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.