A Review of Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird

Ms. Wagner first introduced me to Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott when I was a junior in her high school creative writing class. A few other "special topics" students and I had already taken the class before, so she created a whole new curriculum for us. Each week we were to read at least one "craft" essay, one new poet, and work on a new poem, recording our reflections, ideas, and reactions in a three part journal (craft reading, poets, and writing). She recommended Bird by Bird for one of our craft readings.

Looking back at my senior journal responses after reading an interview with her, I find I was most struck by emotional connections I felt with Lamott. We both were daughters of alcoholics. I remember she said she had tried to fix people and her metaphor about using her blood as crazy glue and becoming a huge giver to the people around her. I remember feeling, "I do this! I'm trying to fix my crazy family! This is me!"

Anne Lamott's openness and sense of humor connects with the core of a beginning writer. With chapters like "Shitty First Drafts" and "False Starts," she shares the frustrations that most writers feel but that beginning writers think are specific to their own experiences.

I have used Bird by Bird in my high school English classroom on several occasions. I typically use excerpts by choosing sections that seem most applicable to the students I have at the moment and the specific needs those students have. I do not currently teach creative writing, but the text would be an ideal supplement to a high school fiction course. However, my college preparatory writing students often feel the frustrations that Ms. Wagner still reminds me are what lead to learning. When my students are ripping their hair out, I pull out Bird by Bird and look for a piece of wry advice to share with them and to keep them going. "See," I coo, "you aren't the only writers who feel like writing (or writers' block) is…" quoting Lamott, "'where you sit staring a your blank page like a cadaver, feeling your mind congeal, feeling your talent run down your leg and into your sock.'"

-- Carrie Allison

Be the Scuba Diver in Your Classroom

If I were Oprah Winfrey, I would give away copies of Beyond the Writers' Workshop by Carol Bly to every teacher in the Kansas City area. This book truly is a must-have on every writing teacher's bookshelf. In the Beyond the Writers' Workshop appendices, Bly offers practical, ready-to-use writing prompts and activities for teaching writing teachers of all grade levels, kindergarten through university level. Bly also gives a sound rationale and details for improving student writing through empathic questioning, which she deems is the best way to help students' writing become more vivid. Empathic questioning ultimately gets student writers to dig deeper into the meaning in their own lives.

Bly contends that student writing is like a ship, and when writing teachers and student response groups immediately pile on criticisms of grammar and their own interpretations of a written piece, the writing/ship sinks. However, when teachers and peers act as a scuba diver and use empathic questioning, they actually help support the ship from below. I think Bly's metaphor is so relevant that I have created my own ship and scuba diver depictions that will adorn my classroom wall this school year. Bly has convinced me that I will be the scuba diver supporting my students' writing from below without sinking students' writing.

I feel strongly that Beyond the Writers' Workshop is a must-read. I even checked some of the Kansas City-area library databases, and there are copies available throughout the metro area. Check out your copy today!

-- Jennifer Quick