Writing

Hi friends!

I have been really working on some PD reading this summer! The latest book I'm reading is "But HOW Do You Teach Writing?" By Barry Lane. It has been a wonderful, easy read!

I am taking on a new challenge this year teaching 4th grade writing...and I am *so* nervous about it!! eeks! I really love teaching writing in the younger grades and I enjoy writing myself, so I am excited about the change!

That being said...I feel like I understand how to teach kindergarten children to love writing...but 4th?! I'm still not quite sure what to do with big kids! I'm going to need a lot of moral support, y'all! So, my goal this summer has been to get my hands on as many writing books as I can!

And you know what? It seems that the basic idea is the same as teaching a 6 year old to write. Give them choice. Have a writing block every day. Write with your students. Conference with your students. Encourage questions.

So maybe it won't be so bad after all?

Have you ever been in a workshop where they ask you to quick write about a certain topic? Teachers become the students and begin feverishly jotting ideas down. Scratching out, erasing, re-writing?

I HATE quick writing. I usually get to the point in about 3 minutes and have been given 5 minutes to write. I feel like I have adequately explained my ideas without further elaboration needed. Then I start second guessing myself...

If everyone else is writing, do I not know something I should know? What more could I add? How can I make this piece better? Maybe a doodle down the margin? ;)

So when Barry Lane began his chapter by encouraging you to do a quick write with students I cringed. NO! Not a TIMED quick write!! I can't stand it!

But I *love* that he encourages you to dig a little deeper in with your students and ask them for a little sneak peek at what happens behind the scene when writing. This is where I don't know what to do with big kids. Can they really do that?! Is it that simple??

I'm going to try it...I want to see what the result is. If it's a #teacherfail I'll just go with the flow ;)

I made up this little page to try it out. {click on the image} Snag it up if you could use it! I plan on reading mine to my students the first week that we try this!