Allow Yourself to Listen

I recently participated in a book study addressing writing instruction in the classroom.  I had so many "ah-ha" moments it would take the rest of the year to share them.  You might want to read the book for yourself.  It's Of Primary Importance by Anne Marie Corgill.








One of the big ideas I have always believed, but sometimes in the rush of the day have not always put into practice, is to create an environment where students know their thoughts and opinions matter.  Only when students have this environment will they feel safe enough to risk sharing their inner thoughts, their discoveries, their mistakes.  And this environment is of vital importance if students are going to feel free to write.



With that in mind, my class began a study of nonfiction writing.  About a week or so before I planned to start writing this genre with the students, I asked them to read it.  We have a Read to Write rack where I display books on the particular topic we are writing.  It creates a great interest for students and provides an easy place to get support when they begin writing.



So the students had been studying various nonfiction books and writing particular things they noticed that could be true of any nonfiction book.  After a week or so of independent study, I pulled the class together and we began to make a chart of "Things we notice about nonfiction".  We had a great discussion going and were listing away, when one student said, "All nonfiction starts with capital letters and ends with periods."



Now my first thought was a sarcastic, "Well of course it does." But in a rare moment of wisdom, I paused and asked the student to explain why he thought that was important.  As he explained, it became apparent that he was remembering the study we had just finished...poetry.  And of course in that study we discovered traditional punctuation and capitalization rules don't apply.  So his point had complete validity and was an important observation!  But if I had not valued his initial thoughts, and asked him to explain further, as a class we may not have made that connection!



So may I encourage you to seek out your students' thoughts?  Give them time to process and they will amaze you




Happy writing,




Lonely Hearts ~ a sweet Christian Romance
The Price of Trust ~ Christian Romantic Suspense
http://www.booksbyamanda.com