By now, many of you have seen the stained glass window creations in the Sky classroom. They are the lovely products of lots of hard work on behalf of the children. There is documentation in the Sky classroom that tells the story of the creative process that we went through to ultimately make this artwork.
But did you know that many of the the steps in this process are parallel to the writing process that writers use to create pieces of writing?
At the beginning of this project, the children used notebooks to draw what they saw when we visited the synagogue. They were gathering ideas, recording thoughts, collecting information.
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| A brainstorming page from an older student's notebook. |
This work is just how older students or writers of many ages might collect ideas in a writer’s notebook by jotting down ideas, brainstorming, observing and recording, making lists, noting their thoughts, etc.
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| Thunder & Lightning Class notebooks |
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| Sky and Trees notebooks. |
Many Sky and Trees students then drew more pictures or added details such as color to their notebooks. Again, they were gathering information and they had already begun the editing process. Often, in this stage of the writing process, students might be brainstorming further, drawing, or adding to their ideas in their notebook.
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| Adding color and details to notebook drawings. |
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| Details added to a child's notebook. |
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| Studying the stained glass windows while working at the light table. |
As children continued to study photos of the windows in the synagogue, we were visited by an expert in her craft. Ms. Klein showed us how she created the stained glass windows that we saw. The knowledge we gained from her gave the children a new understanding of creating a finished stained glass product. Writers study the work of other writers in order to learn how to make their own writing better. Learning from experts is one of the best ways to get stronger at something.
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| Ms. Klein shows children her process for making stained glass. |
After collecting for a while in their notebooks, children selected one drawing that they wanted to turn into a finished piece of work. At some point, writers decide that there is one thing that they are going to dig deeper into and write a more detailed and polished piece about it. This writing exercise is the very same way the Nest children picked one picture to focus on, drew it again, often adding details and additional information to make it look like stained glass. This step is the work of doing a first draft.
Next, children did another draft of their drawing on different paper with a different writing tool; they looked at their drawing in a new way, and often added additional details.  |
| From notebook, to first draft, to second draft... |
Writers work on revising their drafts, just as preschoolers revised their drawings.
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| Revising a draft. |
When it was time to add color to the children’s drawings, this work could be considered parallel to the writing process in that it is further revising the work. The children were also constantly editing this work—checking to be sure everything had been colored in very carefully and making certain that the details were all completed.
Writers are always looking to rewrite, make their work stronger and more beautiful, and otherwise revise and edit their work.
Again, children revisited their work when they used paint to add color. More revision and editing. This part of the process—using a different medium— also mirrors the way that writers may write about the same subject using a different genre (e.g. narrative or poetry or non-fiction).
Not only did children create beautiful pieces of art, but these 4- and 5-year-olds also engaged in the process that writers go through all the time. Preschoolers brainstorm, collect ideas, do multiple drafts, revise their work, use different mediums, edit their work and create a “published” piece of work. Just like writers of any age.
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The "Writing Wheel" from the Thunder and Lightning Class that shows their writing process . |
