?
11. Children are writers-in-waiting; you already know how to write so you don't need to keep a writer's notebook, they do.
12. Make sure children revise and edit on days set aside for revision and editing. There is a writerly plan - stick to it.
13. Avoid showing children your own writing (if you do it); they're more interested in published writing, not yours. Come on.
Unlucky Arithmetic for Teachers: Thirteen Ways to Raise a Non-Artist
1. Point out nonsensical drawings (ducks don't wear shoes) and nonsensical color choices (grass is never lavender).
2. Beware of children with paint-encrusted hands and ink-dyed fingers; they're classic signs of troublemakers.
3. Children should critique their own work, not each others'.
4. Squash the talk; it disrupts the creative process. Besides, real artists work in quiet.
5. Encourage sketching with one kind of pencil - the regular kind. Once you start accumulating varieties, you'll only encourage tool pickiness. A pencil is a pencil.
6. Absolutely, positively no creating in-the-style-of another artist. Children have to find their own voice.
7. Context Schmontext. They don't need to know how art is relevant to their lives. Let them make stuff. Period.
8. Always show a model. Granted, individuality is nice but children need to see what their end product should look like. (Be on the lookout for those risk-takers, though.)
9. Remind children that really good artists are born with talent that can't be learned. Still, tell them to try their best anyway.
10. Insist that children sit in their assigned seats when they create. There is no reason to walk around and look at what other people are doing.
11. Refrain from showing children your own artwork. Real art is in books.
12. Avoid offering too much choice. Creative license can lead to chaos and charade. Promise.
13. Dodge 3D art at all costs; it's messy and a space hoarder. 2D art is good enough so stick with that.
The original "Unlucky Arithmetic" list of 13 strategies for producing nonreaders is available at this link:
http://www.hbook.com/pdf/articles/13ways.pdf
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