Writing Essentials and Experiences

Writing Essentials Chapter 1:Consider the writing essentials listed on page 13. What is your response to these, as a writer and as a teacher? Which do you think are easy, and which are challenging? Does one strike you as being particularly powerful or problematic?


One of the first criteria that I really thought was helpful to me as I was learning to write in high school was “read widely and deeply.” I was thinking of this last night. So many of the students in my fifth grade class and even the eighth graders read the same author or book over and over again. Personally, it was not until I began reading more authors and other genres that my writing began to change. I fell in love with the vocabulary of British authors. My own vocabulary began to change and not just in my writing. When we go to the library I have been trying to suggest different books to the students and asking them to just “give it a try.” I have been wrong a few times and my students have not liked some of my suggestions, but others have loved what I have recommended. I want the students to open their minds and see other possibilities.




Currently, in the fifth grade class, it has been a struggle to have the students elaborate on ideas and also craft an authentic voice. I have one student who seems to be doing this just fine, but the other thirty students are struggling with this concept. I can get them to write down the sequence of events, but when it comes to elaborating on the event, adding detail or imagery they struggle. We just recently went over how to do this and that the reader should be able to see, feel, and sense what is going on. It did very little for their writing. We are working on voice by providing as many examples as necessary. During read aloud, I make sure that the voices in dialogue are different and that the students hear the voice of the narrator clearly. We talk about this a lot, but the students cannot seem to transfer this to their own writing.

Go to 7:45 on the video for an example of voice while reading aloud.




Writing Essentials Chapter 2:All students, especially those who begin school with limited literacy skills, need to think of themselves as readers and writers, see the processes as meaningful, and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices? (p. 34). How do you respond to this quote? What connections can you make between this quote, your field placement, and/or your own experiences?




The red pen!!! Oh how I remember the red pen on my writing in Mrs. Nunsinger’s sixth grade language arts class! It was ALL over the paper and every time I saw it I thought, “Crap! Another re-write of my re-write! What the heck does this teacher want?” I would even go and talk to her and ask and I would get instructions on better handwriting, paragraphs that “flow” (with no idea of how to do that or what it means), less “choppy” sentences, and to use a dictionary more often. Up until that class I had loved to read and write, but as the year progressed I stuck to reading and wrote only in the fashion that would garner an A in her class. So the red pen marking disappeared until I took a creative writing class my tenth grade year with Mrs. Cummings and then the red pen made another appearance. This time my writing was “too formulaic,” looked “scientific” and not “creative,” and a whole new host of bright red complaints. I left high school with a severe dislike for writing. It wasn’t until college that a professor helped me find my voice and did not use a red pen to fill my paper with criticism. He used it to find the joy in my writing.




I do agree with this quote. Students need to find joy in reading and writing. At my main placement, the ten minute quick writes are the dreaded activity for some of the students. They do not get to choose the topic and for some the topics are not one they want to share with the class or even with the teacher. In a Title I school, not everyone gets the chance to go on a family vacation over the summer. Also, there is no variation. The main focus of writing and reading right now are memoirs, but the students are bored after two months on this topic. I can not bear to say, “We are going to do a free write,” because that is not the case. There is also very little feedback on their writing. Forget the red pen and the negative comments. There is little to no feedback at all and if they do get feedback it is usually that what they have written needs to be better but there is no real help on how to do that other than “ask your friends to help you.” I want so desperately for all of them to love reading and writing, but not all of them do.

Writing Essentials Chapter 3:Routman asks us to examine our lives as writers so that we can more authentically and effectively teach writing. She poses four questions on page 41 for us to explore. Consider these questions and write a response about your writing process and yourself as a writer.




I started a journal over the last year and I have been doing that faithfully for a while. I mostly take it into hand when I need to get something that is on my heart and in my mind out onto paper. For me it makes room for more healthy things and even allows me to go back and look at what I was thinking and why. I have a personal blog, which I am using to write down my experiences in the classroom and becoming a new teacher. I am doing this mainly for my family which is scattered all over the US. They read my blog to keep up with what I am doing. When I sit down to write my blog I think about my audience, It is my family and a few other friends on the East Coast. I am trying to convey to them my personal experiences, not the technical ins and outs of teaching. My family is a family of stories so I try to think of personal stories or moments that they may want to read about. This is where I start.



When I get stuck, I actually walk away from my writing. I go and get a cup of coffee and believe it or not I start to think about how I would tell the story to my Abuela Dolores. She was a character and had a laugh that filled, not only the whole room, but the hearts of those occupying said room. She would snort sometimes too. When she would cry she would shed her tears unashamedly. They would roll down her face and she would not wipe away a single one. She also could not read very well in English. So I think to myself, “What would I tell Buela?” I can usually pick my writing up from there.



What I normally focus on in my writing is imagery and voice. Can my family see the student in their mind doing this action? Can they see me in the classroom responding? Can they hear my voice and my words in my writing? As for the last question, the process for me is fairly organic. I try not to write about something that I have no experience with. Most of what I write is personal in nature. Do I edit? Yes, but not very well. I am the queen of run-on and fragment sentences! To be honest, I am fine with that. My family does not grade my personal blog and when my husband picks up my journal (he knows he can and has asked to see it in the past to gain more insight to who I am becoming) he is too busy laughing or asking me questions to grade it.