Story webs

I just read a great piece in the educational journal Young Children about teaching the writing process to first graders. I started thinking about my own early writing education. I think it was truly great for the most part. My classrooms were print-rich and all of my teachers encouraged my writing. I hated getting my yearly dose of grammar from our public school’s standard-issue texts, but I guess it served me well in the end. The one thing I hated and still hate to this day?

Story webs. Did you ever have to use these doodads?

I believe that they quell creativity. I always felt they were a terrible chore. I say if you must use these godawful things in school, wait to introduce them until kids are older, like around the time they have to learn the evil, rubric-graded, formulaic 5-paragraph essay structure for their state standardized tests.

The piece in Young Children talks about how first graders often defeat themselves before they start to write because they feel they must spell everything correctly. If a child does not know how to spell a word, he will refrain from using it. (In the article, the children’s wonderful teacher encouraged them to make mistakes and mark things they weren’t sure about so they could come back to them later.)

To me, introducing story webs in first grade supports that instinct to avoid beginning for fear of failure. If a child thinks he has to plan perfectly and execute his story perfectly, that could be discouraging. Maybe more kids don’t keep writing or see it as a useful mode of self-expression because they’re given these evil boxes and circles to cram their thoughts into. If it doesn’t fit in the box, how will it ever get on the page?

The teacher in the YC article introduces story webs, but also allows children to organize ideas by talking with a peer or by drawing pictures of details they want to include in their stories. Neat alternatives.

What do you think? Do we need to beat the ability to construct a linear narrative into our young ones? Is social conditioning (telling stories to friends, listening to stories told by grown-ups or older kids) enough? Does insisting upon the use of these devices crush creativity?