How's it Going, part 2

Chapter 4: Matchmaker, Matchmaker

I really love this quote from Chapter 4 in How's It Going?, "When we are successful in showing students how to learn from writing mentors, we teacher students how to teach themselves" (Anderson, 2000, p. 110).  I'll be honest--I've never considered writing mentors as a tool for students in their writing  endeavors.  However, as an adult I often read books and think, "this is really good writing" so why wouldn't kids do the same thing?      

I like that throughout this whole book Anderson always emphasizes that the conversations we are having with students should be propelling them into being better writers, "After all, the research questions we ask students are informed by what we know good writers do" (Anderson, 2000, p. 112).

I love how Carl Anderson talks about young writers using writing mentors as guides to helping them with their own writing. Although Carl's vignette that initially resonated with me was of him and Natalie (a second grader), I feel like the same kind of conferring he was doing with her could be applied in my classroom. I'm thinking of one student in particular that writes books often in the classroom.  He often writes Pirates vs. Robots or Mummies vs. Aliens books and I wonder where he gets this idea of "versus" from.  There must be a book series I'm not familiar with.  After reading this chapter on mentor writers I definitely think I should do some investigating with my young writer and find out how he is being inspired.

Chapter 5: Laying the Groundwork for Conferences

Honestly, while reading this chapter, I felt constricted by the requirements of Bright From the Start's idea of what Pre-K should look like.  Instead of focusing on what I can't do in my classroom right now, I'm going to highlight what I liked about this chapter as I think about what my Kindergarten class could look like next year!

I absolutely love Anderson's point in the quote, "We call this part the connection because in this part we let students know how our teaching is connected to their needs as writers" (Anderson, 2000, p. 144)--really isn't that intention in all the content areas of teaching we are doing? We are there to teach them what they need to be successful.  I like how the connection piece is crucial to the beginning of a mini-lesson because it immediately sets the stage for student's to see themselves in the teaching that is being done for them.

"We give mini-lessons because we feel that many of the students in our classes need to learn about a strategy or writing technique in order to become better writers" (Anderson 2000, p. 138)

Caulkin's definition of what and why we do mini-lessons is one of my favorite definitions I've heard, "Although mini-lessons may often look like mixture speeches, like brief lectures, they are entirely different from the lectures that were such a part of my own schooling.  The difference can be summed up in a single word: context" (Caulkins, 2000, p. 139). It seems like Caulkins and Anderson are such student-driven educators, and I think that's why I'm so inspired by their work--it is truly about students becoming and continuing to become great writers. I like how they make the distinction between what traditional education looked like for them as students, and how mini-lessons is different from long, boring lectures, but instead a way to inspire students in their writing.

I'm definitely circling this quote in my head about demonstrating good writing to students, "Probably the most powerful way we can give students information about how to do a kind of writing work--and persuade them that it's worth their time to try out that work--is for us to demonstrate that work in from of them" (Anderson, 2000, p. 146).  Part of me wants to remain open to letting students choose their own methods for writing, without the "powerful teacher" giving them all the ideas.  However, in most cases, teachers are experts in writing techniques and need to allow students the opportunities to see and learn important writing techniques.