Write Your Own Ending

On page 290, it says, "When we are open to possibilities and committed to excellence, kids soar as writers." That pretty much says it all... :)

Chapter 12: Make Every Minute Count

I really liked the "Secrets of Good Writers". I thought having a list of those secrets for the students as well as giving them the opportunity to list their own secrets was a great idea!

I definitely am having my students write more in class and they are really enjoying it! It does not seem at all like work when they seem to love what they are doing. This past week, each student chose an animal picture they liked and then wrote a haiku about that picture. They were eager to show and share what they had accomplished.
They were proud of their work and I even had another student who wrote another poem and then shared it with the rest of the class.

Next week, we are going to do some free choice writing. I asked them to think about what story they would like to write over the weekend. Following Regie's advice, I will once again have my students talk with each other about the story they are planning to write. It is such a great way to get encouragement from others and even some good ideas or suggestions. Some students asked if they could write a biography of someone or maybe a non-fiction piece. I am not sure how that will all work out, but it sure sounds interesting!! I have a feeling it will be a fun week!

On page 284, Regie talks about how difficult it is to come to school excited about teaching when you have spent many hours the night before grading papers. I have noticed that on the nights I have not brought home a ton of papers to grade, I am so much more relaxed the next day and much, much more rested. It is nice to have someone write about that part of teaching that we can all relate to. :)

Even though this was a short chapter, I really enjoyed its message.

Chapter 11: Build on Best Practice and Research

I think this chapter had several statements that were definitely worth reading a few times over. This entire book has had several liberating statements about writing and some just about teaching in general. What a breath of fresh air!

I enjoyed the information on page 278 about persuasive writing. I think it was about a couple of years ago that Union Valley wrote letters to the state. The students tried to persuade the state to rebuild the bridge over 61 Highway once they widened the highway. Whether it was the student letters or some other influence, the state decided to rebuild the bridge after the highway work was completed. What an incredible way to show the power of the pen!

On page 270, Regie writes that "you achieve what you believe." This is so true and powerful.

Chapter 10: Make Assessment Count

I definitely liked the Good Writing rubric for third grade found on page 241. It is very simple, to the point, and easily understood by students as well as teachers.

The idea of naming the reader during assessments was really a great idea. It might be fun to go a step further and actually have a face (maybe a picture from a magazine) to go along with the name. Our class has pen pals at Morgan school and the last time they wrote, they included their school pictures in their letters. My class seemed to enjoy writing their pen pal letters even more when they were actually able to see the face of the person they had been writing to all year.

I liked her thoughts on giving students more of the responsibility of evaluating their own writing. It is just important to teach them how that is to be done.

Chapter 9: Conferences with Students

This was a great chapter for learning everything you always wanted to know about conferences but were afraid to ask... :) Wow! I loved all the different ways that conferences can be held. It is amazing how I have always had a type of conference in my mind and have tried hard to make that work. And then, I find that some of the other types of activities I have been doing during writing was actually conferencing.

I really could relate when she talked about students who think they are ready to conference but have not edited their paper as they have been instructed to do. Also, we use peer editing in class and there are times that I cannot even tell that someone else has read the writing piece and helped with editing. I liked the idea of making some very concrete, visual rules about editing for the writer and also for the peer editor.

I liked her statements on page 220 about simplifying writing conferences. I agree that sharing some positive comments about the students' writing is imperative. That one comment can sustain and motivate the student to move forward in his or her writing to continue to prove what a great writer he or she is.

I just cannot express enough how this book and Tamara's workshops have helped me relax in teaching writing and to enjoy the process even more!

Chapter 8: Organize for Daily Writing

• Great to know that Writing Workshop is not a linear process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
  
• Page 175: It is recommended that students write twice as much as they do now. I loved the fact that it was mentioned that some of that writing could be done at home. That would have worked great with a recent biography project the students wrote. Some of the research writing could have been done at home.
• I know that Regie Routman has mentioned this before, but I like the idea of teaching a writing technique first and then later labeling the type of writing that was done. I think students would then understand that particular writing better as they have already been exposed to that type of writing.
  
• On page 196, I liked the idea of teaching nonfiction writing while introducing text features. The students will get a double dose of understanding text features through both writing and reading experiences.
  
• I hope to use the snapshot idea at the beginning of the school year. What a great way to get to know your students as well as for them to get to know each other!

I really enjoyed this chapter!

Chapter 7: Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skill

When I read this chapter, I felt a lot of relief. :) I think for awhile, we felt we had to teach each of the six writing traits (identify them with the students), have students rate some writing pieces, and concentrate on the writing terminology instead of just the fun and satisfaction of writing. I do feel there are some skills that can be taught in isolation but most can be taught and learned during the writing process. I think it would be a good idea to continue showing students examples of good word choice and voice. They would easily recognize the difference between the good writing pieces and poor writing pieces.

This chapter reinforced even more the importance of shared writing... In my opinion, a teacher can use shared writing to model great writing by reading, rereading, editing and improving the writing piece as a group. (And having fun in the process...:)

Mindy helped me set up my Wall Dictionary when I first started teaching third grade and my classes have always used this to help us spell during our writing. It is continually added to all year long so we end up with quite a collection of words at the end of the year.

