Students at Hildreth Elementary School are writers. They talk about writing, share their writing, and exhibit their writing. From third grade on, students carry a writer’s notebook with them. They are, as Reenie Keith, literacy coach K-5, says, “on a quest to live a writerly life.” All this is because teachers are teaching writing in a more explicit way than they have before and making it exciting. They themselves are writing and talking with each other about their work.
What’s remarkable is that most of them were never taught writing; they were given writing assignments but never taught the skills to actually do it. Professional development has helped to fill that gap, says Peggy Bragg, director of reading K-8. One visible proof of the successful writing program at HES is the Writing Museum, the second to be held at the school this academic year.
As one walks the halls of HES, one sees what looks like a clothesline draped along the wall outside every classroom. Clipped to the line are pieces of writing, many of them more than three pages in length. The topics vary, depending on the grade level, but headlining each grouping is a poster with words like “Look at our amazing writing” and “Celebrate our fabulous writing skills.”
Kindergarteners Devon Mara (left) and Cole Maddalone read from their work. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The Press interviewed two kindergarten students about their museum pieces. The writing prompt, or assignment, was an informational piece on how to do something, and the writing had to be completed in a certain length of time and meet specific expectations described in a rubric. Daron Mora wrote about how to drive a car and—at all of three feet tall—was happy to share his instructions. “First,” he read from his piece, “you turn on the car.” When Cole Maddalone was asked if he had ever followed his own directions in “How to Color an Egg,” he replied that he had, “once when I was little.” He called attention to the part in his directions about the need for “fizzy water.” Both boys were clearly proud of their work and of the fact that they are real writers imparting real information to a real audience.
In another hallway the Press met two fifth-grade girls, both of whom are very excited about being writers and are impressively articulate in talking about their work and the critical thinking involved. As MacKinlay Chipman and Michelle Mazzu explained it, their prompt was a literary essay. During the year the class read and discussed several MCAS review short stories. Class discussion focused on the themes of the stories and how those ideas related to the students’ own lives.
MacKinlay Chipman (left) and Michelle Mazzu.
On-demand writing
For this “on-demand” writing, the girls said they chose their favorite story; they had to begin the essay with a clear thesis, then support it with specific elements from the story. The last paragraph applied the thesis idea to their own lives, a step they explained as necessary for further convincing their readers of their thesis idea. Both girls chose to write about the story called “Retired,” but they each had a somewhat different thesis. MacKinlay was taken by how important companions are and how the woman in the story formed a bond with her dog that became a “blessing.” For Michelle, the main point of the story was that the two women in the story “change each other’s lives by being there for each other.”
The elementary school has long had a writing program but, according to Assistant Principal Gretchen Henry, “Mrs. Bragg and Mrs. Keith have really led us to another level of quality writing.” Bragg said that last spring the school purchased the Teachers Reading and Writing Program out of Columbia University. A major difference between this and the previous program, which also used pieces of the Columbia project, is that having the entire package gives more specific articulation of writing skills, strategies, and prompts for each grade level.
A focus on three kinds of writing
The program includes three kinds of writing: narrative, informational, and persuasive, each of which correlates to the Common Core standards that the elementary school is adopting. Each unit comes with “mentor texts,” models in which students can see different aspects of the craft in professional writing. Teachers can also use their own models. Each kind of writing has a clearly delineated learning progression from grade to grade. In narrative writing, for example, students in kindergarten and first grade are asked to describe a “small moment.” Personal narrative is introduced in grades two to five, and in fifth grade the goal is “something memoirish,” as Keith puts it. Students at all levels are encouraged to write what Bragg describes as a “seed” story, not a “watermelon” story. They focus on a moment or a series of related incidents. Persuasive letters in third grade develop into persuasive and literary essays in grades four and five, respectively. The program is designed for writing across the curriculum.
During professional development days, teachers were trained by staff developers from Columbia who, says Bragg, really gave them the tools to teach and talk about writing. That’s the difference, comments Keith: “They are explicitly teaching the craft of writing.” “It’s very intentional,” echoes Bragg. Teachers will say things like, “Today I am going to teach you how writers use dialogue to develop a character.” Bragg says that in the past, it was the conversations about writing that were missing. “We have a real talk curriculum now,” she says. Currently, many teachers write with their students and model their own thought process as they approach a piece of writing. “Kids feel what it feels like to really think,” says Keith.
Writing as a process
A very specific approach emphasizes writing as a process. It’s not like “the old days” where the attitude was that either you were a writer or you weren’t, the implication being that if you weren’t, there was no hope for you. Under this program, all students can achieve success. First, says Bragg, is the planning phase. Students learn that you need to know where you are going with an idea. They brainstorm, and have conversations with partners in which they “rehearse” their writing. For a narrative, younger students are encouraged to use their fingers to think out the sequence of what happens so as to be sure they have that last finger in mind when they start. Then they imagine the words on the pages of a book, thinking out what will go where. Then they are ready—and anxious—to begin the writing.
All grades begin with a narrative assignment for students to write true stories about their own lives; strategies and skills are designed for each grade level. “And it’s always individual,” says Keith. There is a great deal of conversation among students and between teacher and student about each person’s own writing. She goes on to explain that the whole process is very clear to the students. They are taught a skill; they know exactly what is expected; and they see how they are being assessed on their mastery of that skill. Bragg adds that the goal of the program is a gradual shift in responsibility so that students become more and more independent in their writing.
Asked what she likes most about writing, Michelle said, “Writing fantasies. I like using my imagination.” For MacKinlay, writing “sets you on an adventure to see what’s the problem and what’s the solution.”
It’s enough to make you want to go back to elementary school. Or, short of that, to join the students in their quest to live a writerly life at whatever stage you are.
