Writing Essentials ch 1-3

Reading through chapters 1-3, I could not help but to wish I had more time in a school day to teach and work on writing.  I can remember a time in elementary school where we not only had time to do creative writing, but we looked forward to sharing our writing.  In chapter 1 the author gave great examples when analyzing your own beliefs about teaching writing.  Just like in any other subject, there is not perfect way to teach everything.  I do like the optimal learning model found on page 11.  This year being my first year teaching writing was a bit challenging.  A lot of responsibility is put on third grade teachers because students in 4^th grade take writing testing.  With no writing curriculum to follow it was very challenging and frustrating to complete and teach reasonable writing lessons.  I had no way of knowing where to start.  When reading through the 12 writing essential it summarizes everything I had to discover for myself this past school year.  The most important key to creating successful writers is through modeling.  As educators we spend a majority of our teaching career showing and explaining to our students how to master a skill.  Getting and keeping students’ attention will create a great working environment for students.  They adjust well when writing about themselves.  Personal writing is the easiest for students, but they tend to grow tired.  To prevent my students from growing tired of personal writing, I allowed them to do personal writing for homework and would allow other forms of creative writing to be completed during school hours.    Because my students usually had to complete most writing work at home I always allowed time for at least 4 or 5 students to share their writing daily.  This was absolutely my favorite part of the day.  They were always so eager to share with their classmates.  If for any reason there was extra time in the day, I would allow them to partner share their writing.  Although I never had enough time in the day to teach writing, we cherished every moment we did have time to write.