I do not agree with Regie Routman on the use of the thesaurus. Kids love using those books and to me, it really helps expand their vocabulary. Some of the words they choose do not always work, but we talk about why another or a simpler word might be a better choice.

Chapter 6: Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection

Connecting writing to reading certainly provides a purpose for writing in all curriculum areas. It is a great way to reinforce information with the class and when the students share, they are hearing that valuable information many times over.

When there are shared writing pieces in the classroom, the students love to read them as Regie Routman suggests. I find that the students like to read books written from students in the past.

It seems that students really enjoy all types of expository information so my goal is to write more using different types of expository material. It makes for interesting reading for the other students.

I enjoyed this chapter!

Chapter 5: Do More Shared Writing

I really liked the way this chapter demonstrated step by step how to best maximize the time in the classroom while doing a shared writing piece. It made feel good when I recognized activities and conversation that take place in my classroom. However, I also picked up lots of great ideas to make our shared writing time together even more enjoyable and how to make a super story without taking hours to put it together. Shared writing, even though enjoyable, seems to always take such a long time to put together and I always felt guilty if I would speed it up and pull their ideas together quickly. Now, I feel as if I have been given permission to do just that. :) In the past, we have done much more shared writing than this year. I am not sure what happened, but I am excited about finishing one story we have been working on and moving on to another. The kids love it!

To demonstrate sequencing and organization, I cut and scramble sentences from text we have read and then the students put them in order. This is similar to what Regie Routman did with younger groups of students who put words together in sentences.

I really enjoyed this chapter especially because of the step by step instructions of the best practices of shared writing. I am anxious to get started with my kids!!

Chapter 4: Raise Your Expectations

In Chapter 4, Raise Your Expectations, I really enjoyed reading about Gail Westbrook, the first grade teacher who motivated her students to write and to write with excitement. The posters on page 58 would be a powerful tool in the classroom as those are the things we ask students to do when they write. With these posters visually displayed in the classroom, it can be a reminder to them as they are writing. Also, they may want to have this information on a sheet of paper they can refer to when needed. They could keep these in their organizational folders or in their writing notebooks.

I agree that a positive comment on a student's writing is such a powerful motivator! Because, when you think about it, most of the time that student has put their heart and soul into that writing and if we start with a negative comment, it may destroy their writing confidence for a while. (As in ALL curriculum.)

I did struggle with comments she made about students' writing notebooks. My feeling has been that the writing notebooks are the property of the students and they should feel ownership and pride in their notebooks. I guess I feel that if I begin to dictate what they can and cannot do in their notebooks as they write, I take away a little of their ownership, creativity and the risk-free environment for writing.

I definitely feel that neatness is very important but more so for the final published copy.

Chapter 3: Share Your Writing Life

I do feel that writing with students is a great way to bond with your students as the book suggests. As a class, we usually write a story together about digging to the other side of the world. It is a great way for me to see them brainstorm ideas and deliver those ideas to the rest of the class. Also, they see me as a struggling author who brainstorms and has some good AND some not so good ideas. :)


I agree that it is important for teachers to be themselves as they compose a story. The students then will feel the freedom to express themselves in a risk free environment.

Chapter 2: Start With Celebration

On page 20, Regie Routman quoted Don Graves from his book, Writing: Teachers and Children At Work. In this quote, Mr. Graves talks about how important it is for teachers to help children not lose their "positive I-am-a-writer spirit". I guess I want to make sure that I am NOT the teacher that unknowingly removes the desire of my students to write. This chapter has inspired me to make writing even more fun than ever!

Today, when we wrote in class, I told the students that they could visit for 10 minutes with each other about their writing and to get ideas to make their writing even better. They were excited about it! The interesting thing was they visited about 5 minutes and were ready to start writing. I just smiled. :)

On page 24, Ms. Routman talks about being a scribe for a student that just couldn't seem to write. I was happy to hear that as recently I wrote a story for a student as he dictated to me. Once, he began to do that, he was excited and wrote a pretty good story. I have not had to do that again for him...

I also enjoyed "Take a Leap of Faith" on page 30. I loved the fact that the first grade teacher complimented the student on just writing, Happy Thanksgiving. What a smart teacher! It certainly paid off in the end. I am already seeing a difference on how I approach writing with my students. :)

Chapter 1: Simplify the Teaching of Writing

In this chapter, I felt a sense of relief and encouragement as Regie Routman explains that her purpose for writing the book was to "make writing easier, more manageable, and more fun." I think that it is important for teachers to seriously explore how writing is taught in their classrooms. How much time DOES get wasted during writing time and are the students truly enjoying what they are writing? Within the text titled "12 Writing Essentials for All Grade Levels" on page 13, I was very encouraged by the fifth essential called embrace language. In my classroom, I have enjoyed playing with words by using various nouns, verbs and adjectives in activities and working with descriptive language such as similes to make writing more intriguing and interesting.

I like the idea of simplifying my writing instruction and concentrating on the pure enjoyment of writing!