Do More Shared Writing

Shared writing is something I have done quite often with my students. It is a great way to demonstrate the power of verbs and word choice and how to structure sentence fluency. A favorite shared writing is a class book we create called "How to Get to the Center of the Earth". It is an accumulation of our science unit on the layers of the Earth and rocks and minerals. Students also enjoy creating shared writings about field trip experiences. After reading this chapter, I now have a multitude of ideas that I can easily implement to create more shared writing opportunities for my students. I really liked the idea to create a shared writing about the classroom routines and procedures. What an excellent way to not only set the classroom standards, but to also get the class writing at the beginning of school. State Assessments are fast approaching. A shared writing about "How to Take a Test" or "Great Test Taking Tips" would be a timely writing activity. The next time we do a shared writing, my students will be using their dry erase boards to share their ideas. As this school year comes to a close, I believe that my students and I will create a shared writing on "What Every Third Grader Need to Know about 3rd Grade."

Raise Your Expectations

These are the main ideas that spoke to me in this chapter:

Raised expectations for student writing means that we need to explore writing in depth.

Raising writing expectations is a political issue as well as a school issue. When I thought about that, I had to agree. Don't we flinch when we see errors in the newspaper or in a club newsletter? We do need to be sticklers with any student work that goes public. ( As I write this, I am hoping that I have not posted anything with spelling errors, etc. : > ) )

As a school, we need to set school wide writing expectations. Raise the bar! The established writing expectations need to be shared with not only the students, but their parents as well.

The "What Makes Our Writing Interesting?" and "What Does It Mean To Write More/Tell More?" lists created by Gail Westbrook and Regie Routman were excellent. Simple, yet to the point. I especially liked Make sure to have a lot of sense and Tell more to make it BETTER, not just longer.

I am constantly pushing my students to read more to be better readers. So, I also need to be pushy about writing - creating more opportunities to write for my students.

I should expect both quality writing and legible handwriting. What is published should be perfect!

Like my grandmother always said, " You catch more flies with honey." Positive comments help and encourage a writer to improve their work.

Finally, Regie's statement on page 81, "Our decisions must be guided by 'What might help this writer?' rather than 'What might help this writing?'

Share Your Writing Life

After reading this chapter and reflecting on its content, I came to the realization that I am a writer! I make daily "to do lists", write notes to students on their papers, respond to email, create a weekly classroom newsletter, and add notes to cards I send to family and friends. The statements on page 47 about writing as a Recursive Process spoke to me. I am not comfortable composing or writing on the computer. My family pokes fun at me, because I write my ideas and thoughts on paper first, and then put it on the computer. My drafts are full of cross outs, arrows going here and there and items circled to rephrase or check spelling. It is just not the same on a computer for me. This newly discovered confidence as a writer led me to write "on the spot" in front of my class. My story focused on a special time in my life - a significant birthday. My efforts inspired my students to start writing about a special memory/time from their life. There were no webs, lists or graphic organizers. They had time to talk about their special memories at their table groups. The timer was then set for 10 minutes and away they went - putting their thoughts down on paper. I loved their stories! They were straight from the heart and very enjoyable to listen to and read. We are working together, using sticky notes, to make some changes. It has been fun!

Start with Celebration

I am ready to put the fun back in writing for my students!!! The statement on page 20, "Often we kill off their writing spirit and energy with all the stuff we give them, all the talk of requirements, the lack of choice, the overfocus on correctness, and the pressure on high-stakes tests." Isn't that the truth today!! As was stated on page 29, "As teachers, we need to view children's writing through a nurturing, positive lens and notice all the small and big things kids do well." Less rating and much more praising on any writing that is accomplished. I need to write more in front of my class. Let them see me think out loud about my topic and what details I want to include in this piece of writing. I used to share so many stories about my family and pets with my students, but the pressure of having more to do to teach all the standards for the state assessments has caused me to stop doing that very much. What a shame! I will be doing more of that sharing, not less in my classroom. So many writing topics could springboard from such a simple act as me telling about the time our dogs knocked the screen door onto the kitchen table, totally destroying the supper I had just put there!! I want my students to be excited about writing. At Christmas time we wrote about that one special gift. Their stories were from the heart. I plan to use the Valentine letters lesson with my class. I can't wait to see their writing about a special moment in their life. Who knows, we may even risk writing "the truths about third grade" one of these days!!!