Routman's Message Ch1 - 3

Writing Essentials Chapter 2: All students, especially those who begin school with limited literacy skills, need to think of themselves as readers and writers, see the processes as meaningful, and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices? (p. 34). How do you respond to this quote? What connections can you make between this quote, your field placement, and/or your own experiences?

Throughout these chapters the connection the author has with the reader is based on a significant degree of candidness. Her ability to present positive writing scenarios has dragged me in and has made me appreciate her point of view for making writing an enjoyable experience.

Yet, this quote, “All students, especially those who begin school with limited literacy skills, need to think of themselves as readers and writers, see the processes as meaningful, and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices” is the blandest summary of the past three chapters. I agree with this quote and I think the students need to have ownership of their writing if they are going to grow with it. But, I just don’t like how the life of Routman’s writing has been exorcised to such a degree to provide a textbook quality definition towards the need to encourage students to write. Just re-reading the quote causes consternation within my own creative flow, which is at total odds with Routman’s message and self-reflective presentation on the writing process.

Don’t get me wrong, I do agree with this quote and I have seen it in action in the third grade placement. It happened that my Master Teacher introduced the idea of being a writer to her students through a picture book called “Library Mouse”. This is a story about a mouse writing books and placing them in the school library. Eventually, the students and staff of this school library hold a “meet the author” night and the mouse responds by placing a box on the counter with a sign inviting the people to look in to the box and see the author. All that is in the box is a mirror.

The point of the story is that anyone can be an author, and the teacher chose this story to try and open her student’s minds to the idea of being an author and sharing their own stories. With this positive basis for the students, they went into their writing assignments with enthusiasm and excitement, rather than fear and disinterest.

I also saw this quote in action; when my Master Teacher left a writing prompt on the board. The prompt was: “You have arrived in the city and no one is around. Write a story telling me what happened.” The kids ate this idea up and some of them churned out three to five pages of intricate descriptions. The only way that this happened though, is because the kids took ownership of being the storyteller. Being the owner of something is a powerful concept and the students need to have ownership of their writing to begin the process of making their writing better through practice.