Write Right

Right Write: A Story of a Small Town Writing Community

By Nadine Roth

         Once, in a small town in Eastern Iowa, along the Mississippi River, there was a teacher. This teacher, being the dedicated professional that she was trained to be, did diligently teach her students the important skills in writing. "Capitalization! Punctuation! Spelling! Please, children, check your work! Is it correct?"
         The students, also diligent, sat at their desks and tried to make sure all their errors were corrected. "Mrs. R, is this right?" "Does a capital letter go here?" "I can't find where my sentence ends." "Mrs. R, can you help me?"
         This went on. And on. And on.
         Then, in the summer of 2005, this dedicated teacher took a class about writing. Suddenly, like Dorothy opening the farm house door, the writing world became colorful and bright; friendly and beautiful! This dedicated teacher, with all her education, did not know such a writing place existed! The Iowa Writing Project was the beginning of a new outlook on her life as a writer and as a teacher of writing.
         When the time came to start preparing for the new school year, this excited, dedicated teacher began to plan! She'd found a new way to teach writing! The very first thing on the agenda - rearrange the learning day schedule: writing now came first in the day. (What's most important to you, dear teacher? Writing is. Then it should be the first thing your students work on each day.)
Next this excited, (did I mention dedicated?) teacher put away the writing prompts and worksheets. She put up a large tablet of chart paper on an easel. When the school year began, she wrote messages to her first graders and helped them learn to read the message she had written for them. (Make writing meaningful and authentic.) Then she invited the students to write. The students were excited to have the opportunity to follow their teacher's lead. "Mrs. R, I can write about anything I want?" "Mrs. R, I'm writing a letter." "Mrs. R, this is a poem about my dog!" (Give them freedom to create.)
Remarkably, this teacher found, that through the freedom of written expression, the students wanted to create writing that communicated to themselves and their audience. (Who is the writing for?) These excited, dedicated students soon simply needed to know more. "Mrs. R, how do you show someone is talking?" "Mrs. R, I put the mark at the end of my sentence that shows I'm surprised, what's that called again?" A community of writers in this teacher's classroom grew. They grew in confidence, in their ability to write, and in their ability to collaborate with one another. They were a team of writers!
Once, in a small town in Eastern Iowa, along the Mississippi River, there was a teacher who worked with a community of learners.

Fin? ~ Not Yet!