Capitalize on the Reading-Writing Connection

I like for students to respond to some of what they read in journals.  They can ask questions, make connections, make predictions, etc.  My mentor teacher used reading response journals with her second grade class.  After writing, the whole class stood up and made a train around the room following the teacher as she read from each of the journals and commented on ideas.  This motivated the students to do their best writing because the other students would get to hear from their journals and view their corresponding pictures.   The teacher made a positive comment about what each student wrote and could clarify or ask a question with the student present.  Routman suggests that we write more book reviews.  Book reviews allow the student to summarize and respond to the book.  Students typically enjoy sharing about a good book.  The power of teacher or student recommendation of a book is huge in motivating others to read.  I know it was always a big deal to get to be the first to read the book the teacher recommended. :)

Do More Shared Writing

Shared writing not only boosts students’ confidence, but the teacher’s confidence as well!

                                                     Image from justkiddingcartoons.com

We should focus on one or two goals for the shared writing – ideas, participation, audience, editing, revising, and stop after ten or fifteen minutes.  Shared writing involves collaboration among the students and the teacher as the teacher writes the ideas on the board or chart paper.  The teacher guides students’ thinking and reinforces ideas and thoughts.  Even young writers can be engaged in a shared writing experience.  It’s important to have the students help spell words they know, reread the ideas, suggest changes or offer thoughts, and build on each others’ ideas in a positive manner.  The teacher can help steer these ideas and ask students to reflect on their thinking.  Rather than using worksheets, we can create authentic messages or sentences together and have students cut out the words and manipulate them back to the original sentence.  Students can also use words from what we write as a class for other word work like word families, onsets, and rhymes.  Shared writing gets students engaged and builds confidence to write on their own. 

Raise Your Expectations

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Expectations are everything.  As Routman describes in this chapter, raising expectations isn’t about length, it’s about depth.  We should find out where our students are, and start from there. We have to help our students find success, provide more authentic writing opportunities focusing on something of interest to them, praise their work ethic, and build on their ideas by asking questions and showing genuine interest in them.  I student taught in a third grade classroom where most of the writing they did was on a worksheet.  I saw changes in their attitudes when I used the gradual release of responsibility model and provided authentic writing opportunities that focused on their ideas and interests.  The next semester, I student taught in a second grade classroom where journal writing and responses to reading was an every day practice - they were comfortable doing it!

When it comes to editing for punctuation, spelling, and grammar, we have to find a happy medium.  As the text states, we need to come up with clear criteria for editing expectations as a district, school, or grade level and communicate this to parents and students.  If it is being published, I think more care should be taken, but I don’t want to hinder any student’s attitude about writing by making them fix all of their mistakes.  I do think that a big word and enemy for some students is care – taking the time to go back and correct.  It’s amazing how the attitudes change when we give them a choice in what they write, and when there is a real audience.

I found it very intriguing that Routman describes her instruction is the same no matter how poor the school or how diverse the students are.  The high quality and explicitness of the instruction is the same but some may need more of it.  Building a trusting relationship, setting goals, and encouraging risks are all part of the foundation to get them where they need to be.