I Dare You To......

Reading the "Writing Essentials" text has made me realize how important it is to get your students to love to write. There are many teachers out there who use the writing prompts, grade the grammar and spelling, and have the students re-write. But what I have learned is that writing is so much more than that! When a student reads a book, they will read more and more if they like the book, writing is the same way, you need to get a student to like it... but how?
Routman explains that you should have them write about themselves. Gosh, really? Do people like to write about their own experiences, their own idea's? but of course!

In my current Dyad the teacher did an amazing thing that I was so happy to have witnessed because I thought of Routman the entire time he did his lesson. He is currently doing a read-a-loud of "How to Eat Fried Worms", but he isn't the one doing the reading, he has a CD where someone else is. He has explained over the week to listen to the "voice", the excitement it has when reading, and how the speaker makes the reader want to know what is going to happen next. "How does a writer do that?" he asked his students. "How does a writer get his/her audience to want to read more and continue reading the story?"

A week later, after they had finished reading the book, he called them all to the carpet and asked them if they have ever been dared to do something or had they dared someone to do something? (this is because the book they had listened to is about a boy daring another boy to eat 15 worms!) Hands shot up from every student! He called on every single one and they shared the story.
The next day, he called them to the carpet again and this time he spoke about how to start a story to get your readers attention using the dare they shared the day before. It was amazing!! These students were so excited to write that they couldn't wait to get back and begin! As they worked on their stories over the next week, he had mini-conferences with each, making sure they were on track, had "voice" and an enticing beginning and satisfying closing. He never checked for spelling or grammar until the final draft. He did everything that Routman spoke of in chapter 9.

A week after that, the teacher brought in a recorder and let the students record their written story. They used "voice" and expression as they read from the story they had written.
It was an amazing thing to witness and I can honestly say that I have never seen so much excitement in students for a writing assignment.