Response to "Teaching the Neglected R"

If only we had a comprehensive writing textbook... While I have read many useful books about teaching writing, I agree with Thomas Newkirk's suggestion that there is no one textbook that can contain a comprehensive writing curriculum. Rather, teachers must consider the standards, then use his/her unique passions, skills, and experiences to create a flexible model that is responsive to the needs of students. I am beginning to do that.

I appreciate Newkirk's suggestion that we need a team to grow as teachers. That's why I joined the writing cohort. The conversations among colleagues are invaluable as we try new ideas, cherish small victories, and problem solve along the way.

Jeffrey Wilhelm suggests that writing teachers have to be writers. We have to model everything from topic choice, to drafting, revising, editing and publishing. We need to bring our own passion, energy and commitment to our teaching in hopes of motivating our students.

Since the MCA writing assessment was dropped a few years ago, I have been concerned that writing instruction is often neglected in favor of reading and math. Yet Wilhelm suggests that timed high-stakes writing assessments are unrealistic, testing information rather than deep understanding. Let's focus on writing instruction while celebrating the decision to drop the MN State Writing test.

Wilhelm challenges teacher to assert their professionalism: to be self-organizing, participate in peer mentoring, do teacher research, to be proactive instead of reactive. I look forward to the opportunity to do just that in our school and school district.

Donald Murray suggests that we "learn to write before writing" and teach students to do likewise. I tried his technique the last few days. I noticed that I became more aware of the people and places around me: the snow-capped flowers, the carpet of green-yellow leaves, the the frozen and dead plant on my front porch that was beautiful the day before. I will teach this to my students this week.

Work referenced:

Newkirk, Thomas and Kent, Richard. 2007. Teaching the Neglected R. Portsmouth New Hampshire: Heinemann.