Ah... So True!

At the All Write conference I purchased the book About the Authors by Kate Wood Ray with Lisa B. Cleaveland. I read it pretty much in one day because it already contained much information that I already know. One of the things that I found to be so powerful was in chapter one when Katie is describing what writer's workshop is and why it is important. She says, "...if students have writing time every day, but that time is highly directed by someone else, then they have no need to think like writers outside of that time." I got to thinking about my own writer's workshop, my kids have choice, I simply give them a class generated list they can use if they get "stuck." I also wonder if that is the reason why they hated the All About unit? Could it be that it was too much about the creating of a book and not so much about their choice? Hmmm.....

She goes on to say, "... they don't see themselves as people who need ideas for writing. When someone tells students exactly how everything should be written, they have no reason to notice and ideas for their writing" Why would they need ideas when they come to school, someone opens their brains and tells them what to say, write, feel, prompting them always! So many classrooms are functioning in this capacity. Sad.....

Finally, (and bear with me, it is long) my favorite part of this section says this:

We are moved when we realize our decisions in the classroom teach students to think of themselves as particular kinds of people. But we realize that all teaching does this. If we told students what to do all day long, we'd be teaching them to think of themselves as people who should wait to be told what to do. So we embrace the people we ask them to become, people who make books, and we teach and teach into this essential identity."

Ah... so true!

Now the work of teaching teachers this way. I think there is a group of teachers out there who still believe that teaching is about dumping information in and spitting outcomes out. If we read work by Katie Wood Ray, Debbie Miller, and Piaget we begin to understand that teaching is about guiding, showing through example, and the chance for discovery. If we can begin to establish classrooms in this way then we will begin to see results.