Last week, I had the pleasure of working with 20+ amazing educators in the Chicagoland area...each with special talents to bring to his/her community, school, students and education as a whole. Not only am I a 2nd grade teacher, I am an Illinois Writing Project Leader. I love this unique work I get to do. Each summer, I am reminded of how much I love being a teacher by the chance to facilitate difficult and in-depth discussions with these talented educators. During the course of this week, this quote struck me.
"To help our students become writers, we need to write side by side with them." - Rebecca Alber
There are many similar quotes out there that you might stumble upon. However, this one strikes me as one that I need to continue to remember. One of my all time favorite moments of the school day is the mini-lesson for Writing Workshop. Every single person in the classroom looks forward to this special time. The students, me, and special guests in the classroom that day.
Writing in front of the students gives me a chance to play with some word choice and semantics, as well as it give me a chance to show the students the entire writing process as a think/write aloud. I have to remember that not only do I want to continue to write in front of students, I want to also do my own writing on my own and show students that I am writing and show them the importance of writing. How impactful for the students to see the real work application!! I need to remember to bring in my own Writer's Notebook, just as Ralph Fletcher recommends.
I hope this quote will resonate with you as it has resonated with me. <3
If you are interested in the Illinois Writing Project, please check out our website.
