Dear Colleague,
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at the Arizona Book Festival in Tucson. I was told that 100,000 readers showed up for this wonderful event. What good news for literacy!
The topic of my AZ discussion was engaging writers. How do we evaluate engagement? And when we identify the need to engage more of our writers, how do we do so? Here are some of my thoughts. Do you agree?
Happy Writing!
Jennifer
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Disengaged Writers:
Ask, "How long does it need to be?"
Finish each piece in a single writing period or when the end of a journal page is reached. (Appropriate for kindergarten.)
Produce writing that has little awareness of audience. (These pieces often resemble brainstormed lists.)
Resists revision.
Looks to the teacher to correct the conventions.
Engaged Writers:
Choose meaningful and manageable topics.
Plan what they are going to write about and often prewrite by thinking.
Will willingly work on the same piece over many days.
Seek feedback from peers and the teacher.
Have a vision of what they are trying to achieve and find revision rewarding.
Consider the audience and look forward to sharing their work with others.
What do writers need to become engaged?
Time (to think, plan, organize, experiment, revise)
Choice
To concentrate on the message first
An authentic audience
Feedback (especially encouragement)
A vision of success |
 Small as An Elephant Hooray! Today is launch day. Hornbook Magazine writes:
Jacobson has great success putting readers inside Jack's not-always-thinking-things-through mind, and by the end of the story, nicely tied together by the elephant theme, Jack comes to realize that he hadn't been alone, that family and people he didn't even know were there for him in a "makeshift herd." The happy yet realistic ending leaves Jack (and readers) "light-headed with hope." -Dean Schneider, Horn Book
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