The writing process

Anne Lamott writes, "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something- anything- down on paper. A friend of mine says the first draft is the down draft- you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft- you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if its loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy" (p.25).

I chose this passage for a few reasons, the first reason I chose it is because I feel very strongly that this is the best way to produce a paper. I think that people try too hard to write a perfect first paper and they lose substance because of it. When a writer is allowed to think freely about their ideas without worrying too much about sentence structure or punctuation they will be able to express their thoughts more vividly. I also like how Lamott uses the second draft not as a final draft but as a "fix it up draft". I think this is important because many times writers will use their second draft as a final draft but this does not give them enough time or editing to create their best piece. The third draft he calls the "dental draft" because this is where you can go through and make all the final changes to make sure that it is the best piece you can turn in. I think this is really important because at this point the paper is in its final stages and should be relatively organized and clear. This third process allows a writer to go through and make sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.

The second reason I chose to talk about this passage is because it directly relates to what we are doing in class right now and it's very interesting to see the process put down in writing. When we were asked to write our rough drafts for the literacy vignette I thought really hard about what Lamott says about first drafts and tried to keep it in the back of my mind while writing my paper. It was very hard for me not to go back and re-read each sentence to make sure it was written correctly or fit in to my story. However, once I made myself just continue writing without re-reading I was able to get a lot more ideas down and I actually found that I was able to write more ideas in a more efficient time.

This passage spoke to me because of the clever way that he explained each draft of writing and because when I think about the times I have written my best pieces they have always resulted from going through this process. It is important as a writer to have a specific plan while writing a paper and Lamott lays out a great plan to do so. I am really enjoying Lamott's outlook on writing and even more so am enjoying his sarcastic and entertaining way of writing himself.

My students at the pumpkin patch

Before he cheats video

Making teaching fun!!

Writing Essentials

I chose to write about the 12 writing essentials because I think the most challenging aspect of writing is becoming overwhelmed with everything that is supposed to go into a writing piece. I think that many students sit down to write a story and instantly become stressed about the many features that are required to create a solid piece. I really like these 12 writing essentials because it paints a very clear and manageable picture of what needs to be done from both a writer’s perspective as well as a teachers.
From a writers standpoint I think it would be helpful to go through this checklist and use it as a guide in starting a writing piece. I really like the order in which they are distributed because I think the first couple skills are essential to think about before you even put your pen to the paper. As the list goes down it focuses more on revising your paper such as “reread, rethink, and revise while composing” and “apply correct convention and form”.
I think that each of these writing essentials is a skill that can be taught. For instance, writing for a specific reader is a skill we are working on in my middle school dyad as we speak. The students are required to take the same subject and write to two separate audiences. It is fascinating as a teacher to watch some of the students grasp this concept and watch some of them really struggle. It took some students a few tries to get how to change the voice of their paper but after a few lessons where they were shown how to correct what they had wrote they were finally able to grasp it. This shows me that this is a skill that can be taught and more importantly, is a very important skill to teach these students.
The writing essential that I found to be the most fun and at times easy for students to grasp is to, “create engaging leads”. We worked on this in my dyad as well and the entire class really enjoyed doing this. It was an opportunity for them to use their imagination and they all seemed to grasp the importance of the “hook”. I think the trickiest part for the young writers is to find a way to engage their readers from the beginning with a sentence that relates to the rest of their story. Many of the students wanted to begin with a catchy sentence that had nothing to do with their story but after a few tries and examples they were able to see that it needed to somehow relate back to their main topic. This made it a little more challenging for the students but they were all still able to come up with some wonderfully creative openings.
I think the most powerful writing essential is to “read widely and deeply- and with a writer’s perspective”. I found this to be the most powerful because as writers we forget how important it is to read in order to become a successful writer. This essential is saying that not only do we need to read but we need to read from a writers perspective meaning we need to notice what other authors are doing and trying to pay attention to the different characters and genres. It’s amazing what we can learn from different authors if we pay attention. I think this is extremely important and something that students don’t do enough. Reading and writing can go hand and hand but one must actively connect the two in order for it to benefit their skills as a writer.

