Conley's Chapter 11-Developing Content Area Writers...this should be good!

In Conley's chapter 11 of the text, he talks about the importance of writing! Writing demonstrates understanding, which leads to deeper levels of comprehension, evaluation and analysis. The development of one's writing enables the "writer" to "see" his/her improvements and accomplishments. It also allows for the writer or "composer" (on a musical note) to see where changes, edits, deletes, etc. should be made. Writing allows for SHARING IDEAS and THOUGHTS, BELIEFS and OPINIONS. Without the apparent uses and everyday needs of writing, we would live our lives with much more stress and worry. "If in all God's wondrous created beauty, one cannot find a reason, meaning, or purpose to write, what's the point?"-quote from me.

As all of us are aware, there are many forms/types of writing. We technically use them everyday. For my lesson today at South Forrest, I asked my student to create and write an invitation to a birthday party-informational text! He really seemed to enjoy it! Observing in too many schools, I've seen the routine of copying! "Copy this and copy that... and when you're finished, copy this too!" I bet these children could copy board work with their eyes closed! I think that writing should be more than just "wrote memorization"... That does make some sense, doesn't it?

Teachers should teach their students how to become strategic writers (Conley's text-pg.312 @ bottom of page). Modeling should take place, guided practice should follow, and gradual releases (from the teacher) after that. Of course, this can take days, weeks, months. But helping your students to "get their feet wet" will allow them to later establish themselves as strategically proficient writers. Students should be taught to manage and monitor their own work/writing. Quick Writes are great for scaffolding young novice writers. Most children love the idea of a quick write & they're very easy to incorporate in any classroom. Asking students to keep Learning Logs are also great tools of suggestion to help "grow" beautiful writers. Basically, the possibilities are endless and this chapter opened up my eyes, even more, regarding developing writers!