Several things in this chapter excited me. First, I was so glad to read Routman's admonition to not waste scarce funds on kits and programs. They tend to push teaching skills in isolation rather than develop rich learning experiences and excellence in teaching writing. Teachers will get much more out of reading journals, collaborating with colleagues, and thinking about their own writing procedures and practices.
I am thrilled to have the comprehensive list of research-backed aspects of writing. This will be invaluable in discussing and justifying my classroom practices, particularly if I am expected to focus on isolated skills rather than embedding test prep in the curriculum. I have so many ideas swirling in my head, and our text book is now full of post-it flags, notes, underlining, and stars and arrows in the margins. I have not held on to all of my textbooks, but this one is a resource I know I will turn to again and again.
I am more and more excited about the upcoming year. It will be a fresh start in a new building, where I will create my own program. The teacher I am replacing is moving to Maryland, but we plan to get together one day in August. She's leaving me all of her materials, and I'll be relatively free to pick and choose and shape my own approach. I really will be able to build on best practices in writing, and I will be equipped to defend my plans to connect reading and writing in meaningful, worthwhile ways. Grade level common plan time is built into the schedule, so I hope to work together to incorporate writing activities into social studies since we'll each have a section, and also into science. Wish me luck!
As so many of us have pointed out, the key is integration with skills and not teaching skills in isolation. You make a great point about wasting money on programs that do not teach students how to incorporate the processes of reading and writing. Instead, there seems to be a push to teach a skill each week and move on. I am so excited for you to begin your journey in your new position. I hope that you have much success building a language, rich classroom environment.
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