Water Dance by Thomas Locker: A Book to Inspire Summer Writing
Posted on May 26, 2009 by Big Universe in Uncategorized.
Tags: books to inspire writing, nature books, word choice, writing
Say to a room full of parents, “Raise your hand if you are you a reader,” and you will see a sea of hands. Say to the same parents, “Raise your hand if you are a writer,” and you will see a few timid hands reaching for the sky and a roomful of quizzical expressions.
Most of us learned to write for an audience of one, the teacher. Our writing was utilitarian to the purpose of earning a grade; most of us submitted work with no idea what the teacher wanted and hoped we would get an A.
Today, as a result of the explosive work by gifted teachers such as Lucy Calkins and Donald Graves, students are invited to be writers as they work within a writers’ workshop. Students view books as text created by writers; they read not only for enjoyment but also to see how writers write. They seek to write for an audience of peers and parents as well as the teacher, and they learn from reading what it means to write well. Excellent writing serves as models to students who copy elements of that excellent writing. Students are invited into a “celebration of words.”
Adults can gain admittance to the ownership of their own writing and can support student writing by seeking wonderful books to share with children. Books such as Water Dance by Thomas Locker invite readers to see the beauty in their world and use words to describe that beauty. He writes as if he is the water:
At the foot of the mountains,
I leap from a stone cliff.
Spiraling.
Plunging.
I am the waterfall.
Locker shows us how the celebration of nature brings importance to cultivation of our use of words as poetry; he then offers the reader information about the water cycle as the last few pages are written in expository text. He tempts us to go out into nature, see its beauty, and choose words that allow us to share our experience with others while we learn.
Using Locker’s example, adults can invite children to satisfy their curiosity about nature, and then “be nature.” As families enjoy summer activities such as hiking, camping, and travel, they can be reminded of Locker’s words and illustrations as he describes water in all of its drama and exuberance, and use that model as they explore the world:
I am the redwood tree…
I am the ocean….
I am the lake…
Be brave: play with words this summer! Be a writer!
[...] sending you away from my blog (please come back!), but this link is so cool, I have to do it again: http://blog.biguniverse.com/2009/05/26/water-dance-by-thomas-locker-a-book-to-inspire-summer-writing…. The authors of Big Universe invite you to use a children’s book as a model– in this [...]