Right away I flipped to Excellence 6-Teaching Writers in Regie Routman's fabulous new resource, Literacy Essentials. Not that I wasn’t excited all of it, but my personal professional journey focuses so much on writing that I’m always excited to see what others have to say to add to what I already believe and practice. Turns out like everything I read out there I found myself nodding with a little bit of, “Woot, woot!”, some “Right On!”, lamenting with a touch of “Whoops!”, and finally a HUGE “Thank you!”
First, I was especially drawn to this quote by David McCullough, “To write well is to think clearly. That is why it is so hard.” Yes, yes, yes! Regie and David. Writing is hard. For all of us. When I present at conferences and ask a ballroom full of teachers how many took college classes on how to teach writing effectively there is usually one or two lone hands raised. No lie. One or two people in a room of one hundred educators who are expected to teach some form of writing each and every day. Next question, “How many of you feel like a writer yourself?.” Crickets. So not only is writing hard, it is made harder by a lack of knowledge on how to teach it effectively by adults who don’t write themselves. What do we do with all of that? We owe it to our kids to figure it out!
This leads to my first, “Woot, woot!” in this chapter (followed by many more in the margins!). The audience is everything. If writing is already hard why would anyone, kid or adult, want to spend that precious time in their day to write to no one? And bigger than that, if we are writing to no one then what are we writing anyway? What stance or tone do we take? What voice do we use? Why would conventions matter if no one is going to see it anyway? When a student writer knows who to write for and has a purpose for the writing then he will know as Ms. Routman says, “Writing takes courage and perseverance.” That it is worth the time spent drafting, revising, drafting, revising, keep going, and finally editing. Where or when there is purpose there is engagement and a move towards excellence. Ms. Routman tells us on page 236, “When we ensure as well that the audience and the purpose are meaningful and relevant to students-and that they have some choice in the writing topic-students do willingly invest in revising their work.”
Which moves us on to my, “Right On, Regie!” Revision is a process that needs to be experienced and then taught. That is another reason why teachers need to write! They need to write personally and in front of students to feel what revision feels like and model what revision looks like. She reminds us to demonstrate our own process, provide shared revision experiences, keep the audience in mind, and give some dedicated time to immerse in the revision process. There is so much power in developing a community of writers where the teacher is seen as part of that community. This always reminds me of the old adage, Kids do what we do. Not what we say. DO the revision work, fellow educators and there is a much bigger chance your students will too. They are surrounded in a world of perfect examples, show them the messy!
But alas, there is always something to learn and challenge my thinking and that is why my Amazon cart is consistently full to the max of professional text! On to my, “Whoops!”-I thought I was the best editor in the room. I even made it a thing right around publishing time, bustling around with a pencil behind my ear chiming out, “Editing time, who needs an editor?” Regie, thanks for slowing my roll with this perfect gem, “Too often what happens is that we teachers continue to do most of the work, which makes the editing process cumbersome and exhausting for us and sends students the message that editing is not really their job.” This message was sent clearly to my writers (insert monkey with head in hands emoji here). This is what I love about book studies and being part of a larger learning community. Next year, this will no longer be a whoops! Teachable moment taught, thanks to Ms. Routman.
Finally, there is just one big “Thank you” for all of the research provided in this book. Holy Moly this book is full of what to read next! Most importantly in this section was the research on handwriting which I have been searching for this year. As a literacy leader it is my job to set high standards and expectations for all and having the research to back what I know is so important helps me gain momentum with others. In a busy classroom day, handwriting may seem low on the totem pole but my gut instinct has always been, “Handwriting still matters-a lot” (248). THANK YOU for giving me the research I can now provide as I meet with teachers to focus on this important issue, especially around cursive.
This post is part of a book study around Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners by Regie Routman (Stenhouse, 2018). Check out more resources associated with the text at this website (https://sites.stenhouse.com/literacyessentials/), including a free curriculum for teaching an undergraduate course using Literacy Essentials.