Ch. 8 - Organize for Daily Writing

The operative word here is organize, and I was hoping for a little more in the way of procedural specifics for organizing for writing. I liked the 4th grade schedule included (p. 185), but I am wondering about organizing teaching periods of about 50 minutes with 7th graders this fall. We have several chapters to go and I am hopeful that there's more to come in that regard. The other operative word is time, of course, and that is the big challenge no matter what you're teaching. I like the notion of integrated writing, and I will have a section of social studies this fall where that will be relatively easy to do.
I like Routman's thinking on pre-writing - don't get bogged down in it, no one actually uses graphic organizers, lists of ideas and key words will work fine along with talking and thinking as the writer writes. There are a lot of good suggestions for drawing students out to write about what they care about and know about it.
The chart on p. 189 on modeling writing behavior - especially skipping lines and only writing on one side for easier revision and cutting and reordering - looks very useful. Keeping a supply of sharpened pencils was challenging enough in 3rd grade, and I wonder about handling that with a different group of kids coming in every hour. I want a plan in place before the school year starts so that kids are not out of their seats constantly and disrupting each others' toughts with the grind of the pencil sharpener. I want my students to have 3 ring binders so we'll have accumulated evidence of progress, and can keep notes and information in the front pocket. How will I grade work and track progress? No clue at this point!
Teach it first, label it later: brilliant! Don't get bogged down at the beginning when it will have little meaning. Wrap it up with "this is what we did, now you know how and won't be thrown when asked to do it on a high-stakes test" is so beautifully simple and sensible.
I'm thinking we'll start with the snapshot writing as described, or acrostic poems that we really think about and choose meaningful words to describe ourselves and what we really like to do. I think this will be fun and give me a chance to get to know the students, as they'll get to know me when I model the project.
Finally, I have to remark on Routman's final point: "Be sure students aren't putting more time and effort into elaborate technical presentations than into meaningful, interesting content." So important, especially when we are introducing kids to PowerPoint, glogs and digital posters, animoto, and the like. Have fun with it, but make sure you are telling something worth telling.