Teachers of Writing

This week, I read the first chapter in Katie Ray’s book, What You Know By Heart.   Chapter one was dedicated to discussing how important it is for teachers of writing to write and experience the process first hand. It took me until fairly recently to realize just how important this is and this chapter helped reinforce that point for me.  Although I have writing experiences through research papers, reflections, and other daily activities, I do not have very much experience engaging in the type of writing I expect from my students.  Until fairly recently, I have had very little experience writing a personal narrative, a memoir, a poem, or even a piece of fiction.  Now, having some of those experiences, I am beginning to see the challenges that many students face and understand how the writing process differs for many people.

   Katie Ray brought up another important point though.  She believes that because we are teachers of writing, we need more than just the experience of writing.  We need to be able to think about and explain our writing experiences. These experiences need to transfer to our curriculum and our workshops.  We need to take our experiences and decide how and when to use them in our mini lessons or during our guided reading groups.  This was an AH HA moment for me.  While I am writing, I also need to start thinking about how I would explain my experiences or how and when they would be introduced.  This chapter definitely gave me a lot to think about!