chat center
SUBSCRIBE MY LINKS:

Latest Posts Full Chatboard Submit Post

Current Issue » Table of Contents | Back Issues

Cheryl Sigmon

Teaching Literacy

Validating Writers to Motivate Them
by Cheryl Sigmon
Regular contributor to the Gazette
January 1, 2008
If there is one overriding issue that causes students to be reluctant writers, I would say that it boils down to validation - or, even more importantly, the lack of validation. Many of our students - perhaps even the majority of them - don’t feel that they have lives worthy of writing about. They simply don’t think that they have anything to write that anyone would really want to read. There are so many ways, however, that we can reassure them that they all live lives that provide fuel for the pen. They just need validation from the teacher to get them started. Perhaps as you’re approaching the New Year in your classroom, you’ll want to be more cognizant of the validation factor. Here are a number of ways to accomplish that:
  • Be sure that many of your own writing topics are about ordinary, everyday kinds of things. You don’t have to have traveled to Paris or the Amazon or any exotic places to be a writer. Show them that writing is a basic communication skill. Write about your trip to school or to a concert or about your Uncle Joe. Carry your writing beyond the surface, though, with these ordinary experiences. Focus on one aspect of your trip to school - the way you travel so automatically since this trip is a habit for you or on the way the sun shone on the fields you passed. Use the concert as an analogy about life or on the feeling the music evoked. Share one story about Uncle Joe that shows rather than tells about his character. Use these ordinary experiences to show them how all writers make the transformation to the extra-ordinary.
     
    Advertisement
  • Choose read-alouds that you can share often that demonstrate how published authors have used their own ordinary experiences. Read books like Cynthia Rylant’s The Relatives Came, since we all have relatives, or Marge Palatini’s Bed Head, about a boy who has a bad hair day. Such books can assure students that the ordinary is what writing is all about!
     
  • Set clear expectations that students are to be searching for topics constantly. You might even encourage them to keep notebooks in which they can jot ideas, experiences, or events that might become good writing pieces in the future. When you tell them goodbye in the afternoon, remind them that tomorrow they’ll be expected to write and that they should be looking for something to share - look out of the car window, listen to music, watch movies, read books, and constantly think about what can be shared in writing.
     
  • You might try wearing a "fashionable" bracelet (a.k.a. a roll of masking tape) on your arm in the mornings when you greet students. What students don’t come in first things wanting to tell you things that have happened overnight? As they mention these happenings, you can record a word on two on the masking tape. Then, tear off the reminder as you say, "Take this and stick it on your desk. I’m hoping that you’ll tell me more about that when we get into our writing workshop today!" Immediately you’ve validated for that student that he/she actually has something that someone wants to hear more about. You’ve also given them a bit of language to get them started!
     
  • Some teachers give students seal-top baggies that they can use over the weekend or during holidays to store souvenirs - movie tickets, pictures, wrappers, etc. These concrete souvenirs help students remember what they have to talk about in their writing.
     
  • Spend some of your mini-lesson time brainstorming your topics. There are many organizers to help you gather a constant store of ideas for writing. You might use a Bingo-like sheet with different major topics - Family, Pets, Holidays, Sports, etc. - in the squares where students can add ideas that fall under these categories. Alpha-boxes might also be used to jot down different ideas organized by letters of the alphabet - things they’ve studied like Saturn, soldiers, and stems under the "S."
     
  • On some occasions, use your writing workshop time for talking, but only allow talking on paper. Yes, students will love being given permission to write notes to each other! Even your most reluctant writers will love writing (although they hardly think of this as writing!), and you’ll be offering a wonderful demonstration that writing is a basic communication skill - it’s just talking done on paper. If you try this activity, you might want to have your students follow these rules: 1) You must talk (a.k.a. write) the entire time! (This is a rare use of that line in a classroom!) If you’re waiting on someone to respond to your note, write to someone else. You can have several conversations going at once. Get to know some classmates that you don’t talk to often. 2) You can get out of your desk to deliver your note, but hurry back to your seat. (I’ve never had trouble with behavior during this activity. Usually students rush back to their desks because they’re receiving mail that they want to read.) 3) Sign all of your notes so that the person responding will know to whom it should be returned. (This will also help students be more accountable for what they’re saying in the notes.) 4) Don’t write anything unkind about anyone! You’ll want to be ready to write notes to the students who might not receive mail from many/any other students. When this activity concludes, save a few minutes for discussion about why they find this kind of writing so easy and so much fun. Be sure they realize that much of the writing in "real life" is just this - basic communication through emails, notes and informal writing.
     
  • You might try using the kaleidoscope as a good analogy to writing. I bring in one of my kaleidoscopes that come apart. I take out the items inside - glass beads or other items I’ve put inside like crayon shavings, paper clips, etc. - and show them how ordinary the items are. Then, I put the items back inside the kaleidoscope. As I pass it around for the kids to view, I remark how extraordinary the items now look. It all depends on how you look at them. Writers have an extraordinary way of looking at ordinary things. Subsequently, you can challenge students to use their writer’s eyes like the kaleidoscope.
     
