Calkins+Ch.+6

The Foundations of Literacy: Writing in the Home, the Nursery School, and the Kindergarten
//Blakely, Teresa, Willis//

Calkin in Action

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 * Main Idea of Chapter**: Even very young children can write, but we have to change our expectations of what and how they write in order to understand and encourage them.


 * We don't expect children to learn oral language piecemeal; yet we often impose arbitrary segmentation on written language (ie, phonics first, then upper-case letters, then lower-case, etc)


 * The author suggests: Why not allow children to experience "whole" written language?


 * Our teaching should be in response to what children do.


 * Accord children's work respect, the same way we are respectful of early speech.


 * Give children opportunities to write, even in pre-school. Dramatic play in particular provides rich opportunities for writing.
 * Most writing we engage in as adults is functional, and provides a good opportunity to point out the role writing has in our everyday life. This will teach children that writing is important.


 * Allow children to direct the course of their writing. If they start by drawing, ask them to tell you what the story is and encourage them to write it down. If they make marks on paper, ask them to read it to you. These narrations are the very beginnings of writing. They are the first attempt at written communication.


 * Rather than merely complimenting student writing, teachers ought to respond to the writing "for real." Students benefit when we treat their writing as useful and use it for its intended purpose: following a recipe, putting on a play, mailing a card, etc.


 * When children are given the chance to write at their own pace, for their own purposes, they begin to write the way they speak: intuitively and regularly.


 * We facilitate language acquisition through reading and writing with children and playing with language. Children are learning vocabulary at an alarming rate at this stage of development.


 * As children learn to understand how written language can be used to document, communicate, plan, describe and order the world, they grow to value writing and consider it a necessary part of everyday living.


 * TRANSITION:** Once children grasp the basics of writing and how it works, they begin to identify reasons for writing in everyday life, but they still need a framework to help them construct their writing, usually in the form of drawings. As children become more capable writers, teachers can - and should - shift the focus from drawing to writing.