Week 3

1. For me, it is essential that children see the importance in writing and that writing can be fun. Being able to use your imagination and translate your thoughts into words on paper is an important skill that is crucial to literacy learning and extends to all subjects. It is important to show students writing can be fun and taking ownership in their work is something they should take pride in. Every writer has a message and the message is expressed through words. After students enjoy writing, implementing the mechanics and rules will be more natural. Once they have accomplished a piece of work they are proud of and can recognize all the valuable work they have put into it, they will want to write more just to feel that sense of achievement.
2. In my 4^th grade classroom, I have not seen much writing instruction. The main focus has been the MEAP. Every morning for about the past week, my CT gives the class a topic, they have 30 seconds to think of ideas, and then they have 3 minutes to write. After the 3 minutes is up, they count their words and see the increase in the number of words written each day. This is to help increase fluency in writing. It is interesting to me because I do this with the class each morning and even my number of words has increase from day to day. There is a writing portion on the MEAP so this week my CT has been going over the different types of writing: Description, persuasive writing, cause and effect, sequencing etc. It is good the go over the types of writing and what each entails, however, they do not get a chance to practice. I do have to say that I am very excited because once the MEAP is over and I take over a portion of literacy, I will be starting writer’s workshop.
3. The main writing I have seen in class is a short writing responding to a reading selection. They have to draw from the reading to answer a specific question. This is focusing on restating the question into a response. Many of the students struggle greatly with writing. There is one student in particular who is above the rest of the class, J. He restates the question and answers using vocabulary that is beyond fourth grade. This student does not only do well in writing, but all subject areas. All I can do for him is praise his ability to write as well as he can already, and encourage him to continue.