Our Story
Kids lead highly structured lives — they wake up, go to school, go to class, come home, do their homework, (sometimes) brush their teeth, and go to sleep. In a digital age, too, it’s no secret that the minds and habits of young people have changed a lot. To slow down is rebellious, to unplug is radical.
Although structure can be a good discipline, and technology a helpful asset, there’s not a lot of time for reflection, and there’s rarely a place to go to that’s not defined by adults or by some big looming institution. Even if they do find the time and space, it can feel like no one’s listening.
Writing is an invaluable exercise both as an outlet and a building block. However, in school, writing is taught more like math. It’s stiff and analytical. It must ladder to a point, and be backed by evidence not feeling. Assignments are graded by necessity, which means students are inherently trying to meet a rubric or criteria. They’re working backwards from a prescribed answer, rather than exploring forward from an idea.
Writing is not really about writing. It’s about thinking. It helps you organize your mind. As you learn to clarify your thoughts and emotions more efficiently and accurately, you can communicate more effectively with yourself and with others, which will make you wiser, more fulfilled, and happier.
Finch Writing Club is a place for young people to learn how to write, but more importantly, it’s a place for them to discover who they are and what they have to say.
We’re listening…
Key Tenets of our Method:
Free Writing—starting with personal, inquiry-based, free writing is the most natural and effective path to developing literacy, and allows students to build confidence and trust in their language.
Non-Cumulative Curriculum—we create a flexible curriculum that is non-sequential and free from grading metrics, rubrics, or testing. This dissuades competition in light of exploration, and ensures that students are writing for a specific audience (even themselves), instead of trying to produce the “correct” answer.
Mentor Texts—writers learn to emulate when they’re exposed to curated literary examples displaying a range of author choices.
Intrinsic Motivation—the greatest accelerant to learning is an authentic passion and self-motivation for a subject because it’s fueled by genuine interest and curiosity. So, our goal is always to cultivate a lifelong love for writing in each of our students.
Process vs. Product—focusing on the cyclical process of writing (brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing) rather than the final, polished text helps students learn to regard writing as a broad and fundamental tool for communication in life, rather than simply meeting a school’s standard of assessment.
Dedicated Writing Practice—like any skill, students need to maintain a regular writing habit which is not constrained by a given topic or template. Over time and with consistent practice, young writers are able to sustain focus and expand their thoughts rather than short-burst efforts typically producing vague or generalized plots.
Student Choice/Agency—honoring the student’s decisions and ideas, allowing them to be self-led, and providing guided feedback rather than rigid instruction, helps them develop their own authentic voice, assume ownership of their work, and engage more willingly with the writing process.
Logical Flow—students’ logic and structure should be evaluated based on the effectiveness of the way their message is conveyed to the relevant audience, and not based on how it fits into a prescribed formula/rubric, like the five-paragraph essay. Formulas and rubrics rob the student of independent thinking, stifle creativity, and limit engagement.
Transferable Writing Skills—people who engage in free writing regularly develop strong emotional literacy and learn how to tailor their communication for different purposes and audiences, as is necessary in every facet of life, well beyond the classroom.
Culture of Practice—because writing is inherently social, providing a safe, inclusive, community in which teachers are active members is essential for writing development. Writing for a trusted community rather than writing for a grade allows students to experiment with new ideas and language without the immediate fear of being corrected or judged.
Writing Mechanics—many parents are concerned primarily with the basic visual elements of their child’s writing (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, formatting). They want worksheets and drills and progress reports. However, mechanics are actually learned best in the context of authentic writing rather than through isolated exercises because students learn that they are “tools for meaning” instead of stagnant rules.
Why School Often Isn’t Enough
How writing is conceptualized has consequences, especially in educational settings. Yet, despite decades of research and scholarship on writing instruction and assessment, misperceptions about writing and its purpose in schools persist. The key components of our philosophy are derived from the principles of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Peter Elbow. Schools often struggle to implement this philosophy, despite its research-based support, due to systemic and practical barriers like:
Time Constraints—NCTE-aligned instruction requires substantial, uninterrupted time for students to write and think, which is rare in a typical regimented school day.
Scripted Curricula—to ensure consistency across grade levels, many districts mandate prepackaged or scripted programs, which often follow a rigid pace and a narrow definition of “good” writing according to specific, formal, academic demands. Writing is also often siloed to English Language Arts (ELA) classes, neglecting the need for writing in science, history, social studies, and other disciplines.
Ease of Grading—it is far easier to grade a multiple-choice grammar quiz or a formulaic essay than it is to provide deep, meaningful feedback on a student's unique, creative project. Teachers tend to focus on "fixing" errors in grammar and spelling too early, which hampers the writing process and discourages student confidence and creativity.
Over-Reliance on Standardized Testing—because school funding and graduation can depend on these scores, teachers often feel forced to prioritize templates, which fail to prepare students for complex, authentic writing tasks.
Relevant Articles:
Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing (2016): Outlines 10 key concepts, including the idea that writing is a tool for thinking and that "“everyone has the capacity to write".
NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing (2022): A concise list of 11 core beliefs, such as "writing is a process" and "writing and reading are related".
The Students' Right to Write (2022): Asserts that students have a right to see themselves as writers and to use their own language and identity in their work.
Writing Instruction in School (2022): Advocates for process-oriented instruction over product-oriented (test prep) models and emphasizes culturally sustaining practices.