Chapter 12 Make Every Minute Count

WOW! I'm done reading these chapters. I hope this book makes me a better teacher of writing and I do think that it has helped me see some things I need to do as a teacher. Being a sixth grade teacher I have to look at the whole picture that I have to be equally worried and equally giving to all subject matter that I teach. In her last chapter she almost sounds like she doesn't teach anything but writing so you shouldn't take any work home at all. That's not possible because we don't have the time at school to assess all subject matter everyday. I do care about my kids and hopefully make their lives a little bit more fulfilling by being in my class.

Chapter 11 Build on Best Practice and Research

So, in this chapter it sounds like no writing program is good enough to strictly teach to learn how to write. I guess she assumes that all teachers are great writers and are able to become awesome teachers because they can write. This means that ALL students will become great writers because the teacher is a great writer. So, does that also mean that a teacher that is a great artist will make ALL students great artists and that a teacher that is a great musician will make ALL students great musicians, and so on and on. Not all teachers are great writers and need programs to help them teach writing, otherwise why do we need textbooks to teach other subjects. I'm not saying she's wrong but not all of us are "born" writers or have the ability to become writers. It has to do with some natural ability also as all talents go in every area of life. We are all good at something but very few are good at everything. She sounds like she is an excellent writer and excellent teacher of writing and maybe reading also, but is she as good at every subject? She is putting alot of emphasis on the fact we are all good writers and can make everybody a good writer and I disagree with that. We need other means just in case. I know that good teachers can tweak things to make them better in our classrooms and to help students become better learners but she sounds like we are suppose to make every student a professional writer. I wish that was possible.

Chapter 10 Make Assessment Count

Interesting chapter! So assessments are negative because they demonstrate what they do "wrong" with language rather than what they do well. She definitely has an opinion about standardized tests and what they do as far as writing goes. She sounds like she's not to crazy about six trait writing also. I am glad to see that when we developed our rubric, it fit in with being child-friendly. I understand that she sees writing in a different light than everybody else but it still comes down to scores on assessments. Until something is done about NCLB and "accountability" we still have to do what we have to do to get good scores. It would be great to just teach and see progress with writers , readers, creativity, but we have to be held "accountable" for their learning.

Chapter 9 Conference with Students

Whew! When I saw the heading for this conference my first reaction was what she stated in her first paragraph. There was no way I was going to be able to conference with all my kids every week. After reading this chapter I realized that I have done quite a few of the things that are considered conferencing. I definitely need to do alot more and more consistently with my class. This chapter was very good and gives a great deal of information to help the students become better writers. I was pleased that I was doing some of theses things and pleased that I felt this chapter was very helpful to me.

Chapter 8 Organize for Daily Writing

This chapter seems to put writing at the top of the list for all curriculum. This is nice but as we know there are other subjects just as important as writing. The State makes that quite obvious. I'm sure the author is an unbelievable awesome teacher at teaching writing and or reading and that this is her specialty. Looking at the schedule for the 4th grade class, it would be great to have a schedule like that. It is so much harder to get the time in when you have band and pullouts and all the other time consuming things that go on in the school day. I do see what she is trying to accomplish with writing and making better writers by reading. I do think that being organized and knowing your subject matter is very important and that you should write everyday but to me that would be the perfect school with the perfect students to be able to do that. I feel like I'm a terrible teacher because I can't do all these things she suggests. I hope to be able to be half the teacher she is but evidently I have a long way to go.

Chapter 7 Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

Writing with meaning and to an audience is something we have all been trying to do. I suppose some of us still get caught up in teaching skills first and making sure that the writers know how to write correctly so that their papers are perfect instead of letting them write and then learn as they go. Not having taught writing for very long, I'm still learning all the in and outs of teaching writing. I'm not an expert and I've got along way to go to be a decent writing teacher. As I read these chapters, all kinds of thoughts go through my head as to whether the author is full of herself to she must be the guru of teaching writing. I don't know whether she knows what she is doing or if this is the perfect way to teach writing. I think she has some great ideas but I'm still leery to some of her ideas. I think mini lessons are a great idea and I should incorporate them more in my classroom. I hope I can become a better teacher by reading this book and hope that she shows me how.

Chapter 6 Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection

This is one chapter that I agree alot with the author. I do think that reading has a very big part in the writing process and makes for better writers. Writing in all curriculum areas is a great idea that I have touched upon a little bit but not enough. We were doing some writing in math but then got caught up in getting ready for assessments and the writing became less important at the time.
I like the statement about reading as much as possible and can put their hands on a variety of interesting and varied reading material. We try to give them lots of time to read and also read to them. In a normal school day it's not going to be possible to give them as much as the author thinks we should though. Time is as always a prime commodity during the school day to get everything done that has to be done.
I do like some of her teaching tips that she gives us throughout the book.