"It is not surprising that the standards emphasize writing often. Writing is just like any other practice--playing piano, running, knitting. The more opportunity you have for practice, the better you get" (Calkins, Ehrenworth, & Lehman, 2012, p. 106).
What I'm continually struck by as I read through Pathways to the Common Core, is their devotion to writing. In the past, writing has been tiered below reading, and acknowledged as lesser in the standards. However, Common Core places writing almost equally next to reading. And this makes me excited. As I dive further into the standards, I love how the authors always go back to writing across content areas and encourage teachers to work together with other subjects to use the 3 types of writing. One thing I was not aware of is, "The balance tilts more in favor or narrative writing in the elementary grades and then tilts toward argument and informational writing in high school" (p. 105). When I think about this, I resonate with what I've heard a lot of high school teachers say about a lack of creative writing in upper grades. One of my friends teaches middle school and says he feels pressure to teach more informational--specifically argumentative writing above anything else. I guess I tend to think that as long as children are writing, they are becoming better writers. However, Common Core suggests there is a definite need for children to specifically be informational and argumentative writers in ELA portions of the day.
One thing I loved about Chapter 7 (Composing Narratives) is how they talk about narratives as the most common form of knowing. They give examples of TED talks and informational texts as argumentative texts that tell stories. I'm convinced that narrative writing is one of the best types of writing because of the way it echoes real life. In Chapter 8, I was initially surprised at the way the authors presented argumentative writing as a BIG DEAL. Upon further reflection and a bit of convincing from the authors, I'm inclined to agree that argumentative writing is huge. Although it doesn't seem so important until 2nd grade on up, the idea that arguments are part of the culture of college and career readiness is important to notice. The authors argue that argumentative writing is so important to university success, that it should be made a huge deal in elementary school as well as high school. I feel like in Pre-K we don't have a lot of writing that is argumentative--however, I feel like I support my students with a lot of verbal experiences to argue their ideas and opinions. I wonder if this will be helpful for them when they start formally writing and are expected to write at this level?
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. I think you pulled a lot of excellent quotes that are applicable to Pre-K and how writing plays an extremely important role in your classroom. I also think you do an excellent job of making writing approachable and appealing to you students and the demographic you teach. I think you had an excellent idea on how to integrate different writing styles int your classroom community. I couldn't imagine teaching 4 year olds what argumentative writing is. But, by talking about it and in integrating writing and discussion is an excellent idea! I also agree with you that there are certain writing categories that are used more in different grade levels and as educators I believe that the various reading genres need to be integrated more. This will help make our students more well rounded authors and prepared for a diverse realm of writing. Again thank you so much for sharing and keep up the good work!
Lindsey! Such a great post- I believe I quoted some of the same information. I really enjoyed reading about your take-a-ways from these chapters in Pathways to the Common Core. I agree, Pathways to the Common Core is really dedicated to writing and it was inspiring to see how many different ways we can approach writing while, at the same time, meet the standards. One of the greatest things I learned was how important it was to implement lots of time to write in your curriculum. My students love to sit down and begin a new book and I always get so excited by their energy around writing workshop. One important thing that I have been working on is trying to make writing a space where the students have more agency and can incorporate many different kinds of writing techniques. Discussions about writing often seem to be one of the greatest tools for me to use in my instruction as well. One of my favorite things that you mentioned was how you create time for them to write on things that they are familiar with or that is in line with their demographic. Great work, Lindsey!
ReplyDeleteLindsey,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post!
One way that I incorporate opinion or argumentative writing, which was totally unintentional until reading this section, is through the use of responding to stories read in the listening center, Students have to draw and/ or write depending upon where they are on the writing continuum whether or not they like or dislike a story and why. I think that is something that you can have your students do that is developmentally appropriate.
Hey Linds!
ReplyDeleteI think your thinking about narrative texts is really thoughtful and relevent. The way we introduce Writer's Workshop at the beginning of the year is through a unit of self, families, hobbies, likes, interests, etc. Because the kids don't really have to do much hard work to learn about themselves. They enjoy talking about their families, drawing pictures and describing where they live, what they do, what siblings they have, and it's something that is very natural for them to engage in.
I also enjoyed talking about spreading the writing accross curriculum. I'm excited to incorporate more of these ideas into other content areas.
Nice work, keep it up!