Sending Subliminal Messages to Students
Teachers are masters at sending subliminal messages to students. This could look like the “don’t even think about it” look we all get so good at, or standing near a child to send the message that you are right there watching–so no shenanigans allowed, or the light hand on a shoulder for reassurance or even a warning.
All of these moves send a message, they’re all subtle and silent…and they all work.
The paper choices we provide our students for writing also send subliminal messages–in a good way!
Let me explain.
Our youngest writers often don’t yet understand left to right progression or spatial orientation. They write their letters (if they’re writing letters at all) all over the page, in all directions. We just want them to experiment, get used to writing, feel proud of their work, and see themselves as writers. The paper that’s most supportive at this point is just blank. It sends the message that they are free to fill it up and to experiment any way they like–there’s complete freedom.
Soon enough, we encourage them to label what’s in their picture, perhaps with just the initial sound or even beginning and ending sounds. We carefully watch our students to meet them where they are in order to guide them as they become ready for more.
Then, as we teach them concepts about print, such as letter versus word, spaces, and left to write progression, as well as the alphabetic principle, we’ll give them a paper that has a large picture box and one long line. This encourages them to write a message about their picture. Often, the paper is in landscape layout, giving kids lots and lots of room to add to their pictures. We might even add a dot at the far left of the line to silently urge students to begin their words on the left, thereby encouraging left to right progression. This also supports the work they’re doing as readers, where typically early in the year they are reading books with just one line of text.
Later on, as we notice kids are running out of space on that one line and cramming words toward the bottom of the page, we’ll give them a page with two lines, or even three lines for those that are ready. That left-hand dot disappears, and the picture box becomes smaller. The layout might even shift to portrait, so that kids get the message that there is more of a balance between picture and text, just like the books they’re reading.
As time goes on, and they learn that stories actually fit together across pages, rather than the simple level A and B texts that simply use patterns to name different things, the paper choice you give them also changes. Now, the choices might include three pages stapled together, in portrait orientation, with 1-3 three lines for writing and a picture box on each page to encourage telling a story that includes a beginning, middle, and end.
Some students might be ready for smaller booklets, with a similar line to picture ratio…and you might have booklets with three, four, and even five pages as kids prove ready to add more elaboration within a single story.
Sometimes just making the different choices available is all you need. Other times, you’ll need to guide children toward the choices that would best support and encourage their writing. This can be a really great confidence booster!
How do you know what they’re ready for?
Look at their writing often–this is how you’ll be able to keep tabs on what they’re ready for and what you can nudge them toward.
Every child is different, so different kids will need different paper choice supports.
Later on, typically around second grade, you might have available booklets with a lot of lines and a small picture box, larger paper (8 ½ x 11) of the same layout and stapled together into booklets, or even single pages so students can decide on their own how much paper they need.
As their handwriting becomes more controlled, and as they are ready for more, you might remove the picture box entirely, only have picture boxes on some of the pages, or even move them to wide-ruled, loose-leaf notebook paper.
With notebook paper, I’d always recommend single pages, for several reasons.
It is much easier for students to revise their work with looseleaf paper.
Writing in notebooks makes it really hard to revise or add to something they may have written earlier, thereby limiting what they can do.
The unintended subliminal message here is that it’s ok for little to no revision work happening–not the message we want to send!
For example, if students want to go back to something they wrote a week ago to add on or revise but they’ve already written a new piece on the next pages, they are stifled. Another tip: teach them from the get-go to skip lines as they write. This is a subliminal message to let them know that writers plan to revise, and this gives them some breathing room to do so.
Let’s address all those perfectionist kids out there.
Notebooks are tough for them, because they often feel that what they write in them is permanent–and because revision work is very difficult to do in a notebook with pages that are bound together, they get stuck. They often like things neat and clean and whole, so crossing out words, lines, or even whole paragraphs throws them over the edge–so they avoid it.
But a single page is much easier to tackle. They’re often even ok with just adding a revision strip or a post-it note on a single page–but they are rarely comfortable with this in a notebook. Here again, providing students with single pages sends the subliminal message that writing is never perfect, and part of the writing process is revision. We’re sending the message that not only is this ok, it’s expected and natural.
Yeah, but my kids type all their work. What about them?
Many teachers have their students type their work. This is a choice you have, of course, but it does make it harder for you to see what revision work they’ve done. With intentional teaching, though, you can send subliminal messages here, too.
To start, be sure they turn off auto-correct for spelling and grammar, so that they actually practice their growing skills in spelling, grammar, and use of conventions. If the computer constantly alerts and/or fixes these things for them, students will not learn it for themselves. Also, check their revision history–you’ll see their actual revision work and their volume. Both of these are much easier to monitor with physical paper, but can also be checked with work done on a computer as long as you’re intentional about it.
So, I challenge you: take a good look at your students’ writing. What do you notice they’re ready for? How can the paper supports you provide send subliminal messages to nudge them forward?
Want some help determining how you can leverage small group work efficiently for the greatest student impact? Contact me to set up a coaching call, so we can think it through together! And, join my private FB group for immediate support from like-minded educators!
Was this post helpful? Subscribe here to be the first to see new posts to make an impact on your teaching!
Related posts: Getting to Know Your Readers and Writers to Save Time Later, Lesson Planning Tips That Help You Do More, Better [In Less Time], Why You Need to Do Shared and Interactive Writing
Add A Comment