Inspired By Fearless Writing ...

In Janae's kindergarten class the kids have been introduced to the concept of being "fearless writers." This essentially means that they just try to write, not worrying about whether or not they are doing it "correctly." They've been taught that it's okay for their work to look like "kid writing," and that--at least at this stage--it doesn't matter if their writing has non-standard spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.

You might think that as a former writing teacher I would resist or even oppose this idea, but I actually love it. Writing is a creative process that flows along much better without the inhibition of trying to do it correctly--especially at these early stages and for these really young writers.

As you might imagine, Janae-the-Brave has no problem whatsoever with being a fearless writer--and we have had many instances at home where our kindergartener has demonstrated her lack of writing fear. One was around Christmas when she coloured a box to give me as a gift. She addressed it "To the Lamb," explaining that she didn't know how to write "Lisa" :)  She didn't worry that calling me "The Lamb" might sound weird--she wanted to address something to me and did.  Another example I found while tidying up the toy shelf--

Definitely no fear here (very sweet, too, that she was thinking of her mom and dad--and also that the pen she used happened to be washable!).

I've also noticed lately that "fearless speaking" is really what allows little children to learn to talk--they don't worry about speaking "properly," just about expressing their feelings or ideas.  Imagine if a toddler only spoke when he or she knew that the grammar, pronunciation, and word choice were all correct!  Clearly, young children learn by trying and making mistakes, and this doesn't embarrass them.   

One of my favorite things is to hear the word variations Alaina comes up with as she communicates in a free and open way that is oblivious to "correctness." The other day, for example, Alaina asked me to "colden" her dinner, and she almost always says "goed" instead of "went," as in "We goed to the school."  One day Alaina told me she didn't want to be "holden" (held), and another time she asked me what my "picnic name" was (meaning "nick-name").  Three-year-old Alaina is definitely a "fearless speaker."

As it turns out, I liked these ideas of fearless writing and speaking so much that I decided to be a "fearless mathematician" a few weeks ago when I was working on the books for Jason's business. Instead of laboring over the payroll (recording deductions, figuring out the employer's contributions, etc.), I just blazed through the math, not worrying about getting all the calculations perfect. Unfortunately when I finished up I realized everything was off by more than a few dollars--and I wasn't exactly sure where to go back to fix it. (Don't worry--it will all be checked over by an actual accountant before the year is over....)

And then I thought why not just be a "fearless driver of the broken van that sounds like a garbage truck whenever the breaks are applied," which I attempted today, or even the "fearless taker of the van to the repair shop," which I might try tomorrow.

However it plays out, I definitely think "fearless" is the way to go.  Those kindergarten teachers really know what they are doing!