Chapter 7 Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

The cover page to section three outlines a successful writing program. "A successful writing program requires a knowledgeable, organized teacher with excellent classroom management skills. Mostly, students need lots of time in which to write, a say in what they write about, strategies that allow them to problem solve independently (plan, revise, edit), and helpful response."

I can relate to her introduction about starting with a whole then part then back to whole. Students need to have a picture (jigsaw puzzle metaphor) before their writing will improve. During the beginning of this chapter I saw lots of comparisons to the k-first grade teachers struggle to find a phonics program.

The four major changes in a writing program listed on page 144 make sense. Through Reggie's work in a school district a group of teachers came up with this list. I feel the most critical is deciding who the audience would be for each piece of writing. Real audiences make for real writing.

The focus on revision and the ways to teach revisions is important. This is an area where I feel inadequate. I like the idea of doing minilessons for small groups or even one student. Along with revisions, the comments on spelling are helpful. With my students I use a 8x11 paper with lists of common words on one side and categories of words on the flip side. These categories include color words, number words, months, days of the week, food words, school words, etc. I also teach students how to use this spell checker when they are writing. This starts about January and my student use this support almost daily. I am going to try some of the other revision ideas in this chapter.