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##  Writing Activities: A Primer for Outdoor Educators. ERIC Digest.             

In "Experiential Learning," D. A. Kolb (1983) defines learning                  as "the process whereby knowledge is created through the                        transformation of experience" (p. 38), and he identifies "reflective            observation" as one of four important steps in the transformative               process. Writing activities are one means of facilitating reflection            and learning because, as Easley (1989) explains, the process of                 writing "is active in the sense that it requires a re-creation of an            experience on paper and reflective in that it requires a conscious              search for meaning . . ." (p.11). This Digest summarizes a procedure            for designing writing activities, and it describes six activities               appropriate for outdoor education curricula: journals, freewriting,             descriptions, literary responses, letters, and essays. DESIGNING              WRITING ACTIVITIESComposition specialists agree that effective              writing activities are planned in advance and integrated with                   experiences (Lindemann, 2001). To facilitate the development of such            activities, instructors might begin by asking themselves a series of            questions: *  "Why am I asking my students to write?" (to prepare               for a discussion? to reinforce the teaching of a skill? to encourage            reflection?) *  "What type of writing is appropriate for my                     purpose?" (freewriting? journaling?) *  "Given my purpose, when                 should I ask students to complete the assignment?" (after a specific            experience? at intervals during the experience? at the end of the               experience?) *  "How do I want the students to complete the                     assignment?" (on their own? in groups? in a single sitting? in                  stages?) *  "For whom will the students be writing?" (themselves?               members of the class? me?) *  "How, if at all, will I respond to                what the students write?" (in a discussion? with written comments?              with a grade?) 
Having answered these questions, the next step is              to prepare a description of the writing activity for the students.              This description should communicate concisely and in language                   familiar to the students the purpose, form, and audience for their              writing during the activity. Although it is tempting, especially in             the field, to present these assignments verbally, Lindemann (2001)              emphasizes the importance of providing written directions, which                students can review throughout the writing process. 
Planning and              communicating writing activities in this manner assures that they               will be integrated fully into an experience and that they will                  contribute to the process of transforming experiences into                      knowledge. JOURNALSKeeping a "journal," which shares                      linguistic roots with "journey," is an activity that may be                     integrated into outdoor experiences in multiple ways. As                        Murray (1995) explains in "The Sierra Club Nature Writing Handbook,"            a journal can be a mechanism for recording and organizing                       experience, a tool for processing events as they occur, and                     an "unflinching mirror" that reminds individuals "of the importance             of eliminating self-deception and half-truths in thought and                    writing"(p.3). 
Often, however, students have preconceived notions             about journals. Some associate them with private diaries; others are            intimidated by the journal's formality, feeling that they must write            in an elevated style and record profound thoughts. Broadening                   students' conceptions of a journal frees them to use their journals             as working notebooks, where they may collect thoughts, observations,            and even objects. Petersen (2001, pp. 39-50) offers a helpful                   description of different journal types and approaches to keeping                them in "Writing Naturally." 
In general, journaling activities ask            students to do the following: (1) express their feelings at a given             moment; (2) record what they see, hear, smell, and touch; or (3)                probe the emotional and intellectual significance of their responses            to readings, landscapes, people, and experiences. Specific                      suggestions for journaling activities may be found in a number of               recent books. Of particular note are Hinchman's (1991, 1997) "A Life            in Hand" and "A Trail Through Leaves;" Leslie and                               Roth's (2000) "Keeping a Nature Journal;" and the works by Murray               and Petersen cited above. Raffan and Barrett's (1989) essay "Sharing            the Path: Reflections on Journals from an Expedition" offers an                 analytical study of the role that journals might play in an outdoor             experience. FREEWRITINGFreewriting, like journaling, often                leads to realizations about an individual's experiences. It is also             a helpful activity for insecure writers. Promoted by Elbow (1973)               in "Writing Without Teachers," freewriting can undo "the ingrained              habit of editing at the same time you are trying to produce" (p. 6).            As Elbow explains, most individuals edit what they perceive to be               unacceptable as they write. Freewriting allows these thoughts to                appear and be acknowledged. 
The activity is a simple one: Students            write for a designated period of time about anything that comes into            their minds. During this time, they should write continuously; they             should write in sentences, rather than lists or phrases; and they               should not correct or revise. After completing a freewriting                    session, students can select a sentence or idea from what they                  produced and use it as a prompt for a second session, thus focusing             their unconscious exploration of an idea. Or, students might share              what they have written in a discussion. However the writings are                used, they should not be graded. Students must be confident that                what they write will not be judged. 
Further suggestions for                   facilitating freewriting activities may be found in Elbow (1973) and            in Tallmadge's (1999) essay "Writing as a Window into                           Nature." DESCRIPTIONSIf freewriting helps students express                unconscious or repressed thoughts, then descriptions help them                  capture and reflect on sensory experiences. As Hinchman (1997)                  observes of Henry David Thoreau, "In finding words that marry                   experience and response, he knows the deepest pleasure of the                   writer. Without the words, he's looking at the surface; in finding              the words he immerses himself"(p. 125). 
