Digital Paper: Learning the Hard Way

Learning the Hard Way

©Elisa Salasin, 1992

Writer sits at table
    Feet wrapped around the metal chair legs
One foot of chair inserted in half-laced tennis shoe
    Crayons splayed on table top
        Running fingers through crayons
        Watching movements, changing arrangement
    Chewing shirt neck
    Blowing cheeks in and out
        Puckered lips
        Escaping air sputtering out
    Hears chance word
        Chair feet hit floor
        “I know!”
        Eyes up to left corner
        Little professor: “You have to…”
        No stopping the barreling train of thought
    Interrupted
        Brow wrinkled, lowered
        Face reddens
        Eyes squint unfocused
        Mouth pucked in frown
        Quivering lip
        Shoulders contract
    Negotiates
        “But…”
        “Wait…”
        “I need…”
        “I know. But…”
        “Wait…”
    Whines
    Wails
        “Never listen..”
        “You won’t..”
        Australia: safe refuge
    Time to write
        Bathroom
        Head sideways on desk
            Arm extended cradling head
        “I’m thinking…”
        pencils
            slide along table
            sound effects
            force into crack between tables
            rolls off table
            bend over, fall out of chair
            lie on back erasing underside of table
    Reseat: chair in, feet on floor
            Look for paper
            Look for pencil
Examine all available pencils at table
Walks to shelf: Sharp pencil box
    Stops to talk with someone
Back to table
Look for eraser
            Poke pencil into eraser
            Crayons out of box
                counting
Remove crayons
            drawing: doodle, small figures, explosions
            paper tears
                “I need tape”
tape: sticks between fingers
    head sideways
    Prompt: When/where/who/did what
        “I’m thinking.”
    Repeat prompt.
        Makes letter
Handwriting self-talk: “…jump on the trampoline..”
Ooops: erase
Retrace single letter wearing hole in paper
    Time warning: five minutes
        Panic
            Grabs pencil
            Starts new letter
            Produces word
    Clean up song
        Fumbles with materials
            Watch movements in space, changing color
            Abandons work on table, leaves pencil out
            Hops across room
            Crams work in cubbie
    Author ready to share
        “I want to read! I never get to read!"

©Kitty Ritz, 2008

Kitty Ritz (Sonoma, ’08) learns from first graders at Monte Vista Elementary School in Rohnert Park, CA. Transposing her work with students into poetry is a new practice for her as she attempts to walk more lightly through a public school classroom in the world of NCLB.

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