Sneak Peek #1 Into Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be providing some sneak peeks into my newest book, Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing, and I’m so excited to do it! This book consists of only five chapters, but they are packed and focused on the most important elements of writing instruction I could think of: building a writing community, curriculum considerations, instructional practices, assessment, and student agency.
Chapter 1 was one of my favorite parts to write because my writing community is critical to me in my own writing life. I have key people and groups who are always available to me for brainstorming, planning, envisioning, drafting, revising, and encouraging. My writing community knows when to nurture, when to nudge, when to send coffee or chocolate, and when to show up with a bottle of wine.
As I thought about writing communities, one of the most important considerations involves understanding individual writing processes, including our own. Chapter 1 is full of ways to get to know and understand the writers in your classroom in terms of what they know, what is important to them, the resources that help them, and ways to keep joy at the forefront of writing. The questions that I address are listed below:
Checklist taken from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing (Meehan, 2022).
While envisioning and writing this chapter, I thought a lot about communities and the importance of a shared language. The chart below is one that I created in order to capture some of the terms I find myself using day in and day out, when I am in classrooms working with teachers and students. You are welcome to take some of my language, and also to use this chart as a springboard for creating your own shared language within your writing community.
A common language is a key element of any community. This chart shows some of the language in classrooms I work in and is included in Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing (Meehan, 2022).
An asset-based approach involves leading with what students know and are able to do, and it is an approach that leads to positivity in any community. The chart below is one of my favorites for considering subtle but impactful shifts in language that signal both respect and the expectation of student agency and potential.
An asset-based approach is a critical element of a writing community, and this chart, taken from Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing (Meehan, 2022), shows minor tweaks in language that have huge impacts on a positive community!
Communities welcome members and create a feeling of collaboration, purpose, and possibility. My hope is that even this sneak peek into Chapter 1 will inspire you to think about your own writing communities and how you can infuse them with joy that comes from belonging to them.
I love working with teachers and anyone else who is passionate about teaching students to write! I’m available for virtual or on-site professional development during the summer and during the school year. Feel free to reach out to meehanmelanie@gmail.com with questions and ideas.