I’ve visited countless writing classrooms over the years and it has always been interesting to me why some work and others don’t. I do believe that writing classrooms that incorporate Donald Graves’ seven conditions for effective writing find greater success than those that skip these basic writer needs. I’ve come to think though that there is an even greater quality that must be present. That being the appreciation shown for writing approximations that learners display and that we as a writing community should celebrate. A writer has to move from being able to “hear” what has been attempted in the writing to being able to use it successfully. This progression of change as a writer may take days, weeks or months. I continue to be a cheerleader during this acquisition time. I think the young writers need encouragement to want to continue trying a new skill that may at first seem akward to them and they may not see a need for yet.
Fountas and Pinnell describe this growth in five stages:
- I can hear it!
- I can see it when you point it out!
- I can see it in someone else’s work and appreciate it!
- I can try it on my own!
- I can use it successfully!
Peter Reynolds writes one of my favorite picture books titled, ish… and in it Reynolds portrays what happens to a child if onlookers are naysayers or cheerleaders. It makes me think of my own fatherhood and how I raised Cory, my son and Emy, my fifteen year old daughter. When I taught them how to ride bikes, play the guitar, little league sports I recollect their first attempts didn’t look like the standard you’d expect but instead a little “bikeish, guitarish, and sportish“. I intuitively knew that all creatures learn a little at a time and on a grand scale of first attempts graduating to mastering the task. I was the cheerleader and model. No matter how long it took we kept trying and had FUN as we did each activity. I never allow myself to forget this lesson I learned about kids. Each day when I start my mini lesson I remind myself it might look a little “ishy” today!
Isnt’ every act of every day that we live kind of “ishy”? Aren’t each of us trying to “get it right” every day we’re here. The kids by their very nature live an ishy life, too inside and outside of our classrooms.
