As a writer, I can say that most of writing is actually revising. As a teacher, I can say that this idea isn’t how most children think about writing. As both a writer and a teacher, I want to argue that we should teach revision as an integral part of writing. I do this inContinue reading “5 Reasons to Teach Revision”
Tag Archives: Teaching writing
Writing as Witnessing: writing about the Snoqualmie River salmon run
All writing is about something. When you teach writing, the world just pours in. And in return, writing can influence the world. Experiencing the power of writing as a way of witnessing is very exciting to most of my students. Children are small but feel justice deeply, and writing gives them a powerful way to articulate things.Continue reading “Writing as Witnessing: writing about the Snoqualmie River salmon run”
Word Families and Spelling
In my last post, I wrote about some of the reasons English spelling is so weird. Interesting, sure, but what do we actually do to help children learn to spell? People learn things that are relevant to them. You’ve all watched your children’s amazing capacity to retain information about Legos or horse breeds or ancientContinue reading “Word Families and Spelling”
Why Is English Spelling So Weird?
English spelling is undeniably chaotic. There is an exception to pretty much every rule. However, while it doesn’t follow orderly rules, English spelling does have patterns. I think that learning a little background about how English spelling came to be is both fascinating and helpful.* There are about 44 phonemes (distinct sounds) in English, depending onContinue reading “Why Is English Spelling So Weird?”
Frog Hollow School 