Inspiring Our Writers at Horace Mann

As I strolled through classrooms this week, it was easy to see that academic teaching and learning is well underway!  I saw kids doing math using various apps on their Chromebooks, learning to form individual  letters, reading leveled books in comfy seating, and creating "All About Me" displays.

Lucy Calkins, TCRWP

How do "All About Mes" fit into this picture?  Well, they form the basis for students' personal narratives, the first Unit of Study in our Writing Workshop.  It is confidence-inspiring to write about something we know--and certainly kids know about themselves--making this a perfect place for writing to begin.

As you may know, Lakewood elementaries have been teaching reading using the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) curriculum for several years now.  We usually refer to them as Reading and Writing Workshop, based on the large chunks of time given for students to read and write while receiving feedback from their teacher.  This has been proven time and again as the best way for kids to build their English Language Arts skills, and we see plenty of evidence here at Horace Mann.

Lucy Calkins is the founder of the TCRWP, and there is no one more passionate about these topics.  On one of my classroom visits, I was lucky enough to join the children in watching this video of Lucy.  As an aspiring writer myself, it was a happy synchronicity :)  I hope you have 9 minutes to watch the video, too, either with your child or on your own.

Lucy Calkins Speaks to Young Writers