Typically, these                      activities require students to describe their surroundings.                     Hinchman (1997), for instance, asks her students to keep "cloud                 logs," updating them hourly from dawn until nightfall (p. 130).                 Tallmadge (1999) encourages students to refine their observations of            color by asking them to describe the sky, which requires them to                consider not only hue but also texture, sheen, and density. In                  longer courses, students might visit a specific geographic location             over time, describing what they experience at different times of day            or seasons. 
Description activities do not, however, need to be                limited to observations of nature. Students might describe the                  behaviors of other participants in the course or, if skill                      development is a component of the course, how to start a fire with              flint and steel. LITERARY RESPONSESThis activity introduces               the perceptions of others into the writing process by asking                    students to read what others have written about experiences similar             to theirs. These readings broaden the students' understandings of an            experience because they help students see the experience through the            eyes of another. 
Written responses to the readings facilitate                 reflection by providing a starting point. For instance, students may            not know how to begin processing their personal experiences of a                wilderness canoe trip, but reading an essay by Sigurd Olson gives               them something to respond to. Thus, a student might write, "The                 emotions that Olson describes are not the emotions I felt, but I did            feel. . . ." Another benefit of these activities is that the writing            of others gives students models, providing words or structures that             help them capture their own experiences. LETTER WRITINGLike a             journal, letters can serve as a record of experience and as an                  impetus to reflection. A common letter-writing activity requires a              student to compose a letter to him or herself near the end of an                experience. These letters are collected by the instructor and mailed            to the participant six months after the course. As D. C. Kolb (1988)            observes in "Letters from the Past," these letters serve as                     effective vehicles for follow-up in a variety of situations. 
Other            letter-writing activities ask students to compose letters to future             participants in a course or to their parents. Foster, Biernat, and              Wheeler (1985) provide an overview of these and other activities                in "Letter Writing for Outdoor Education." ESSAYSEssays are               more formal than the other activities described in this Digest, but             they also have a unique benefit. As Tallmadge (1999)                            explains, "...the discipline, concentration, and attention required             to produce a finished story or essay carry perception and                       understanding deeper than is possible through journal entries or                freewritings alone" (p. 24). 
These assignments are most effective             when they are presented as an opportunity for students to formulate             their ideas for presentation to an audience. Asking students to                 follow specific length and format guidelines heightens the sense of             formality, as does publishing the essays in some manner, whether in             a self-published course reader, institutional newsletter, or even a             professional journal. CONCLUSIONIn the field of outdoor                   education, instructors understand that reflection is an important               step in the process that transforms experiences into knowledge. When            writing activities are carefully planned and integrated with outdoor            experiences, they become an effective and efficient means of                    facilitating reflection in a variety of circumstances and at various            stages during an experience. REFERENCESEasley, A. (1989).                 Learning through writing. Journal of Developmental Education, 13(1),            10-12. 
Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without teachers. New York:                  Oxford University Press. 
Foster, H. L., Biernat, N. A., & Wheeler,            J. V. (1985). Letter writing for outdoor education. Outdoor                     Communicator, 16(1), 37-39. 
Hinchman, H. (1991). A life in hand:              Creating the illuminated journal. Salt Lake City: Gibbs                         Smith. 
Hinchman, H. (1997).  A trail through leaves: The journal              as a path to place. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 
Kolb, D.                A. (1983). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of                   learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,                  Inc. 
Kolb, D. C. (1988). Letters from the past. The Journal of                Experiential Education, 11(1), 50-51. 
Leslie, C. W., & Roth, C.               E. (2000). Keeping a nature journal: Discover a whole new way of                seeing the world around you. Pownal, VT: Storey Books. 
Lindemann,             E., with Anderson, D. (2001). A rhetoric for writing teachers (4th              ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. 
Murray, J. A. (1995). The            Sierra Club nature writing handbook: A creative guide. San                      Francisco: Sierra Club Books. 
Petersen, D. (2001). Writing                    naturally: A down-to-earth guide to nature writing. Boulder, CO:                Johnson Books. 
Raffan, J., & Barrett, M. J. (1989). Sharing the               path: Reflections on journals from an expedition. The Journal of                Experiential Education, 12(2), 29-36. 
Tallmadge, J. (1999).                   Writing as a window into nature. In C. W. Leslie, J. Tallmadge, and             T. Wessels (Authors), Into the field: A guide to locally focused                teaching. Nature literacy series (Vol. 3, pp. 1-33). Great                      Barrington, MA: The Orion Society. 
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Alan Brew is an                    associate professor of English at Northland College in Ashland,                 Wisconsin, where he teaches composition, American literature, and               month-long courses in the outdoors. 
This publication was prepared             with funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.                     Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0027. The                  opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the positions              or policies of IES, the Department, or AEL.                                  **Title:** Writing Activities: A Primer for Outdoor Educators. ERIC Digest.             **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Practitioners, Teachers                                                      **Available From:** ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348. Tel:                      800-624-9120 (Toll Free). For full text:                                        http://www.ael.org/eric/page.cfm?&scope=oe&pub=x.                            **Descriptors:** Descriptive Writing, Elementary Secondary Education, Essays,                     Experiential Learning, Free Writing, Journal Writing, Learning                 Activities, Letters (Correspondence),  Outdoor Education,  Writing              Assignments                                                                  **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Reflective Writing                                            
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