Beyond the Notebook
When I was teaching in the classroom, I was trained to teach children how to organize their writer's notebooks–how to number them and create a table of contents for each page within the notebook. While this was a lovely idea and also very organized, I've come to realize that this is not an organic method for true creative writing.
While I LOVE writer's notebooks (the organized variety, I mean), I have to admit that my writing life involves far more than one writing notebook. I have a notebook for gratitude, a notebook for goal setting and dreams, a notebook for writing poetry alongside my photography, and I keep folders full of ideas for future picture books and poems I hope to write. All that is to say, a writer's life is sometimes a little messy!
If we are doing our children a favor, we have to be willing to work with them one-on-one to encourage their writing life.
Perhaps your child LOVES journaling. If that is the case, let them journal! Invite your child to add illustrations and make an effort to read aloud books with journal entries that go beyond, "Today I saw a rainbow." Journals can be exciting to read when they include sensory details, vivid storytelling, and even a few cliffhangers!
Other children love to write stories, and perhaps writing them on legal paper makes more sense than expecting them to write in a notebook. I always think of J.K. Rowling, using napkins to jot down her ideas for Harry Potter. Sometimes legal pads are easier for sketching out ideas, and like a true writer, offer you the chance to rip and crumple up those ideas that just aren't working!
Many children love to sketch alongside their writing, and in that case, a bullet journal may work better than a composition notebook or perhaps even an unlined notebook. Artists in the making may even benefit from using drawing paper to write, draw, and plan all in one place.
If the goal is to invite our children to learn to use writing as a tool and an outlet, then we shouldn't put limits on how they organize their notebooks or even how many notebooks they have. If they are writing, let's encourage it!
Read more about writer's notebooks here:
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