Daily Practice

There are three huge ideas in the Routman book that struck me, The most important being the need to have daily writing practice in the classroom. In my fourth grade placement we start everyday with FRED time (free reading every day), which lasts about 40 minutes. It covers the time from the beginning of the school day until all the buses have arrived. The buses are chronically late. This time is also used by the teacher to conference with students. The kids are really well read, and about half of them participate in the Global Reading Challenge. Yet, their writing is painful, and laborious. I think if we alternated the FRED time with FWED time (free writing every day), that students would experience writing differently. Given the choice of topic and audience, students could practice telling their own stories instead of those assigned.

Secondly, looking at writing holistically instead of by characteristics or skills to be mastered, gives students a sense that their story is important to tell, and inspires them to make it better through revisions and Six Trait applications. I visualize this as chewing around the outside of the idea, circling and circling until you find the core, throwing away the extraneous ideas to find the essence.

Lastly, the idea that the student (or any writer) needs to know who their audience is. It gives the writing purpose and makes the writer responsible to the audience. To simply write a essay on what your are thankful for, a common Thanksgiving assignment, can be pretty dry stuff if you don't know who you are telling this to. A letter to Santa is so much more effective than a list you hand to your parents of want you want for Christmas, the audience inspires the difference.

On that holiday note, I am stop and make some cookies.