What I know and have learned...

So far I have learned one major concept when it comes to the teaching of writing: Kids are scared of it. We, as teachers, say write about this and that and poof, we expect them to just create this beautiful wrtitten thing. The sad thing is that we can't just expect them to write without helping them or engaging them. Looking back on some of the writing assignments I've had to do, they were boring and I only did them because I had to. Most of these articles focus of the creative aspect of writing and letting children's imaginations run wild. I really like the idea of co-authoring because it takes a little bit of the pressure off of the students and lets them be a little more creative. This also works really well with younger students because they can speak fluently and tell wonderful stories but writing them down is the hard part. I also really like the idea of individual prompts. Starting a story for a child and letting them expand and go crazy works much better than having them all write the same story. I also really like the idea of fluency and flair. With younger grades, although grammar and spelling are important, what's more important is the fluency and pizzazz in their writing. If a child can be engaged and tell a story out loud without worrying about the grammar issues, it proves that they are in fact, good writers. I think grammar is very important but, in my mind, good writing and good grammar are different. I have learned a lot from these articles so far, like fun creative ways to teach writing.