Living Life Twice

Sometimes it is not just the students who are inexperienced writers. Even teachers who accept that they must endeavour to provide a model of a writer for their students, may present as someone who has not written all that extensively in the past. Like their students, a teacher may be inexperienced in the ways of writing, having little or no prior knowledge of writer's notebook or how to maintain them as a writing resource.  'What exactly do I write about?' they sometimes ask, before expressing concerns as to where they might begin.  Well, we learn best when we initiate our own learning. If we set about some professional reading, it serves to re-assures us as learners while building our knowledge base. We are essentially reading what we are trying to write. The books displayed(below)would make an excellent starting point in attaining a deeper understanding of writing, -plus the notebook as a writing tool.  All the things we want student writers to be: re...

A priority for any writing program should be to progressively build the stamina of young writers, enabling them to sustain their writing efforts for extended periods. The aim is for the writer to reach a stage where the ideas flow freely and the blank page surrenders easily to a flow of words.  The more students write, the more likely they are to improve as writers. The answer lies in the act of writing. Daily writing for sustained periods of time will contribute to this essential development. It will help the young writer to develop the ability to remain focused on the task, and also build the kind of stamina necessary to keep returning to the task each day. -And return with the determination to produce powerful words for others to read. Frequently young writers get hung up on perfectionism. They censor and edit in their heads. Consequently, the words have trouble making it onto the page. They allow the flow of their writing to be halted for the sake of a single ...

I was reminded recently that when teachers complain that they have no power it is simply not true. They control the very weather in their classrooms. Upon entering a classroom it takes little time to assess what the teacher values. The evidence is all around the room. It is revealed in the atmosphere that exists in the room, the interaction between the students themselves, and between the teacher and the students. It is also revealed in the physical environment. The presence of anchor charts reveals the tracks of the learning taking place. The way they are used to support student learning reveals the value teachers place on such resources. When students are free to access resources within the room, it reveals the levels of trust that exist. I have been gathering evidence from a host of classes lately. The data reveals how teachers are responding to the needs of their developing writers. Supporting them and directing their attention to important ideas about aspects of writing. In th...

I have just finished presenting a series of workshops dealing with persuasive writing for all schools in Melbourne ’s Western Region.   National testing in writing in May will expect Australian students in Grades 3,5,7 and 9 to respond to a prompt using persuasive strategies and structures in their responses. It is important not to descend into the dark recesses of ‘test prep’ behaviours. I’m not an advocate for standardised testing. The validity of such assessments remains highly questionable and culturally biased. Such assessments tend to produce teaching that looks a lot like testing itself.     Standardised tests are however like global warming; they present as an inconvenient truth with strong political imperatives. For this reason I want students to feel comfortable about writing when placed in a testing situation. We must explain to students that this type of writing (test writing) is totally artificial and totally different from writing as we know. In o...

Lynne Dorfman and   Rose Capelli in their book ‘Mentor Texts –Teaching Writing Through Literature, K-6 refer to having students walk around in the shoes of another author; to use the syntax of that author. I like this approach... Using the style of another author enables one to teach aspects of grammar and mechanics in an authentic way. Using mentor texts we can embed the teaching of grammatical language. That way we allow students to view it in the same context experienced writers do. A way to teach these important messages about language structures is to have students copy exemplars from mentor authors in to their writer’s notebooks and then try it out for themselves. They are effectively trying to 'write in the style of the chosen mentor. Dorfmann and Capelli refer to this as having students walk around in the syntax. We start with the mentor text, imitate it ourselves, then have our students try it with us in a shared writing exercise. Then we challe...

Anchor charts are important tools for students to use during Writers' Workshop and aid them in remembering procedures, craft strategies,ideas and expectations. When teachers co create such charts with their students, the students frequently develop a sense of ownership because the recorded information reflects their ideas, their language. Once constructed, charts can be copied in a smaller format for students to place inside their writer’s notebook or writing folder as a further point of reference. Charts should be added to over time. This reinforces the fact that knowledge grows across time and space as we investigate and discover. Anchor charts should be removed when no longer needed. They could stored as flip charts. Anchor charts need to be posted in the classroom where they are easily accessible to students in order to serve as a resource for their writing. Teachers who develop anchor charts with their students and refer back to said charts frequently throughout writer's ...