This blog post will focus on the writer's notebook, how to set it up, it's importance, and how to get student's engaged in writing.
I believe that writing is something that should be taught in schools. It should have its own time on the school calendar and shouldn't be lumped in as an after thought. After North Carolina took away the 4th grade writing test writing has been put on the back burner. I remember growing up and loving writing especially in 4th grade. We kept writer's notebooks and practiced writing daily. When it came time for the writing test I was prepared and excited. I looked forward to it. I received a perfect score on the writing test and I attribute that to me 4th grade teacher Ms. Krichbaum. She sparked my love for writing and it saddens me that students now dread writing. My goal as a teacher is to reignite the love of writing in my students.
The writer's notebook is such an amazing tool for students to have to express themselves and practice their writing. I will introduce the notebook by letting the students decorate the covers of them by cutting out pieces of magazines and taping it to their notebooks. I also believe it is important to have your own writer's notebook as a teacher. You can use your writer's notebook to demonstrate ideas or lessons while also showing students that you are writing while they are writing. This is important to show students that writing is for everyone. You can use some of your own writing as a mentor text and even use other student's writing as a mentor text.
Something that I want to do in my classroom is morning writing time. Part of the student's morning work will be answering the question on the board or free-writing in their writer's notebook. In the gallery below you can see some examples of the types of questions I would have on the board. I think it is important to have a mix of questions that spark kid's interest and free writes to allow students to write about whatever they are feeling or something that really interests them. When teaching writing it is so important to listen to your student's interests.
Comments