Chapter 11: Teaching Writing from the Inside

Writing is such an essential habit for all people. Writing is a skill that one will use in every area of their life. Personally, I am not a big writer, but through my years of teaching I have learned to love it. I know how important it is to show your love for something if you want your students to love it just as much as you. Writing gives students a voice. Sadly, many of my students do not enjoy writing, unless it is narrative. Like the book say, story telling comes so naturally to everyone! Students should know how to write many different types of writing. In third grade, we work on narrative, persuasive, expository, and poetry. Our third grade team put writing binders together for each child. Our district does not have a strong writing program. This is something they are working on. I would like to see some type of curriculum that goes from K-12. I want a guideline of what I should be doing to make sure my students are ready when they get to the higher grades. My students cringe when I tell them they need to write at least three sentences. It is like pulling teeth! I worry about them as they get older. We just finished a poetry unit where students learned a variety of different types of poems. Several students really enjoyed this while other students dreaded it! Writing is not my strong area in teaching, but I am working on it. I have read a variety of books on writer's workshop and incorporating writing into the classroom. When I taught in San Antonio, we had a great writer's workshop program that lead to some great pieces of writing from my students. My hope for our district is that we adapt a strong writing curriculum. Students need to learn how to use their voice within. I think if student could do this then they would find a love for writing. My goal as a teacher is to create students who love to write! It is a goal that I am working on for awhile and learn something new every year!