Chapter 5...Lessons from Children
"If we as adults, listen and watch closely, our children will invite us to share in their worlds and their ways of living in the world. And then, when children become our teachers, showing us what they see and delight in and wonder about and reach toward, then, and only then, will we be able to extend what they know and enrich their ways of knowing. Wise teaching begins with watching and listening and delighting in the learner. As writing teachers, we must let students show us HOW to teach them." What glorious words! Let our children guide our teaching! I also thought that it was powerful when she stated that "her colleagues who study writing development have resisted all efforts to create grade level expectations or suggest that childrens writing will develop in any fixed order." Just like any other task in life, each child will grow and develop their own way through their life experiences and by what they are exposed to. We have to be patient and know that they will grow, and grow quickly, but not at a given expectation to be like all the rest.
Chapter 6...The Foundations of Literacy
Lucy states that when she explains that writing begins in nursery school, people think she is crazy because children need time to be children, to grow through play and song dance and art. However, she argues back that "it is not children, but adults who have separated writing from art, song, and play- it is adults who have turned writing into an exercise on lines paper, into a matter of rules, lessons, and cautious behavior. WOW! Children learn to write when they see us writing for real purposes. By watching us, children can learn what writing is not only doable, it is also worth doing. MODEL, MODEL, MODEL! I love the way Wendy expects her children to write, the best that they can, and knows they'll grow to love writing! "She envisions her kindergarten classroom as a literate rich community. She feels that when her children see real reasons to read and write, they are regarded as members of the club of readers and writers and they will have a meaningful context for acquiring the component skills. She isn't afraid that her children will fail as writers because she cant imagine such a thing as failure."
I agree with what Lisa said about taking a child's drawing and not seeing it for what it really is. Just because the child can't write all their letters or write where the teacher can understand, doesn't mean the child doesn't understand their story and can read it to you where it makes sense. We need to focus on what the child CAN do instead of what the child CAN'T do. Our teaching needs to be in response so what children CAN do. We support their writing by asking them to sit in the authors chair and read their stories aloud, just like the child who has written a page long story. VALUE THEIR WORK! Let the children write all throughout the classroom, labeling areas of the classroom, things that a teacher would normally do. Let the children OWN their own classroom by placing their mark on it! Also, take comfort in knowing that "when children are allowed and encouraged to participate in meaningful ways in their language rich worlds, young children are amazingly capable language learners and growth happens very quickly!"
Teachers can delight in what youngsters so and respond in real ways to what they are trying to do. Lucy wants teachers to have a wonderful time admiring and working with young writers!
Chapter 7...Growing Up Writing
It was so interesting to read about the child who lives in the present as a writer. It really made me think of my students. She says a writers must be able to anticipate that the work begun today will exist tomorrow. Most children write something one day, and by the next day have moved on to something totally new. They write for the sake of the activity more than for the creation of a final product. So true! Also, "kinder and first graders need their drawings as scaffolds for their writing. Many need their drawings to convey their meaning. Because more information is embedded in their pictures rather than print, their pictures provide a horizon and leads the child deeper into writing." This is important to remember. However, there comes a time when Lucy advises teachers to steer them away from their drawings once they are ready. "Once the child has moved on from using the drawing as a form of rehearsal, the child doesn't need to weave drawing and writing together. Their drawings should not limit their writing, but extend the range of their writing. Also make sure children aren't drawing after they write and hurrying through their writing just to be able to draw. K and 1st teachers need to provide their children with an assortment of markers and pencils and different types of paper and stapled books. "
In early first grade, the goal is to have writing catch up to their drawing; by second grade, the goal is to have writing catch up to talking. The goal is fluency nd voice, for the lilt of oral language to come through in a child's writing.
The notebooks, or lifebooks, is a great way for children to experience writing throughout every part of their day and lives. Love this and will do this! There are many different ways to introduce and encourage this.
