Crafting Writers 1-6: helpful reminders and new inspiration

The first six chapters in Crafting Writers K-6 by Elizabeth Hale are the exact reason I find teaching writing so exciting!  I attended a workshop in the summer of 2009 taught by Lester Laminack, a friend and colleague of Katie Wood Ray.  I had been teaching for three years and LOVED teaching Reader’s Workshop, but didn’t have a lot of passion for Writer’s Workshop.  I was there to get some inspiration.  I loved reading about writing and had read many books by Ralph Fletcher, Katie Wood Ray, and Georgia Heard.  My main problem was that I REALLY don’t like to write and the small noticings about writing that Hale talks about in Chapter 3 were not things that I noticed when analyzing writing. 

That week Lester reintroduced me to the idea of writer’s craft and it allowed me to find a love of teaching writing that I had not possessed before.  Two points that I enjoyed reading were, ‘reading like a writer’ and ‘crafting with punctuation’.  Since I love to read (especially children’s picture books), the section about ‘reading like a writer’ really resonated with me.  I like the process that Hale suggests for this strategy; recognize the small part à name it à say why it is good (2008, pg. 27).  I agree that it is often easy to identify writing that you (or a student) think is good, but identifying why is the hard part.  I can see myself using this strategy in my classroom.  This strategy connects so well to Hale’s example about speaking in Italian on page 15.  Often children’s book writers, Hale mentions Patricia Polacco and I would add Lester Laminack, have a lyrical and warm way of writing that children enjoy but do not naturally imitate. If our end goal in reader’s and writer’s workshop is to produce knowledgeable, creative, and thought-provoking readers and authors, making this connection between reading and writing seems crucial.

Hale’s chapter on crafting with punctuation is a wonderful resource.  I say “resource” because it is broken down in a way to really guide teachers through the possibilities of this idea…which is genius.  Grammar has always seemed so silly to me because it has traditionally been taught so completely out of context that remembering all of those rules, to my brain at least, is impossible.  Thinking of punctuation as a tool to achieve something in your writing has so much context!  I like to tell my students that the punctuation marks they leave in their writing are like road signs for their readers; they tell how you intend the story to be read.  In reading conferences it is fun to read students’ writing back to them to check if it sounds as they intend.  If not, there is punctuation work left to be done.    

Having taught third and fourth grade for the last three years, the aforementioned topics are the ones that I found the most exciting and connected to.  Chapter 6, however, answered my current need.  I have recently moved to a kindergarten teaching position and have been a little lost as to how to transfer my new love of crafting to my little emergent readers and writers.  How so you teach writer’s craft to a five year old who can’t write?  It is a question I have spent a lot of time thinking about.  I am happy to announce that our first unit of writing was focused on drawing skills and we will now be revisiting that unit and using some of Hale’s helpful tables and suggestions before we begin personal narratives in November!  This is really the chapter that helped me connect what I know and love about the teaching of writer’s workshop to my very young writers.