Chapter 5 Do More Shared Writing

I have been anxiously waiting to read this chapter because of co-workers having already read and did a shared writing activity in their classroom. The teachers had fun and I think the students had fun doing this activity. I read what my class had done with their reading teacher and it was very humorous. I look forward to trying activity with my class and hopefully doing many times before the end of the year. I can see where this can help a struggling writer "see" how to write a story by having the class as a whole come up with the story.

Chapter 4 Raise Your Expectations

As a teacher, I expect all my students to do well on every thing they do. Teaching sixth grade has many more challenges because of what is expected of them at this grade level. We expect them to do well on reading assessments, math assessments, social studies assessments, writing assessments, science tests, spelling tests, language tests, perfect social behavior, perfect manners, creative artists, musicians and athletes just to name a few. I would love to have perfect students every year that can do everything. I know that students do better with high expectations and praise but there are still those out there that can't or need more help than can be given. What do we do with those students who don't meet our expectations? Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. It says "Do not accept failure as an option" but what if there is failure. Not every child is an artist, not every child is a musician, not every child is a math genius, so how high do we set the bar and what do we do if they don't succeed as a writer?

Chapter 3 Share Your Writing Life

This chapter troubles me a little. Every time we have had to write something in meetings to share, I have a very difficult time writing something down. I'm also having problems writing these blogs. In front of my students I have no problem with sharing books that I have read or stories that I have or even showing a different side of me. With my peers I have a problem. Writing in a group setting and sharing isn't something I could do comfortably. I suppose I could try but it wouldn't be myself. With all that I do, I have difficulty finding "time" to do all the things I want to do. One of the things I try very hard to do is read books that my students would read. I'm able to share and give students ideas as to what to read. We can also talk about the books. I try to read aloud to my class as often as I can but I need to be more rigid with it. I need to write more to be able to share more.

Chapter 2 Start With Celebration

"I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever." - Stephen King This statement by King goes along way with me because I find it very true in all things not just writing. If we truly enjoy what we do, we definitely can do it for a very long time. I hope that my students enjoy coming to school and learning and I would like to see them enjoy writing and want to do more. One of the things I need to do more often to see this happen is celebrating their work. I know that when someone recognizes that I have done something, it makes me want to work harder. Picking what they want to write about would definitely work for most students, but there are still a few students out there that have difficulty figuring out what they want to write about even after having been shown ideas by modeling. I hope to find out in this book if there is more about this situation. We should , as teachers, celebrate more with the students in all areas and not just writing.

Chapter 1 Simplify the Teaching of Writing

Well, I finally got started reading. With everything going on right now finding the time was hard. Anyway I have found the first chapter interesting and something that I do want to get better at is teaching writing. I still find myself questioning am I doing the right thing or the right way in teaching writing. I can see teaching the whole to part to whole process but can I do it. I do want my students to enjoy writing and want to do more so, I hope this book and class gives me the knowledge to do that. I also find the author of this book interesting and that makes me want to read more. Modeling writing will be one of my weak points of the writing process and I hope I can improve upon that also.