Organize for Daily Writing

I hope I am not the only who is willing to admit this, but I cringed as I read on page 174 what a writing workshop is NOT. Guilty of doing one or two of the items listed, but gaining wisdom chapter by chapter! Finding time for daily writing is a struggle, but as Regie reminds us throughout, " We make time for what we value". The teaching tip on page 175 to "keep the flow"- at least write on consecutive days was good advice, because we all have those hectic weeks when 3 days of writing is the best we can do.

Regie continues to emphasize what is required to have a classroom of excellent writers:
*always encourage your students in their writing
*students write for a purpose and an audience
*model model model
*focus on the Optimal Learning Model
*write across the curriculum

The two classroom schedules on pages 185-186 provided excellent food for thought in the continual quest for finding that optimal schedule for writing.

I loved the list of short writing projects on pages 198-199. Regie recommended that starting in second grade, students should publish at least one piece of writing a month. I appreciated finally having someone answer that question for me - how often should a student publish a writing.

Be Efficient and Integrate Basic skills

"A successful writing program requires a knowledgeable, organized teacher with excellent classroom management skills. Mostly students need lots of time in which to write, a say in what they write about, strategies that allow them to problem solve independently (plan, revise, edit), and helpful response." WOW!! What powerful statements - Regie's definition of a writing program. If I am to raise the expectations for my students' writings, I also need to set the bar high for myself in creating a successful writing program in my classroom!! I know this book will help me accomplish this.

Finally, someone in the know about teaching writing stated that writing has become too complicated. There has been an overfocus on teaching the standards, the 6 traits, rating, etc. It truly does sap the joy and fun out of writing!!


Thank goodness, Regie continually reminds us throughout this book to teach from whole to part and back to whole. Writing summaries or retellings is a difficult task for some third graders. In a small group, we brainstormed the main ideas of the story - we just focused on that task. Upon completion of that, then we went back and reread them and talked about sequence. It was like lightbulbs clicked on. They quickly numbered our sentences into the correct sequence. Then, we were able to talk about how all of the sentences together create a paragraph.

My grade level has created monthly math and reading goals, much like the Arapahoe Ridge 5th grade teachers' writing goals. We have already identified what our students need to accomplish in writing and even created mini lessons in our workshops with Tamara. Maybe our next step is to draft some monthly writing goals to help accomplish the essential skills we expect our students to have.

Several years ago, I bought a packaged Word Wall. It lasted one year. I created my own Word Wall. It takes up one bulletin board and consists of library pockets, one for each letter of the alphabet, with a note card in it. A student may get a card and bring it me for help with spelling a word. The card goes back in the pocket. It is rewarding as the year progresses, to see the word lists grow and students searching the cards for the correct spelling. They are becoming better spellers .

This chapter was chocked full of strategies and techniques and how to implement them. I am sure I will be returing to this chapter often. Thanks Regie!

Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection

I enjoyed this chapter. It reinforced my belief in the power of reading and writing together. The different author quotes in this chapter adamantly stated that to be a good writer, one must read, read and then read even more. As teachers, we truly must protect our daily read- a- loud time with our students. The teaching opportunities from read-a-loud books are endless - author's purpose, predicting, sequence, figurative language, creating a shared writing about about what a character might do next.

Regie was right on about students desire and interest in rereading class published writing, present and past. Everyday someone is reading one of our class publication again. It is also easy to visualize how natural it would be to use your shared writing as a part of your daily reading, especially in a kindergarten or first grade.

This chapter made me realize that I definitely need to work with my students to do more expository writing. The Understanding Nonfiction guide sheet, found in Appendix D will help with this. The many suggestions for connecting writing during reading and the worthwhile questions listed on page 136 will be helpful in guiding my students to write in all subject areas.

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!!!