Literacy Speaks Volumes

Sir Francis Bacon wrote, "Reading maketh a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing an exact man." As teachers, we want our students to be full, ready, and exact. But how do we do it without poking our eyeballs out with our red pen? Writing is not like other subjects where there is one correct answer. Writing requires that students look inside themselves for the answer, which most students are reluctant to do. Writing is both abstract and concrete; it is subjective and up to interpretation. So how do we as teachers instill a culture of writing in our classrooms? First, we must be writers ourselves. We need to know what it feels like to "have nothing to say." We should be able to describe our own process of sitting before a blank page and composing essays and stories from words. Students need to understand our passion and true belief that the pen is mightier than the sword. Teachers should regularly share their writing with students. Parents expect the...

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you travel? How would you travel? By boat? Train? Hot air balloon? Who do you wish could go with you?  Write a 10-sentence paragraph in which you explain where you would go and why. Go into detail about how you would get there and who would go with you.

The Earth is a Cart Loaded With Dust , a photo by Melissa Reese Etheridge on Flickr. It is important that students be given the opportunity to write each day. The new Common Core State Standards tell us that students need to be writing for extended periods of time. Corbett Harrison  calls it "Sacred Writing Time" and begins each class period with quiet writing time.  I actually begin my class with twenty-minutes of Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) and then move into twenty-minutes of Silent Sustained Writing (SSW). I like having the students read before they write so that they can use their reading as a "spark" or stimulus (as it's called in the Common Core). My students write in their English Language Arts (ELA) Journals for this time in order to keep their writing and notes organized. All published pieces are written on notebook paper to be handed into me to grade. Seventh grade CCSS 7.3 states that the student will "write narratives to develo...

James Kennedy Moffitt house, 86 Sea View Avenue, Piedmont, California. (LOC) , a photo by The Library of Congress on Flickr. How could you use these photos from the LOC in your classroom?