Kids Must Write Every Day!

Jaimie Howe contributed today's post.

“It has become increasingly clear that children’s success

in many disciplines is reliant on their ability to write.”

—Lucy Calkins

For those of you that have read my previous blog posts, you are probably aware of my sincere passion for writing instruction, workshop model, and ultimately Lucy Calkins.   This post is no different . . . I can’t seem to meander into any new territory because these topics are always at the forefront of my mind.  

So today, I reflect on a blog post written by Lucy herself, as part of Heinneman’s, The Writing Master’s Series: (#WritingMasters).

http://www.heinemann.com/blog/writingmasters-calkins1/

Lucy starts her post with an analogy to mathematics instruction:

“When a child enters your school, what is the promise that you make to the child and her parents about the writing education that she will receive?” I point out that chances are good that in math, the school essentially promises that child, “Whether or not your teacher likes math, you’ll be taught math every day. You won’t need to be lucky to get a teacher who teaches math. And the course of study that you receive from one teacher won’t be all that different from what you’ll receive from another teacher.” Given that writing is one of those subjects that affects a learner’s ability to succeed in every other subject, the promise a school makes to youngsters as writers probably shouldn’t be that different from the promise made to children as mathematicians.”

So why is it that writing instruction seems to be treated so differently than other subjects? Is math easier to teach?  Do teachers understand math instruction more than reading/writing instruction? Are teachers scared to teach writing because they are not confident writers themselves? Have teachers not seen first hand the huge impact writing can have on student achievement?

These are questions I seem to ask quite often and finding the answers seems to be becoming more urgent.  I have been a literacy coach, reading specialist, and interventionist for the last five years and have watched reading/writing scores stay stagnant or drop each and every year. Why?  I keep coming back to writing instruction. I know teachers believe writing instruction is important; however, I truly don’t think many teachers like teaching writing, so it’s the first thing to get cut from the day if they need to find room for something else..  This post by Lucy Calkins has once again made it clear to me, how much I need to advocate for writing instruction and help teachers understand the urgency for students to be proficient writers.  Writing needs to be a constant topic of conversation and hold just as important of a role in instruction as any other subject.  The first place to start is making it a non-negotiable: KIDS MUST WRITE EVERY DAY!