Flipping the Script: Coders Become Novelists Using YWP

In addition to the main event every November, NaNoWriMo provides free creative writing resources to educators and young participants around the world through our Young Writers Program. This month, educator Meredith Towne shares the success story of her class:

Last November, I had the distinct honor and privilege of being the title character in a New Yorker Magazine-Talk of the Town piece called “Can An English Teacher Learn to Code?” I appreciated that I was able to speak up and out for young coders and for my school, the Academy for Software Engineering (AFSE).  AFSE has been at the forefront the Computer Science for All initiative, work that Computer Science teacher Sean Stern says has made CS part of the core at our school–just like math, science, social studies, and English.  

Fast forward one year. My section of the Senior Writing Seminar, composed of many kids I taught last year in AP Language and Composition, has a different theme each month, and as November is National Novel Writing Month we decided to write it into the new curriculum. I knew it was hard but not impossible, having attempted twice myself. I also knew the student version,The Young Writers Program, would provide the perfect supports for our first venture!

It was time to flip the script and for the coders to become the novelists. The kids wrote for hours to try to reach their goal 30,000 words. During November it was exciting to see them develop their stories, ideas, and to watch them struggle in the same way the NaNoWriMo writers around the world do each year. They were given free reign. It has been one of the most incredible classroom experiences I have witnessed since stepping into my first classroom in the fall of 2008.

“It was a perfect example of how mutual trust, high expectations, and intellectual freedom and creativity can lead to an incredibly rich learning experience for both students and teachers.”

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I asked the class to sit in a circle and craft a one minute book pitch. How would they sell their books? Their ideas were exciting and provocative. It was fascinating to hear about how they perceived their books and what their peers wanted to know more about. I was proud. I was excited. It was a perfect example of how mutual trust, high expectations, and intellectual freedom and creativity can lead to an incredibly rich learning experience for both students and teachers.

I did feel a sense of disappointment, not in my students, but in myself. I had set out with them at the beginning of the month with every intention of writing along with them. My life, not to make excuses, got the best of me. I made it to 10,000 words this time. I had been transparent, putting my writing up on the SMART board and writing along with them. I wanted my kids to see that I was willing to do the writing with them. That work bought me buy-in and energy.  It created momentum. Walking the walk–at least for the first ten days–set the tone in the room and for the work.   

On the 29th, Lindsey Christ, Education Reporter from NY 1, our local cable news channel, came to do a piece on students participating in NaNoWriMo this year. It was incredible to hear the kids talk about their work, their accomplishment, and working to complete what at times felt like an insurmountable task. Jose even hit his 30,000 word goal while she was there! You can watch the final piece here: Greenwich Village Students Participate in the National Novel Writing Month.

December 1st, 2016, meant celebration! Coders have become novelists. At the end of class after Jabari had reached his 30,000 words, he asked, “Ms. Towne, can I keep writing? Even though I hit my 30,000 words.”  #TeacherWin

Meredith Towne is the Lead English teacher at the Academy for Software Engineering in New York City where she teaches World Literature, Senior Writing Seminar, and AP English Language and Composition.  She holds a BFA in Theatre Production and Design from the University of Arizona and a MA in Educational Theater and English from New York University.  Meredith loves to bake cookies when she is not grading papers in Brooklyn with her husband Charlie and their dog Rose. You can follow her on Twitter, on her personal blog, or on her professional blog.