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!