Chapter 2 - Start With Celebration

Highlights from Chapter 2:

We are much more apt to do optimum work when we know our best efforts will be supported and celebrated and when we believe we can succeed. p. 18

Writing success has the power to transform kids, literally. p. 19

Students see writing as performing for the teacher, generating something to fill up the nearest bulletin board, or preparing for high-stakes tests. p. 19

It takes so little to turn a student into a writer: a human connection, teacher modeling, supportive conversations before writing begins, an appreciation of the student's efforts, sincere affirmation, real writing for a purpose, and a reader that the student values. p. 21

Let students know stories happen everywhere - at home, in school, on the playground, on the bus, in the imagination. p. 23

Acting out stories in dramatizations and Readers Theatre, at all grade levels, improves children's reading and writing and positively impacts their fluency, their ability to sequence and shape ideas, their understanding of how stories work, and their awareness of audience, to name just a few benefits. p. 23

Do your best to ensure that you students who need to hear stories and rich language are not leaving the room for special classes when you are reading aloud and introductin shared language experiences. p. 24

Our students will not easily share their life experiences in a meaningful, personal way until we share our. p. 25

Write in front of your students. p. 26

Expand Personal Writing: journals, brief memoirs from one period of their lives, photo-autobiographies, a moment from the timeline of their lives, favorite memories, snapshots, hero moments, friendly letters, cards, and poems. p. 27

It's common sense that whenever we are able to engage student's interests, we will have higher-quality writing. p. 29

Recognize the writer for what he is attempting and help move them forward. p. 29

Leonard Cohen has written:
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in. p. 30

One of the best things about poetry is that kids get to play around with language and fun with it. Such playfulness help develop children's interest in language, which carries over to other forms of writing. p. 31