Teachers can learn a great deal from one another. When teachers ask to learn more about another
teacher, a door is opened to a future of intentional learning from colleagues (Graves, 1994). When
selecting a classroom to observe, a teacher should look for a colleague who is competent in writing.
Teachers should take some time during the day or after school to visit with the teacher and learn from her.
Graves (1994) suggests the teacher is asked how he/she approaches the teaching of writing, how the
teacher has changed how he/she has taught writing over the years, and what new things the teacher is
trying in his/her classroom. Other questions that may be asked of the teacher include: Has the teacher
always been passionate about writing? What has the teacher discovered about teaching writing? After
learning from the observation, a document may be composed to share this information with other
colleagues. One teacher who completed this task said, “I am excited that I was able to witness his influ ence
on students and learn from his expertise. This piece helps me remember where I came from as a teacher
and where I hope to end up in my career.”
Activity #7: Interview a small group of student writers
Wise teaching begins with watching and listening to students (Calkins, 1994). We can learn a great
deal from children if we simply listen to them. “Unless children speak about what they know, we lose out
on what they know and how they know it” (Graves, p.16, 1994). Therefore, it is essential that teachers
engage students in conversations about their writing in order to teach them more effectively.
To complete this activity, the teacher should meet with a small group of student writers to discuss
their thoughts and attitudes on writing. The teacher might ask the students if they like writing and why or
why not, how the students learned to write, what their idea of a good writer is, if they have ever written
something they are proud of, what their strengths and weaknesses as a writer are, what strategies they use
during writing, what they would like to learn that would help them become a better writer, what things a
teacher might do to make the process more enjoyable, et cetera. Hearing from multiple students’
perspectives can be enriching and enlightening.
Kear, Coffman, McKenna, & Ambrosio (2000) developed a survey to assess students’ attitude
toward writing. This 28-question survey asks respondents to choose from one of four pictures of the
Garfield cartoon character that best describes their feeling. The pictures of Garfield range from very happy
to extremely unhappy. Students are asked to respond to questions regarding their feeling about keeping a
journal, sharing their writing with classmates, editing their writing, writing poetry, and a variety of other
topics. Analyzing the results of a survey such as this one will provide the teacher with better understanding
of how students view writing. One teacher who completed this activity found it “very interesting to hear
the individual student responses in regard to how they feel about writing.” She further commented that
she now plans to administer surveys to her students at the start of each school year to gain information on
how the students feel about writing, what misconceptions they might have about writing, how much the
know about the writing process, et cetera. She noted that surveying students was “a very worthwhile and
relevant” activity.
Activity #8: Read a text on writing and participate in a study group
Reading a text with a group of teachers can be a very valuable experience. The group can choose
the text that best addresses their needs and designate times to meet and discuss the text with each other.
There are many well-written books on teaching writing, such as Graves’ (1994) A Fresh Look at Writing,
Fletcher’s (1993) What a Writer Needs or Gallagher’s (2006) Teaching Adolescent Writers. Other great
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