What really stood out for me in this chapter was the call for teachers to make sure they are reading and writing so that our assessment is accurate. I thought her three guidelines for assessment was extremely helpful. I need to remember to be perceptive, compassionate and make sure that the assessment feedback that I give my students is useful. I grade my students with rubrics and I work hard to give them feedback that they can take back to their current writing and make better. But I know that I fail often. In my effort to keep up with all my students I am not always assessing every single aspect of their writing. I know that is fine but still I worry that I miss something. When they do something well I work hard to highlight what they have done well. I want my students to write and write a lot and be brave with that writing. My fear is that in encouraging my students to write I am not always correcting the mechanics that they are lacking. I know that as they get braver I can do that but I want to make sure that I don't miss that instruction along with giving them confidence to write. I really appreciated the reminder that reading and writing is so hand in hand. I have always believe that but the line on page 100 reminded me of the importance- "People who read for the sheer joy of it also appreciate the many forms writing can take." I liked the example of people who understand what is happening appreciating the risk that someone is taking. As a rider I have so much respect for that person who gets right back up and takes that jump again because I know how scary that can be. As a reader and a writer I so appreciate someone who can make my heart skip a beat or scare or inspire me or even make me cry. That is a part of my reading and writing community that needs to be grown.
I call my students a community of readers and writers right from the beginning of school. I want them to think of themselves as those type of people. Also, whenever, we look at other authors I pull them into conversation by still calling them authors even though we haven't officially published I want them to know that they could, maybe, at some point... :)
I found it very good also to know that my students are allowed to collaborate but at the end of the day they make the choices. The line on page 99 - Collaboration does not, sad to say, guarantee success, It only provides the writer with with new jumping off points. The writer must still know how to make use of of the responses she receives. Not all advice is good or even helpful. Writers must learn to sift through the trivia and find the gems. " Further down, "In the end, despite everything, the writer is alone with her blank sheet of paper." These lines leaped out at me. My students must be equipped because at the end of the day (which I knew ) its still down to them to put their thoughts on paper. The line that comes after basically says what we need to know is how do they do using all their resources. Writing is the production of meaning- love that! It is thinking. So, until we are all like KY, I will continue to work on creating this environment in my classroom. For now, I will keep the words of Samantha Abeel in the back of my mind and remember to encourage my students always, more than criticize because if they feel they can do it, all the details will fall in line.
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