Response # 6

Erica Scully
The readings assigned for this week were tremendously eye
opening in regards to writing development in elementary school.
Chapter 9 in Classrooms that Work highlighted the idea that the act of
writing is directly correlated to the act of higher-level thinking. I have
never thought of writing this way. Specifically, I was very intrigued by
the section in chapter 9 that described Writers Workshop because it
summarized how to create an environment that fosters self-efficient
writers. Having students engage in free write followed by the
opportunity to share their thoughts with classmates stimulates a
learning environment where they see themselves as authors instead
of students learning the mechanics of writing. Additionally, Writers
Workshop builds community and communication within the classroom.
The most important aspect that I took away from this chapter was the
idea that teachers must emphasize to their students from the
beginning that the content of what they are writing is far more
important than how perfect the structure is.
The article (3) What Makes Writing Good? An Essential Question
for Teachers was very inspiring because of the powerful message the
authors conveyed throughout. One of my worries with teaching writing
is getting students to be excited and passionate about their work. How
can I introduce how to be an effective and sincere writer? How can I
demonstrate this for my students? This article cleared up some of my
worries by offering a fresh new perspective on how teachers should
approach teaching writing. There are endless sets of rules surrounding
grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, etc. I often have felt that
harping on these rules when first introducing writing tasks to students
takes away the excitement and magic of learning how to write. One
concept that this article stated that stood out to me was that readers
understanding of text differs from one another, meaning is not innate
in writing. A novel can be extremely meaningful to one person and
insignificant to another- it all depends on backgrounds, interests and
experiences. The same concept applies to the value- it is not innate.
One person may think Harry Potter is the greatest series in the world
while another refuses to read past the first chapter; it is subjective. I
believe that elementary school teachers have the power to create
genuinely great writers if they create an environment that is judgment
free. When mistakes are supported instead of punished, students will

feel more inclined to show creativity and personality in their writing.

The rest will follow.