Learning that Writing is Communication: Karen McCormick, Kindergarten, Late Fall 2011

This year, kindergarten has begun piloting the Being a Writer™ program in our classrooms. When I began teaching kindergarten three years ago, I found writing difficult to engage my students in. There was little-to-no curriculum before and the ideas I came up with were somewhat repetitive. This year, our students are much more engaged in developing their ideas for writing. The Being a Writer program teaches them to think about the topic, develop their ideas and then put them on paper. While a few of my students still struggle with the sounds of letters and the actual transcribing of their ideas, they are all able to tell me what they would like to write about.

In kindergarten, we sometimes find that students will hear a good idea (usually the teacher’s) and will copy it, but this year my students have been developing their own ideas and really trying to write them on their own. The Being a Writer program is teaching my students that writing is not just putting words on paper, it is developing ideas they want others to hear and then writing them down to share with their classmates. My students have really enjoyed the times when they shared their ideas with others both before and after writing.

As a teacher, this program has taught me the importance of students sharing their work with each other because without the sharing component, it is just work to them and not the fun that it has been this year. I have really appreciated having some direction in my writing curriculum and I know that in comparison to years past, writing this year has been a much less stressful event for my students (and me too!).