Linking Reading and Writing, Linking Writing and Life

My college course is winding down.  The students are excited (and admittedly a bit apprehensive) as they approach their residency semester.  We've been concentrating on talking about teaching writing and yesterday we discussed the link between reading and writing.  In small groups the students presented on what we commonly think about as a reading skill and designed activities to then address the same skill in writing in a complementary manner.  We used oral language to discuss our favorite birthday memories and shared stories that sparked other ideas for detailing and sequencing.  We sketched a setting and then created a story to go along- real or exaggerated.  This resulted in me recalling my first dorm room on the very same campus and led to some later writing about some special memories.  One group talked about making inferences and how we tend to feel that this comes naturally in reading but we often forget that students have to be taught how to build inferences in their writing.  This presentation was started by painting a scenario of the mop and bucket sitting outside of the library and asking students to create a story about why it was there.  There were, of course, the stories about someone getting sick.  My personal favorite was the student who pointed out that most school libraries have carpet so the mop and bucket were sitting outside the library while the custodian visited with his favorite librarian.

Yesterday's class was just plain fun.  But, there were some very important lessons learned.  When a student writes that someone was sad how can we encourage them to build in an inference for the reader?  How can we model this?

There was also the conversation about how writing instruction has become very structured- geared only toward meeting a standard for a specific purpose and there is a lack of what Ralph Fletcher has now termed "Greenbelt Writing".  We don't have time, or make time, for students to wander off the path and simply enjoy writing and explore ideas.  All agreed that there is a time and place for the structure in writing and there are different types of writing that call for different approaches.  All agreed that students and teachers also have to rediscover the joy in writing whenever possible.

We examined a quote yesterday about writing sliding from the fingers straight to the heart.  I made a joke about having a difficult time getting warm and fuzzy about explaining data.  This is not always true, though.  If I am passionate about what the data represents I can still find a way to the reader's heart and my own.

Personal writing lends itself best in terms of traveling from the fingers to the heart.  There were stories shared of times when my students had their trust broken after writing something very personal.  Writing is vulnerable and when we assure our students that they are safe to write personal thoughts that must be honored and valued.  If we don't honor that we destroy their trust in the written word.

After yesterday I don't think anyone in my class could say they didn't know what to write about had I ended with some free writing.  We shared so much life in a few hours.  Everyone had an idea sparked and enjoyed the link between oral and written language.  It was a powerful (honestly unintended) example of how we can set up our classrooms for students to generate ideas and confidence in writing tasks.

I have two class sessions remaining with this group of future educators.  I know they are excited to depart but I will let them go with hesitation.  It's been a very difficult semester for me on personal levels and they have been my ray of light.  They have given me their best every day and have demonstrated a passion for teaching that has renewed a fire in me to continue to grow and to connect with students and improve my teaching.  We can turn on the news every morning and see the darkness at every turn.  We can hear about the sad state of education and our schools.  We can read about teachers who make poor choices and don't honor their profession.  Let me assure you, the future of education is in good hands.  If we can keep this group supported and encouraged in teaching the future is bright for many young students.