"Writing Communities" Sends Future Writing Teachers Into East Austin Neighborhood for Inspiration - November 1, 2011

In order to become better writing teachers, around 160 education students in The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education recently gathered on a Saturday at Sanchez Elementary in Austin to walk the surrounding community and record thoughts and impressions that later could be incorporated in their writing.

The project, called “Writing Communities,” was designed to:

• give future teachers an opportunity to be part of a community of fellow writers
• help teacher education students as they work with Austin ISD students to complete writing projects focused on the people, places and history of Austin and determine how best to record and publish the children’s voices
• emphasize the importance of writing in teacher education and showcase the outstanding work that UT is doing in Austin schools

Students at the Saturday event were introduced to the East Austin community they’d be visiting through brief narratives from three natives of the area – entrepreneur and philanthropist Juan Mesa, teacher and artist Raul Valdez and AISD parent support specialist Jennifer Riojas.

“I grew up down the street from this school,” said Riojas, “and I have to say that the neighborhood has changed a great deal and is very different from the place I experienced when I was young. I remember getting up early in the morning when I was little, walking down the street to meet my friends and consistently encountering two distinct smells: the tortillas being made in each house and Pine-Sol.

“It was an extremely close-knit community, with everyone knowing everyone else. The adults watched out for all of the children, and we were all like one large family. My grandfather was not just a car mechanic – he was the person who fixed everyone’s cars in the community. It’s still a wonderful place, a place that you can return to and be greeted with open arms.”

Students also had the pleasure of hearing an inspirational talk by author, teacher and writing instruction expert Katherine Bomer. She encouraged attendees to think about the “power of place” and demonstrated to them how they could inspire their young students to draw upon their own lives to amass rich subject matter for writing.

Bomer urged the future teachers to contemplate their “heart places,” those sacred and special spots that they carry inside of them over a lifetime, and shared several excellent children’s books that address the importance of place. The students were urged to jot down thoughts about place as she made her presentation.
“I’m talking to you as writers today and also honoring you as future teachers of writers,” said Bomer. “I want to help you write about who you are and the things that you discover and for you to know how to help your students write about who they are, what they think and how they feel.

“As you walk these neighborhoods today you’ll be looking for what holds meaning, looking through the eyes of a writer. You’ll be describing the smells, sounds, sights, maybe even the foods, weather and the people who live here. What is the history of the place? How is it different from the way it used to be? Think about all of the lenses through which you can view a place – it might be through the lens of politics, language or cuisine. If you use this activity with your students, it’s also very powerful to help them generate memories by bringing in and showing photos or DVD’s, listening to music or telling family stories and singing songs.”

Following Bomer’s talk the large group broke up into smaller color-coded groups, and discussed what it means to use a writer’s notebook as a place to plant the seeds of ideas, as well as what it means to model “the writing life” for students.

“If you are a teacher asking your students to be writers, it’s very important for you to model that for them,” said Dr. Ramon Martinez, an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and leader of the “magic mint green” group. We shouldn’t ask our students to do anything that we haven’t even done once.

“As you do this activity, think about what you carry inside of you as far as past places you’ve been and lived, and what the relationship is among place, identity and writing.  You’ll plant these ideas in your writer’s notebook and then go back to revisit them and cultivate them. Doing this will help you be much more effective when you’re working with your students and they’re planting their own seeds in their own notebooks and then build them into poems or stories, for example.”

Mini groups of six or seven students were each given a map with one of three different routes to follow. Groups had an hour in which to make the mile-long trek, explore the neighborhood and stop at designated spots to write and reflect. After the walk, the students once again gathered in their color-coded groups at Sanchez Elementary. They shared ideas that they had jotted down on the walk, talked about how the writing had shaped their views of the community and how viewing the community with other group members influenced what they saw.

As a wrap-up activity, the entire group reconvened and Language and Literacy Program professor Bonnie Elliott, along with several of her students, shared some of the colorful, illustrated story books produced by elementary students who wrote with a focus on place. All of the UT students who attended the event currently are implementing community writing projects with students across several school districts, including AISD. The students’ work will be featured in an anthology and on a website this spring.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910