Teaching Writing

Expectations…..where to begin.  I expect all of my students to learn and to perform, but can there be different expectations for different kids?  I know that all students need to excel and perform, but there are some students who I know will never do so at the same level as their peers even though they will forever be in the regular education classroom.  It’s not that I don’t expect them to do their work, I just know they are not capable of the same amount or the same quality.  I don’t want anyone to feel that I’m lowering my standards for some, and raising them for others.  However, adjusting materials and expectations, in my opinion, is necessary if we want to provide every student with a feeling of success….Success needs to be brought to their level and their ability wherever that may be.  I always nurture and nudge my students as Routman suggests.  Overall they receive the same instruction and modeling along with sufficient encouragement along the way, but with varying expectations in the end.  As I get to know my students, I develop appropriate and adequate expectations for each of them.

Establishing schoolwide expectations is necessary and essential if students are going to continue to excel and progress.  This is of concern to me as my school seems to be very inconsistent with their expectations from grade level to grade level.  At the beginning of the year, they seem excited about 6-traits, but by the end of the year, they have heard about something new and plan to try it out, but with only certain grades.  We are always trying things out, and only certain teachers use certain programs.  There is no consistency between grade levels, yet within grade levels.  We need to adopt a writing structure(s) and stick to it so kids will understand and continue to develop their writing from year to year.  With consistency, improvement in writing should be seen.  And we wonder why our kids are struggling with writing and the MEAPS?  If we want our kids to be good writers, we need to begin the development early and progress with consistency throughout the grades as students build on their prior knowledge and skills rather than continuing to change the direction and format from year to year.