The general focus of the first six chapters of this book was to teach us as future educators to begin looking at the art of writing itself. We cannot teach writing to our students the way we were taught in school. We need to teach the writing process, not just writing rules and mechanics. This book took us through the process of noticing a student’s craft, and then how to assist with word choice and sentence variety.
I liked how the author started the book by comparing writing to cooking – both are an art and science where you use basic rules but there is also room for a lot of individual choices. Explaining this to first graders may be complicated; however, if you use the author’s example of chocolate cake tasting the same everywhere you went then they may be able to relate to that their own experiences. The author teaches us that writing craft is the more artistic side of this art and science.
“Adding more detail” may describe what we want the student to do but it is not a next step. We should teach our students to use details as they write and not adding them after the fact. Asking questions for the students to answer for a specific topic may help for the moment, but we need to teach them skills that they can use everyday for adding detail.
As I look at the student’s handwriting sample from last week’s class, I notice that the student’s writing is exhibiting extremely detailed images in only a few words. He/she is also including adjectives such as “the most” and “so fast” in the writing. I liked how the student drew a picture of the cheetah’s claw to help with the detail of the writing.
Last week our class had the opportunity of visiting Mrs. Seabrook’s 3rd grade class in Indianapolis. One of the things that I enjoyed most was how she showed her personal journals to her class so that they could see that writing is something that they can do own their own and not just in school.
Now that I am familiar with what a writing craft is, I am anxious to complete the rest of this book so that I can learn how to teach craft lessons.
Mrs. Seabrooke certainly was an eye opener wasn't she? What a great lady - I agree that showing herself as a writer was probably very encouraging to her students. That's something we should all probably strive to do when we become teachers ourselves!
ReplyDeletei felt that chapters 1-5 was a good review for people such as myself who don't write often in the difference between "good" and "bad" writing. i also liked how a teacher used her own journals to model writing, which goes along with the saying, "you are your most valuable resource!"
ReplyDeleteI, too, liked the series of analogies that Hale used to open the book because they indirectly set us up for the portion to come. What a good writing technique!
ReplyDeleteJulie and Jen: I totally agree with you two. I'm sure it was very encouraging for the students to see that their teacher actually takes part in the same activities that they do in school at home. It makes me wonder what aspects of my life could be shared with my students.
I like your comment about adding details. We definitely shouldn't encourage kids to add details for the sake of adding details -- that's not good writing. We should encourage kids to add details when it benefits the idea they're trying to communicate.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree, adding detail should not be thought of as a secondary process. Hale demonstrates that showing instead of telling begs for descriptive details.
ReplyDelete--Unfortunately, I believed the myth that journaling, like diary writing, was a "girl thing". Perhaps boys trail girls in written, and oral literacies because of this antiquated belief.