Seminar: Writing and the Specificity of Place
Program: DINÉ
Subject Area: English Language Arts
Grade Level: 4th
Year of Publication: 2020
Abstract
How can children find their voices if they are not certain of who they are and where they are coming from? The target population living in an isolated community have no access to common amenities like libraries, kids’ clubs, or shopping plazas. The nearest public library is over forty miles away. It is a challenge to divert them from their only source of social enrichment rooted and engrained in values from social media, televisions, gaming software and phones. Thus, use of Facebook, twitter, Instagram on their phone is available to them in these community. The coded social media writing with multiple new words having meaning different to each generation. This media is influencing them to imagine how others live and what is valued. Missing are structured tools for creative writing, critical thinking, and the use of sensory language that involves characters, settings, events, climax, and conflicts. In contrast, I plan to help my students write not only from meaningful family lives but also from their own, and in their own voice.