Monday, June 22, 2015

The Writing Thief

I purchased The Writing Thief by Ruth Culham with my students' very last Scholastic Book Clubs order last year.  I ordered it with some Bonus Points and then put it out of my mind.  I got the book literally two days before school ended.  To be honest, I had never hear of it, but I'm always looking for some interesting things to read as I spend a couple of days on planes in the summer.  (Traveling anywhere from Alaska is no joke!)


Then one day, I was checking in on Facebook.  I wandered over to this group that I'm a part of, First Grade Teacher Gab Group.  One of the threads was about summer reading plans.  Okay.  What is everyone else reading?  Maybe something that I should be reading...  Then, there is was!  A book that I randomly purchased for absolutely no reason... Someone was spouting off nothing but positive comments.  Now I'm intrigued... Not enough to pull the book off my shelf, though.  After all, I've got homework and stuff to do.  And my apartment is an absolute mess!  It still is.  I'll clean tomorrow.

Anyway.  I decided tonight to take the book out.  I read the first part of it.  I'm honestly surprised I made it through that much.  It's already past 12:30am.  I should be falling asleep right now!  But, no.  Instead, I found myself thinking the same thing I think every time I read a book like this...

Surely this doesn't pertain to me.  No.  I know it has nothing to do with me.  I mean, when you show kids' work like Joey's here, all I can think is that first graders aren't capable of that stuff!  I mean, my fourth graders could have done it, but I don't teach fourth grade anymore.

By the way, here's Joey's work that was shared:

Pretty good, huh?

Yeah.  My first graders aren't doing that.

But then I thought about Ruth's account of her time in her grandmother's bathroom... She became a reader and writer right there... and she said she was only like 4 years old!  (You'll have to read the Prologue for that story.  It's a pretty good one.)  If she could do it on her own at 4 years old, surely I can coach a bunch of 5- and 6-year-olds to want to write!

I'm in!!

In the Foreword, Kate Messner talks about how her own love of reading helped to foster her motivation to write.  She goes on to say "And as teachers, we must recognize that our very best resources for writing instruction aren't found in test prep programs or worksheets; they're in the books that we love as readers..."  I have to admit, I wholeheartedly agree!  Test makers and workbook writers are just that... test makers and workbook writers.  They are not authors.  Children need to experience a "conversation" with an author.  They need to feel comfortable questioning the author and figuring out why he chose to write what he wrote.  This is how we encourage children to become better writers; we give them authors to steal from!  (Side note: I also own the book Questioning the Author by Isabel Beck.  It's also on my reading list.)

In the Prologue, Ruth explains the situations that fostered her reading and writing independence.  She also speaks on the idea that this relationship between reading and writing is crucial to making growth in both areas.  Ruth explains how she reads texts over and over and over again, finding new meaning in each layer that she unfolds.  "This is close reading - where reading and writing intersect."  Isn't that what we want for our students to experience?  That relationship that leads to blossoming in both reading and writing?  It's what I want for my students!

I spent the last I don't know how long Google searching for blog posts, linky parties, anything about this book.  So far, I've only come up with one:  Teach Mentor Texts blogged about The Writing Thief last year.  LAST YEAR!! How have I not heard about this book then??? 

I haven't read any farther in this book yet.  I plan to.  In looking at the Table of Contents, it looks like the remainder of the book is set up to cover the educational shifts in writing instruction, some information on using and finding mentor texts, and then examples of mentor texts that can be used for each type of writing.  I still find myself holding that negativity in the back of my mind:  This book probably isn't for me.  It's surely got to be written for older grades.  After all, how can I teach my first graders to actually use the texts they are trying so desperately to decode?!  But I'm going to try to keep the negativity grounded.  Positive thinking!  Positive thinking!  Positive thinking!  I really hope this book doesn't turn out to be a giant waste of time.

If you're reading The Writing Thief, let me know!  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

EDIT:  I just stalked Teach Mentor Texts a little more, and I learned that she hosts an "It's Monday! What are you reading?" link up.  Well, this is what I'm reading... Go join up!  (There are a few links already posted, and the ones I've already checked out have some pretty good book ideas for the classroom!)

UPDATE:  I did finish the book.  You can read about it [here].



8 comments:

  1. I am a middle school librarian and love it but can't imagine working with first graders! Different grades for different personalities, I guess! I wish all students did more writing at school and at home. I see 7 th graders who have trouble just coming up with ideas for sentences, which is sad.

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    1. I have taught in a lot of different grade levels. I have to admit that my least favorite was pre-K. Haha! Coming in a close second was fourth grade. Second grade was my favorite to teach, but first grade is pretty close... once we get through the initial "just coming out of Kindergarten" phase. Haha!

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  2. I'm a K-12 Media Specialist but only spend 22 minutes a day with first graders. I don't know how you do it. While we share lots of books, we don't do any writing. I blame it on lack of time. Come see my YA week here. Happy reading!

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    1. I used to think the same thing about the firsties... But here I am three years later, and I don't want to move out! I have to admit that I enjoy them. They are much funnier than the fourth graders I spent so many years teaching. :)

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  3. I've put this book on order for some of our teachers next year who are part of a learning team looking at writing. Thanks for this post.

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    1. That's great! I have spent the last several summers reading everything that I could get my hands on in regards to the reading part of literacy instruction. However, I feel like I have done a terrible job at teaching writing. I mean, I'm not too bad... My students write. We've even published books through Studentreasures, and they are a huge hit! But I want to learn how to turn my kids into writers rather than just teaching them how to write. It may seem trivial, but there is a huge difference between simply knowing how to write and actually being a writer!

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  4. Hi there Carrie - great to read about your lovely responses to The Writing Thief. I would definitely have to find this book. :)

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    1. Thank you for stopping by! I'm glad that I was able to share this book with you. It's a pretty quick read; I'm just about finished with it. There is a lot of good information! I am looking forward to meeting with my team in August and talking about setting up a common language for writing instruction (a HUGE point made by the author). Once we get it set up and work out the kinks, I'm thinking that a school wide common language for writing instruction will be in order. :) If you end up getting it, I hope you enjoy it!

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