A Lost Art

In the world of email and texting, good writing is quickly becoming a lost art. But, not so in Ms. Wanda Lynn's second grade class. Her students are fortunate enough to have her share her passion for writing and children's literature with them on a daily basis. In fact, our entire faculty and staff was treated to a wonderfully insightful in-service session led by Ms. Lynn, sharing with all of us components of good writing and how to encourage our students to be successful authors at any age.

Her ideas and approach used in the classroom are terribly creative and effective. The shoe pictured here is a perfect example. During in-service, we were asked to give a "voice" to the shoe placed on our group's table. Participants could have the shoe "say" anything it wanted. This one was a bit sassy commenting it was "a little jealous of the boot that had walked in the clean, white snow," but "ready at a moment's notice for a night on the town!" It was so much fun to hear the creative ideas our teacher's offered and watch a seemingly inanimate object come alive on paper!

Ms. Lynn holds Writing Workshop each week after school for second grade students who are interested in participating. In her words, Writing Workshop is explained:

"A series of mini lessons that teach what makes good writing, Writing Workshop reviews the six traits... ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions, as well as presentation. Then these traits are the focus during the stages of the writing process - prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In Writing Workshop children are exposed to good writing again and again; children learn to recognize what strong writing sounds like. Good picture books and chapter books are used for children to recognize detailed descriptions and fluent sentences. I feel strongly that children need daily opportunities to write so that they become invested in the writing process."

One point Ms. Lynn made during in-service that truly resonated is how important it is to understand the connection between thinking and speaking creatively, so when it's time to write in such a way, it comes more easily. So, in Ms. Lynn's classroom you will not hear children asking simply, "Can I get a drink of water?" but rather, "May I get a cool, refreshing drink of water from the bubbler in the hallway?" We laugh, but it really does make a difference. Come by and read some of her seven and eight year olds' writing pieces... quite impressive.

Shine bright,
JDG