  • You must let your students know that you value their ideas far more than the spelling, punctuation, and usage in their writing. Once they’ve become fluent in their writing and have developed their confidence and comfort level, there will be plenty of time to work on revisions and editing that include mechanics and technical aspects of writing. They’ve got to take risks to produce quality writing!
 
Although these are all fairly simple ideas, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your students will grow once they realize that they have the potential to be writers. Let’s make a resolution to validate our students as writers in the New Year!

Happy writing!       -------Cheryl



» More Gazette articles...




About Cheryl Sigmon...

Cheryl Sigmon is a former classroom teacher turned author and freelance consultant who travels the country - and the world - supporting teachers in the important work of teaching literacy.

Cheryl worked for 9 years with the SC Department of Education as a language arts consultant, working alongside teachers in classrooms of districts that were struggling in her state. As part of that effort during the mid-nineties, she helped teachers pilot the 4-Blocks literacy model.

Cheryl has written almost a hundred articles for Teachers.Net, available online at http://teachers.net/4blocks/column.html. Cheryl is also the author or co-author of a dozen books about literacy instruction.

She has three daughters, two grandchildren and lives with her husband in South Carolina.

For more information about Cheryl Sigmon, her books, training and seminars, visit her site at http://www.cherylsigmon.com/

Related Links...


Join the Discussion on the 4 Blocks Chatboard...


Join the Discussion on the Building Blocks Chatboard...
January, 2008



January, 2008

Cover Story

Wrapping the Year with Rap!

A few years ago, Alex was having a hard time teaching Algebra. The students would not pay attention, do their work, or retain a simple math formula. But, he noticed the students could recite every word of a new hip-hop song on the radio....

By Harry & Rosemary Wong

Columns


Teaching Literacy

Validating Writers to Motivate Them

4 Blocks literacy guru Cheryl Sigmon adds a new contribution to her collection of over 100 articles featured on Teachers.Net

By Cheryl Sigmon


Promoting Learning

Understanding Boys

Whereas good relationships are important to girls, success is more important to boys....

By Dr. Marvin Marshall


Instant Ideas for Busy Teachers

Six Easy Resolutions for 2008

These resolutions are a snap to keep and will make your teaching life easier!

By Barbara & Sue Gruber


The Busy Educator
The Busy Educator's Monthly Five

Five new websites for educators that are easy to read, simple to use and worthwhile to know

By Marjan Glavac


Ed-Tech Talk

Becoming the Technology Leader and the Electronic Janitor?

Do you want to be a technology leader or do you want to be left alone?

By Dr. Rob Reilly

Features


Barb S. HS/MI
Apple Seeds
Ron/NJ
Today Is...
January Events
Live Chats

 
From the Teachers.Net Gazette Archive

Teachers.Net Chatboard Poll

Teacher Classified Ads

Help Wanted: Teaching Jobs




Teachers.Net Recommends
TIMTIM.com - Free Drawings for Teachers, Students

This month we discovered a new web-based resource for kids, parents and teachers - TIMTIM.com offers more than two thousand cartoon style drawings FREE for teachers....


Featured Lessons
Martin Luther King Lesson Plans

Just in time for the Martin Luther King celebration, we present eight MLK lesson plans from the Teachers.Net Lesson Bank


Teachers.Net Favorite
3-D Snowflake Craft Project

From the January, 2003 Gazette, one of our most requested craft project ideas ever.

By Mizletts


Streaming Video
Teachers.Net Video Bytes

What does a teacher make? Science Experiment: CO2 Is Heavier Than Air; What is the Multiple Intelligence Theory? Teaching English with Games; What Teaching is to Me; Early Literacy Activity: Egg Carton Game

Articles


52 Character Building Thoughts

52 thoughts designed to help children build character

By Leah Davies


Keep Your Sub Afloat

In the teaching profession, the only thing harder than being in the classroom everyday is not being in the classroom for even a single day

By Tifany Grizzle


Mentoring Pre-service Teachers

Special educator Susan Rismiller offers a collaborative approach to improving the practice of teaching

By Susan Rismiller


Planning to Present a Workshop? Here's How!

Teachers know the importance of developing carefully thought out and structured lesson plans for teaching students. Hal Portner offers advice for structuring effective workshops as well.

By Hal Portner

Book Excerpt



Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire

From the inspiring roadmap that encourages parents and teachers to look beyond discipline and to bring passion, excellence, and joy back into education.

By Rafe Esquith



The Gazette is a collaborative project published by the Teachers.Net community. Submit your work to the Gazette


Other columns by Cheryl Sigmon...
#