Erin Roberson, Missy Barlow, Holly Bourget, presenter Kelly Gallagher, Shari Griesbach, Allison Skarie and I at lunch during the conference.
A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to take a team of JRG Language Arts teachers to a three-day conference on Informational Reading and Writing, presented by Kelly Gallagher. In education circles, particularly at the middle and high school level, Gallagher (http://kellygallagher.org) is well known as a powerful presenter who also walks the walk - he's a full-time high school English teacher in Anaheim, California. On the first day, we even had the opportunity to have lunch with him, which for an educator is almost like what my nine-year-old daughter would feel if she got to have lunch with Justin Bieber. Almost.
I've spent some time reflecting on what I've learned, and here are some of my key take-aways:
- Writing has become an essential skill for today's workforce, and the ability to write quickly and clearly often determines the type of job that will be available to you.
- Writing is generative, which is a fancy way of saying that when you read something and then write about it, your thinking and your ability to read both get better. You are generating new connections and new knowledge, and thinking more deeply.
- Our students need to be writing more: more frequently, in more styles, with more support. Gallagher talks a lot about the difference between assigning writing and teaching writing. Anyone reading this blog probably did a lot of assigned writing in school - book reports, research projects, etc. - without a lot of teacher support in how to write better. Teaching writing involves giving kids models to study, both from what we read together and from the teacher demonstrating their own writing.
- Writing is hard. When kids or adults share their writing, we usually start with an apology: "this isn't very good, I'm not a very good writer..." Why do we do that? Because writing is a hard process, and sharing your thinking with others on paper, laid out for the world to see in black and white, is an uncomfortable proposition.
- The more you read, the better you'll write. Our kids need to be reading recreationally on their own, and reading a wide variety of challenging material at school. If writing is just your thinking made visible, then Gallagher's quip that "you have to read stuff to know stuff" becomes pretty important to producing better writers.
Not all of those thoughts are new, obviously. But it was a great opportunity for us to reflect as a team on how we can create students who are deeper readers and writers. The Common Core State Standards place a greater emphasis than ever before on developing students who are able to read, analyze and clearly communicate their thinking in writing. I'm looking forward to collaborating with our teachers and our families to make that happen!



