A Daily - Tues., Sept 8

I have volunteered in both my sons' classrooms over many years. I don't recall much teaching of writing, partly because some teachers neglect it, and probably because I helped mostly with math. So I am really having my eyes opened quite a bit to the methods used to teach writing to this age group. Today, I had my first experience with a writing curriculum from Lucy Caulkin (unsure of last name). The kids really enjoyed listening to a very lively read-aloud story--a personal narrative about an eleven year old girl. The writing learning target (determined by Judy) for this week focuses on learning the difference between "showing" and "telling" in your writing. After Judy taught a short lesson related to this target kids were asked to write a response to the reading and provide examples of how the writer "showed" instead of just "telling." This seemed to be a valuable lesson for the kids who are ordinarily accustomed to writing short and to-the-point directed assignments. Their responses entailed some good observations. They seemed to really "get" the idea of how much more enjoyable it is to read something that provides details and great description (visual, emotions, etc.). I appreciated the way in which Judy re-inserts the same point (showing not telling) in other parts of her teaching throughout the week...great continuity and really demonstrates its importance in a variety of subjects.