Joy Write: Cultivating High-Impact, Low-Stakes Writing

by Ralph Fletcher

Nothing helps writers grow like practice. But not just any kind of practice will do. You've got to bring the joy! In Joy Write, beloved writer and teacher Ralph Fletcher shows you how.

"A writer needs wide latitude so she can bring all her intelligence to the task," Ralph observes. "Assigning a particular format-a hamburger essay, for instance-would curtail this play, if not eliminate it entirely." That's why, instead of teacher-driven assignments, Joy Write shares the whys and the how of giving students time and autonomy for the playful, low-stakes writing that leads to surprising, high-level growth.

First Ralph makes the case for carving out classroom time for low-stakes writing, despite pressure to focus on persuasive essays and test prep. Then he shares five big ideas for choice-driven, authentic, informal writing-deeply engaging work that kids want to do. He also provides numerous suggestions for helping students build and flex their writing muscles, increase their stamina, and develop passion for expressing themselves with the written word.

"We don't teach students to write," Ralph Fletcher advises, "so much as create a safe space where they can teach themselves by doing." Trust Ralph and find out how to bring the joy to your writers.

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Writing, Nonfiction, Teaching, Adult

120 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2017

About the author

Ralph Fletcher is a friend of young writers and readers as well as writing teachers. He has written or co-authored many books for writing teachers includng Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Lessons for the Writer's Notebook, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, and Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. Ralph has worked with teachers around the U.S. and abroad, helping them find wiser ways of teaching writing.

Ralph's many books for students include picture books (Twilight Comes Twice, Hello Harvest Moon, and The Sandman), novels (Fig Pudding, Flying Solo, and Spider Boy), poetry (A Writing Kind of Day and Moving Day), and a memoir, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. His novel Uncle Daddy was awarded the Christopher medal in 2002. He has also written a popular series of books for young writers including Poetry Matters, Live Writing, and A Writer's Notebook. Ralph lives with his family in New Hampshire. He is a strong environmentalist who believes we all must work together to live in a more sustainable way. His other passions include travel, good food, dark chocolate, growing orchids, and sports.

Reviews

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thin book that I found to be thin on substance. Fletcher has a good kernel of an idea: student need opportunities to write for fun, without expectation or evaluation. He calls it 'Greenbelt' writing, after the unkempt natural areas that make some cities more livable, environmentally stable places. But there's not a lot else here.

If you've read his other books, there isn't much new here. If this encourages teachers 4-6 to broaden the options for writing that students have, then it will have done some good. I'm not certain that it offers enough meat to feed struggling teachers who weren't nourished on Fletcher's concepts already.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're in Education or have elementary school-age kids and haven't heard the word Play thrown around repeatedly for the past several years you must be living under a rock.

Let the kids play... get out of their way so they can play... play will improve test scores ... play will cure their dairy sensitivity... play will get them into Princeton ... play play play! ... play is the answer to everything!

Joy Write helped me redefine play. Play can also mean play with reading and writing! Hooray! Feeling much better now.

[Leigh Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that doesn't really give you anything new to chew on but verifies your thinking about teaching writing. And sometimes we all need permission!

[Ashleigh Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breath of fresh air in a world of heavy-handed, often formula-driven writing curriculum. A reminder to do better so kids can see themselves as writers who love writing and some ideas to get there. Also, can all professional texts be so short and easy to digest :)

[Mandy Robek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives permission and guidance for letting writers be writers and balance the needs of the curriculum. Let's get back to the heart of teaching writing!

[Alec Lurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book confirmed my biases about writing education. Kids need more free-writing. That’s really all there is to it.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read to get you rethinking how your writing instruction and culture plays out. Definitely worth it!

[Katherine Spruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoping to incorporate more joy writing next year! Writing that is informal, low-stakes, personal, passionate, and playful!

[Leah Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve consulted it many times, but first time reading it cover-to-cover. Ralph speaks the truth!

[Cheri Bushue wiegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read. Made some notes but nothing earth shattering.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fletcher sets off a bomb with this book, arguing that writing workshop, in its current iteration, is overloaded with craft lessons, plans, and structure. He believes that writers best learn to write by playing around (he actually says young writers will teach themselves in the right environment), and it’s the teacher’s job to create a safe space for kids to try out different kinds of writing. Fletcher acknowledges the value of showing students how skillful writers employ strategies, but says, “the time we spend doing that should be counterbalanced by an equal amount of time where kids can explore, goof around, experiment, and play.” (20)

To counter the movement toward too much structure, Fletcher proposes a “greenbelt,” or writing that is “raw, unmanicured, uncurated.” (39) Essentially, Fletcher is saying that students need to have the opportunity to write for understanding and fun, and that not everything they produce needs to be assessed. He goes on to suggest that 75% of the writing kids do in school should be writing that helps kids figure out their thinking.

[Beth Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short text, Ralph Fletcher's newest work, is a must-read for anyone that works in the classroom! Fletcher acknowledges the biggest elephant in today's educational room: the pendulum has completely swung in the opposite direction, making writing all about preparing students for common assessments, statewide testing, and the five-paragraph essay.

