Teachers as Writers

Once a month, I meet with a group of teachers to write. I love the uninterrupted time to compose and it helps me to experience what our student writers go through as they write. Before writing, we read and discuss Breathing In Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook by Ralph Fletcher. In his chapter, "The Echo of the Past," Fletcher states, "Your notebook allows you to dredge up and examine past memories but it can also help you preserve memories from the present, serving as a scrapbook to collect artifacts from the world around you, items to which you suspect you'll want to return." So that's what I decided to do...dredge up past memories from my childhood. Sitting in front of the next empty page of my notebook, I began to recall a number of random memories from my simple but marvelous childhood; lining up youngest to oldest, along with my three siblings and thirteen cousins, as my mom filmed each of us on Christmas Eve with her new 8mm movie camera; each and every Christmas opening my favorite Christmas gift, a new flannel nightgown sewn by Grandma Slone, until she was no longer able to sew for her nine children, their spouses and eventually 30+ grandchildren; Saturday morning trips to the public library followed by a Slushie at Dairy Queen; Saturday morning breakfasts which consisted of two chocolate Pop-Tarts and a giant Tupperware cup filled with whole milk while watching American Bandstand (I'm old and I slept late, I know); back-to-school shopping (funds were always limited, but my mom could do wonders); and my tin Brady Bunch lunchbox which included a game board on the back along with magnetic pieces and a spinner. Oh, there are sooo many more memories I relived in that short amount of time with my notebook. When our facilitator stopped us, I was disappointed the time had ended and I was surprised at the amount I had written. I have never been able to keep a diary or a journal. I just couldn't write often enough. Then I'd feel guilty because I was "chronologically" inept. My notebook, however, allows me to jump in where I left off and it never suffers if it takes me a while to visit again. Like many of our students, my notebook is making me feel like a real writer.

Writer's Workshop

You may have heard your child use the term Writer's (or Writing) Workshop. Although we've always taught writing at Lake Hills, we're using a new format. Our district has adopted the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Teaching Writing and teachers are currently "Launching the Writing Workshop." Students are learning that each workshop session starts with a mini-lesson, allows them time to write and then closes with a time to share. With Lucy's help..."we teach students that their lives and their thoughts are worth writing about. We help them realize that the small moments of their lives can be compelling stories, and we help them feel committed to capturing the truth of their experience in words." We write about these small moments in our writer's notebooks where students are generating "seed" stories. Eventually, they'll choose an entry that they want to grow into a published work. You'll notice, too, that teacher's are not yet editing your child's writing. Don't worry...that will come...and we'll help your child do his/her personal best!