The reading and writing process

In this weeks journal I wanted to talk about something that has been a hot topic in my main placement classroom and that I can now greatly relate back to the Fox chapters. A few weeks ago I attended the writers workshop training because that is what I will be teaching in the winter and spring. While I was at this workshop there were a lot of angry teachers that were explaining that they did not like writers workshop because it does not teach students to write properly, spell correctly or edit their work. This got me thinking a lot about this program and has sparked some pretty interesting conversations between my master teacher and myself. Our conversations have consisted of a back and forth conversation about how on one hand, writers workshop allows children not to get tied down by worrying about spelling and proper conventions and worry more about expressing all their ideas, but on the other hand, is that such a good thing? When do these kids learn how to spell? Is this another curriculum? Could they do both? Most of these conversations have been left unsettled and left with the realization that since the school is telling us to do writers workshop that is what we will do.
However, after reading these chapters in Fox, I feel much more settled with writers workshop because I see the process that kids go through in developing their vocabulary, reading, and writing and I can see now that these kids are in fact learning every day that they write (even if its no where near being "correct" writing).
One thing I found really interesting was the idea of word configuration. "Configuration consists of a word's shape, it's length, or an eye catching letter" (Fox, 71). Even though the kids aren't following direct alphabetic rules they are still starting to really think about text. In trying to write using these skills they are using the knowledge they do know and getting more comfortable with it every time their pen hits their paper. At the pre-school and kindergarten age I fully believe that the use of "configuration cues" are extremely helpful in moving along the process of these young readers and writers because looking for these cues "require that children actively think about written words" (Fox, 71).
One example in the text that I see a lot in my classroom is the example of Lexi. Lexi spells semiphonetically, meaning she, "uses letters to represent some, but not all, of the important sounds in words" (Fox, 78). I can't help but see how this helps a young reader rather then hinders them because they are actually trying to use there phonemic awareness to write what they are trying to say. They are taking what they know about a certain word, such as they know ball starts with B so they simply write B to represent ball. This is starting their process of sounding out words and they are starting to make connections with the sounding of a word and the written word.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Fox's 3 chapters because it gave me much more knowledge about the process of kids word identification and phonemic awareness. It is a struggle for me as a teacher not to just tell a kid how to spell something when they ask. However, it is so important to help them make the connections of sounding out words and trying to connect those sounds with a written letter. Fox does a really nice job of giving his readers activities as well as explaining all the different phases that children go through in this reading and writing process.

Emerging readers

Throughout the last few months I have spent in a classroom I have seen a lot of support for emergent literacy learners. The first aspect of emergent literacy that I read about in this article that I have seen in my classroom is that the kids that were read to at an early age are far beyond the kids who were not read to. The way I know this is because my teacher sends out a survey to all the parents at the beginning of the year that asks them questions such as: Do you read to your child? At what age did you start reading to your child? How frequently? I found this very interesting as she pointed out our highest readers and then showed me the results of the survey. It was very fascinating to then read this in the article and see that it is not just a coincidence but that it in fact does make a huge difference.

The next aspect I have seen is using a greater goal to implement writing and reading. My 7th grade teacher set up a lesson where the kids were supposed to read about one particular common issue that comes up in middle schools and then as a class they were going to choose one issue and write a letter to the principal proposing a change. This lesson incorporates reading and writing but gives the kids a greater purpose for what they are trying to accomplish. They were so excited about it and didn't even realize they were developing their reading and writing skills.

Another aspect I see being used to support the growth of young children's literacy is demonstration. In my main placement my teacher starts every morning by sitting down with the class and she asks them to help her write a list of everything they're doing that day. This shows the kids that she is using her writing and reading skills for her organizational purpose and helps them see the higher purpose. The kids enjoy doing this and are subconsciously grasping the importance of being able to write.

I really saw consistency in what Sulzby and Teale were saying about reading to their students with the way my master teacher reads to her students. "Preview the book, establish a receptive story listening context, briefly introduce this book, and read with expression" I also see her engaging the children in discussion about what is being read and talking about the characters and motivations (pg. 7). The kids look forward to reading aloud time every day and without these things I cant help but think that it would be different.

I also really like the way she sets up her library in the room. She has open shelves, there is room for at least 6 students to go back and pick books out together and there are lots of fun and colorful posters and bulletin boards all around. These are the exact things that Sulzby and Teale talk about and I have seen first hand why these are important. The classrooms I have observed make reading fun and directly coincide with the concepts for emergent literacy. I found this article extremely encouraging considering I have seen most of these concepts be successful in the classroom I have observed.