Expectations

As a member of this Online Book Club, you are expected to post to the book blog at least once per week between now and July 11 -- that's six weeks. You should finish your book before then, and you will meet during the Institute in your groups to extend the discussion and plan how to present the book to the others in the Institute.


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Saturday, July 2, 2016

Thoughts on Chapter 4

I participated in the EMWP in 2010, and I’ve read several books about writing with students (one that I love is called Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle), so this chapter didn’t provide a whole lot of new information for me. I can say that my experiences of writing with students have been profound. By demonstrating my “wobbles” as a writer, students can see that writing isn’t some magic thing that certain people can do easily. They see that even their teacher struggles and re-starts and re-writes and makes grammar and spelling errors just like the rest of them. The students absolutely love fixing my mistakes and giving me suggestions for improvement. It empowers them and motivates them.

The only real struggle is finding the time to write. Writing beside them is not always possible, because I am also the teacher and students require help as they write. I often have to spend time writing before class so I have something ready – which isn’t always easy.

I have always wanted to try NaNoWriMo. I’ve signed up with them, but since it takes place in November, and I’m usually exhausted in November, I never follow through. Have any of you tried NaNoWriMo? I know one retired teacher who used that time to start a novel, which he eventually published!

1 comment:

  1. I love that your students get involved with your writing and review with you. Can you share an example of a context that you shared your work and allowed them to edit. Was it a full lesson plan or just a short interaction?

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