Data. Data. Data.

Growth. Growth. Growth.

And in the same way that close reading and a lack of choice has robbed students of a love of reading, the joy of writing has been completely decimated as well. Today's students only see writing as communicating with the teacher for a grade, rather than all of the other uses--including enjoyment!--of writing.

Read this book to find ways to counterbalance the types of writing that has taken over today's classrooms!

[Stacy Stosich · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this for my teaching comp class. We had this huge list of books and we were supposed to pick one to read. I'm not gonna lie--I picked this because it was short and shipped quickly because I was ordering late. I don't think it was very useful, and was more targeted to younger grades. I do this the spirit of it is good--the idea that we need to increase fun through low stakes writing in the classroom. It was well-written, and fun to read.

[Soojung Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas on how to incorporate high impact, low stakes writing, and it's always nice to be "given permission" to just let the kids write. But it's not earthshatteringly life changing teaching strategies... It's short which is it's saving grace, but I still partially want the tldr and started to power read through it... fast...

Akin to an online recipe that prattles too long with the anecdotes when i just want the recipe....

[Sonja Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quick read jam packed full of wonderful suggestions and sound educational theory to put the joy back into writing. I loved it. Ralph Fletcher writes with passion and humour....had me laughing out loud. And the student writing examples in the book are equally enjoyable to read! Thanks Ralph!

[Rachel D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast read, and even though it is geared for teachers of younger grades, it was a great reminder for me of how to make writing fun. I agree with Fletcher that the pressure of standardized tests and trying to teach the Common Core has changed what Writing looks like in my classroom. I'm excited to implement these ideas and hopefully get my students to enjoy writing more.

[Christina Hagmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's nothing new about Ralph Fletcher's message in Joy Write and that's okay. He continues to focus on the idea that beyond the pre-packaged kits that have become a large part of curriculum, there are children who want to explore and play with writing outside the prescribed lessons, and that is where the joy of writing comes from.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally a fan of Fletcher. However, this book is a bit of a mess. Perhaps its biggest issue is that it makes a powerful point about the need to give writers freedom in 100 pages that could have been made in a short essay. Lots of testimonials & repetition. Do a bit of research on green belt writing and you're there.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the reminder that learning is joyful and that writing is a something children love to do when it is done freely and from the heart. Writing in the wild, will likely influence tamed writing, but it's the wild writing that matters most if I want children to live a writer's life. I do! So my challenge is to find ways to write wildly!

[Deborah Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything by Ralph Fletcher is worth the time and attention of English teachers. I find myself wishing I could discover books like this written expressly for high school writers and their teachers trying to deal with the unfortunate realities of college prep, but Fletcher's "writing greenbelt" idea is terrific for any age writer, so that's a powerful takeaway from this one.

[Alicia Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly for lower grade writing, but I teach a high school ELA support. It was still a good resource and reminder of how to help my students find joy in writing. Since I teach kids who struggle, many of them do not have positive associations with reading or writing. This gave me tools that I could adapt for my own classroom.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing should be joyful (and not painful). And yet, the path to MORE writing and to JOY will require some work. I love the idea of "low-stakes" so that writers can write more. Teachers could easily incorporate some of these ideas into content writing as well as into choice boards so that students could easily double their writing time!

[Sondra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. Gave some good ideas for how to implement more creative, low stakes writing in the classroom, which I definitely think kids need but focused too much on elementary. I think these ideas could work great fur middle (and maybe even high school) but would have loved to see more examples and explanation on how to adapt.

[Kristina McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It helped refresh my thoughts as a teacher and how I want to use 'fun' writing in my classroom. However, I did feel it was targeted to middle school and more-so elementary school. I would like to review more on how I could use what I learned from Fletcher's novel in my high school classroom.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need to allow for a balanced diet of informal & formal writing in the classroom. Too much joy has been removed from the writing workshop. Fletcher's latest book advocates for more joy. I totally agree. Great read!

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read and the message is definitely needed now more than ever. Writing has become smothering and too formulaic. We need to find ways to return to the days of joyful writing. This book encourages us to find ways to reclaim our writing practices.

[Ursula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thin book that is a quick read. If you are knee deep in writing workshop and feeling like your kids are missing out on writing for themselves this is the book to read. Great ideas you can use in your classroom tomorrow.

[Amy Brown (amylikestoreadalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great philosophy-give kids time to write what they want-no grading, just fun writing time! However, very thin and I would love more ideas and how teachers work this in their classrooms along with writing workshop. I found several great quotes from Ralph Fletcher though!

[Alisha McLelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for any teacher trying to improve her students’ motivation to write. There are several ideas presented to work along with a writing workshop. It’s also a fun informational read.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you run in progressive writing pedagogical circles, there's not a lot new here, but Fletcher invokes strong imagery in favor of low-stakes writing (in case you weren't already in favor of it) and gives lots of specific ideas for using it in your teaching.