There is something important to know about me beyond the notion that I am a writer of a middle grade novel. I am also a writing teacher. I work with elementary students in a K-5 school, and the responsibility that I feel to move them forward as writers drives my teaching engine.
So many students get lost in the process of writing without ever understanding that it is their voice that is most important. So few students even realize that they have a writing voice, much less possess the confidence to express it. Year after year I have coached young writers to believe in the stories of their lives. I have insisted that they live in the positive world of a writing community where every writer knows he or she has a unique and important story to tell. Once a student gets that I will not accept the "I have nothing to write about" refrain, the real work can begin.
I started my work as a true writing teacher when I purchased my first Units of Study by Lucy Calkins, et al out of Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. I pored through those first units for grades 3-5. Highlighting. Underlining. Annotating. Condensing. And then I started using them with my students. It was transformational!
Across the years I have internalized much of TCRWP's philosophies and strategies. I have attended two summer writing institutes and one coaching institute at Columbia University. My confidence as a writing teacher is only superseded by the absolute joy I feel when my students grow as writers.
Whether or not I ever publish a novel, I will count my successes by the students who leave my room feeling like writers. It may not be at the same level as a Newbery Honor, but when a parent of a student or a former student himself thanks me for impacting his writing life, I feel like a million bucks!
So many students get lost in the process of writing without ever understanding that it is their voice that is most important. So few students even realize that they have a writing voice, much less possess the confidence to express it. Year after year I have coached young writers to believe in the stories of their lives. I have insisted that they live in the positive world of a writing community where every writer knows he or she has a unique and important story to tell. Once a student gets that I will not accept the "I have nothing to write about" refrain, the real work can begin.
I started my work as a true writing teacher when I purchased my first Units of Study by Lucy Calkins, et al out of Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. I pored through those first units for grades 3-5. Highlighting. Underlining. Annotating. Condensing. And then I started using them with my students. It was transformational!
Across the years I have internalized much of TCRWP's philosophies and strategies. I have attended two summer writing institutes and one coaching institute at Columbia University. My confidence as a writing teacher is only superseded by the absolute joy I feel when my students grow as writers.
Whether or not I ever publish a novel, I will count my successes by the students who leave my room feeling like writers. It may not be at the same level as a Newbery Honor, but when a parent of a student or a former student himself thanks me for impacting his writing life, I feel like a million bucks!
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