In elementary school, I remember writing “books” in first grade. We wrote them for each unit of writing, narrative, biography, autobiography, informative, opinion, etc. We wrote them using sheets of paper that had boxes for drawing pictures and lines underneath each box to write what the picture was describing in our story. After we finished our books, our teacher bound the pages together and we created a cover and back page for them. After they were all done, we had a celebration in class and would read our peers books and give them positive feedback.
A process I remember doing in third grade as a prewriting strategy was mapping/webbing topics. In the middle there was a large bubble with the main topic we were writing about. Descending from the larger bubble were smaller bubbles that had details about the topic we were writing about. This helped me brainstorm and keep my ideas organized.
I remember my teachers taught us that in every story, there must be a beginning, middle, and end. I also learned that writing stories was just as important as reading them because then we could communicate and share ideas with others. My third grade teacher was very passionate about writing and made a point of sharing her love for writing with us. This made me and my classmates very excited to share our work with her because she was always so encouraging. She emphasized that in writing there were not any wrong answers and that any idea could be a good idea. This made me more confident in my writing abilities.
When I was learning to write in elementary school, I recall most of my teachers modeling writing as a whole-class activity. My teachers would use the large notebooks of paper on an easel to model writing and drawing pictures. She sat in the front of the rug with all of us seated on the rug and we brainstormed ideas and raised hands to add to the example she showed us. I also recall other teachers using a projector and modeling for us while we sat in our desks and copied her example down so we had something to refer to.
Topics for writing in elementary school were pretty open, we could write about almost anything as long as it fit into the style of writing we were practicing. I always chose things that were personal to me to write about because I found that was easiest for me, and when I had the most ideas. I wrote mainly for my teachers approval and did not enjoy writing until later in school. I never struggled in writing, but I didn’t become a strong writer until middle and high school. I always benefited from planning out what I was going to write before actually writing about my topic. Teachers’ provided students with planners that broke the structure of the writing down and left blanks for us to fill in.
I feel that when I write about my writing memories my language I use is mostly positive and makes it sound like I had a positive experience writing in elementary school. I talk a lot about my teacher’s passion for writing which contributed to me liking writing in school.
After looking into memories I have of being taught writing and learning what I have in this course, I have taken note of strategies my own teachers used, as well as strategies I have read about. I really enjoy the Anderson article we read and the type of questions he advises to ask students during conferring. I know that I will definitely make a point to conference with my students during writing by walking around to each of their desks and working with them where they feel comfortable. I also like the idea of having students make heart maps and lists in the beginning of the year that they can refer to later in the year when they need inspiration for their writing. I also believe that it is important to start writing blocks with a mini-lesson with all students where the teacher models and uses student ideas to write together as a class.
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