Becoming Writers

Regie Routman states in her book, "Writing Essentials," that we need to become writers ourselves if we have the desire to teach writing well. Writing hasn't always been my favorite "subject". In fact, that is probably why it wasn't my favorite. It was always viewed as a "subject" and not a life skill. I don't remember writing for enjoyment. Writing for a real audience. Writing and collaborating with others. Writing about something I truly cared about.

Before I knew about the "best practices," I knew that I wanted to create an environment in my 4th grade classroom where students had the desire to write. Where students collaborated with one another as authors. Where students were confident in their own writing ability and took risks because they felt safe. I believe I created that atmosphere. We wrote everyday. Even with best intentions, looking back, I wish I would have allowed my students to write for an authentic audience more often. I tried to plan purposeful writing opportunities, but I remember doing a lot of writing that just "fit" with my units and I'm not sure it always moved my writers forward....but it was fun! We did, however, write monthly parent newsletters which included interviews, stories, poetry, charts and digital pictures. At the end of the year, we also collaborated on a class yearbook which included lists, stories, interviews, and digital pictures depicting highlights of the year. We published stories by posting them on the wall or typing them into a book, but I don't remember ever truly publishing them into a REAL book or having them share those stories with a REAL audience.

One thing that has become clear to me since my time in the classroom is how important it is to share your own writing life with your students. I completely agree with Regie...they need to see us as writers. They need to see what we write, who we write to, why we write, when we write, where we write, and how we write!