Writer’s block a tough nut for students

I have writer’s block. This doesn’t happen very often. Usually, I’m able to immediately find words to express my thoughts. Pen and paper — words seem to flow, filling it up the paper. Perhaps many of those words can be omitted or disregarded, but nevertheless still are on the paper.

It’s been two hours. No words. I just don’t know where to start. There are endless possibilities, so many things to share, and I’m not sure what to get down on paper. Hemmingway stated that the most frightening thing he’d ever encountered was a “blank sheet of paper.” I can empathize.

So what happens when our students have writer’s block? I know that many of my students face it all the time. Together as a class we have planned and organized our thoughts, but some students still can’t seem to find the words.

“Just write the words down,” I tell them. “Write whatever is on your mind and put it on paper. It’s OK if your thoughts don’t match the prompt for this writing.”

But it does matter.

It matters on the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam. Students who don’t address a prompt will receive a score of 0. Too many zero scores and the student will not pass the assessment. Students who did not pass during April were given the chance to retake the tests in early October.

How many of our students faced writer’s block during the tests? By the way, there is writing required on both the math and reading tests as well as the writing test.

After the retakes, I checked in with several of my previous students. Several were confident. They felt they were ready and did well. Others were concerned about one or more of the assessments.

Those who felt successful mentioned using graphic organizers such as a Venn diagram, bulleting ideas and taking a few minutes to organize their thoughts rather than just leaping into a response all helped this time. The other students shrugged their shoulders.

Perhaps I hadn’t helped provide them with more writing strategies. We should find out how well they did in the upcoming weeks.

During my teaching career, I have only known a few students who haven’t passed all three assessments after five tries. Even a few is too many. It was heartbreaking. Perhaps it was more devastating to me than it was to them. I wonder if they had writer’s block. Maybe there was something I could have done to help unblock them. Maybe they just needed more practice writing. Maybe we should all take more time to write.

We can sit down with our students and write letter to family, grocery lists, letters to the newspapers or just anything to get out thoughts down on paper to get the words flowing.

Jill Showman teaches English I at Wasilla High School.

She has taught in Alaska since 1997.