starting strong ~ the why

Week 1 of a new YPAR project, and I am thinking about how to help students start strong with their research projects. This time, I am working with 40 6^th grade students – the youngest group I have worked with on a research project. In previous writing workshops and research seminars, I developed a set of lessons on ideating topics that are personal, feasible, and filled with learning. I ask my student-researchers and student-writers to produce work that isn’t just good ‘for a student’ or ‘for a teenager’, but good, full stop. And that begins with the right idea.

Starting strong requires patience, preparation, and really good prompts. I am a big believer that it is essential to get the bones of a project right. Beginning with something that is inspired by an itch to tackle complexity and depth will also yield a product that captures nuance and insight.

But starting strong often also means starting slow, which demands patience from impatient young writers and researchers. Here are some of my conversation points that I use when I am explaining why slowing down at the beginning of a project is so key:

• Mistakes are inevitable and both writing and research ask of us vulnerability. The combination means that there can be a lot of frustration and disappointment that lead to roadblocks that impede progress. My experience is that when I work on topics and projects grounded in a clear purpose and personal significance, it is easier to move through tough moments.
• I have noticed that my students – and sometimes I – have a tendency to see negative feedback or stuck places as existential crises. We spiral and freak out and wonder if we should scrap the whole thing. Slowing down when initially brainstorming and planning can help keep perspective. “I know I don’t want to scrap the whole thing because I chose this idea carefully, but I am curious about this hurdle that I am now facing” is a much more constructive and solution-oriented stance than “Agh! What was I thinking?!”.
• Of course, three is a point where planning and continued ideation aren’t helpful – when it comes from a reluctance to get started, an avoidance of any future hurdles, a fear of the possibility of failure. At that point, we have gone too far and need to start getting stuff done.

Starting strong is a protective factor against the basically inevitable frustrations and issues that crop up later in the work. The idea of protective factors is simple but powerful – a condition that helps a learner cope with adversity or stress. There are many such protective factors that will seem obvious to a thoughtful parent or educator: adequate sleep can help with homework and studying; strong social connections can help with bullying; a strong sense of identity can help with discrimination and bias.

As teachers, helping students begin their writing and research projects with the right idea is a protective factor that is also a cornerstone of our main job. Building in lessons that help students figure out what they want to work on, I have increasingly learned, saves 80% of my future headaches as I teach lessons and provide feedback on content, structure, style, and accuracy.

Read starting strong – the how here.