Creating Lifelong Writers

     One big idea that we have discussed in class and appears on several occasions in Andersen's text is through teacher writing we should be working toward the collective goal of helping the students become lifelong writers. To continue with their writing after we have had them in class and even after they finish their schooling experience. In order to do this Andersen highlights some key details that we need to focus on in our writing instruction and assessment. The importance of knowing your student, designing lessons that fit your class, and conferencing techniques are all essential pieces of Andersen's work that have been supported by other professional texts and our own discussions in the classroom.
     The importance of knowing who your student is on an academic and personal level is a necessary piece to the puzzle of creating lifelong writers out of your students. The influence a great teacher can live for decades and be a powerful motivator of your students. Andersen specifies that through active listening and having background knowledge of your students you will not only be a more effective at assessing writing, but you will also construct a well rounded relationship with your students that will have a lasting impression on their lives in and outside of school.
     Lessons designed to challenge, yet keep your students attention also go a long way towards creating lifelong writers. There are some units I remember from my own elementary experience over a decade ago because they included a perfect balance of academic stimulation and fun. Students who are challenged will often out perform your expectations because a challenge might have been exactly what they needed to focus in on improving their writing (Andersen). Designing a unit can be intimidating for new teachers as Andersen mentions, myself included, but having a unit that uniquely fits your classroom is much better than adopting a scripted design that does not fit.
     At the center of the carefully designed units keeping the kinds of students you have in mind is the writing conference. Andersen's text goes into great detail about tailoring these student teacher conferences to run smoothly and effectively as possible. Andersen not only writes about these conferencing techniques, but he also includes examples and tables of them in use which I thought was very helpful. Conferencing is an essential tool to make instruction flow smoothly and encourage your students to develop and inherent desire to write. I thought it was really awesome that he mentions that there is no right way to conduct writer's workshop, it depends on the classroom. This statement could not be more true and it resonated with me so much that I knew I had seen it somewhere before...
     In that quotation he cites Writers Workshops by Fletcher and Portalupi which rang a bell because this was one of my favorite texts from my Literacy Learning and Teaching I & II classes! Seeing how the professional teaching texts intermingle with one another is so interesting and highlights the most important aspects of teaching reading and writing. As I read more and more professional texts on teaching writing I will always keep in mind the goal of creating lifelong writers out of my future students.

-Assessing Writers Carl Andersen
-Writers Workshops Ralph Fletcher & JoAnn Portalupi