Writing: Using Your Own Experiences to Build Curriculum

Writing: Using Your Own Experiences to Build Curriculum Adapted from What You Know by Heart By Katy Wood Ray

Teachers of Writing MUST Write • If we do not do the things writers do, we are trying to teach a process we have never experienced ourselves. • Would you take lifesaving lessons from a non-swimmer?

“We write so that our curriculum knowledge of the process of writing runs deep and true to our teaching” p. 3

Before introducing a genre to students, we should experience what authors of that genre do • The Good News: We don’t have to do it every time we teach the genre!

We Write to Understand Writing • We also must be able to share the experience, explain it, and make sense of it. • This becomes our curriculum.

We Share the Strategic Experiences • Drafting • Revising • Editing • Publishing

We Share the Human Experiences • Finding something worthy of our time and efforts (Mem Fox – one or two a year) • The physical act: Time, Putting pen to paper, Typing draft after draft • The fear – Self Efficacy, Rejection

Two Questionsp. 10. • 1. What kinds of things do writers think about and why? (understandings) • 2. What kinds of things do writers do and why? (strategies)

Now, take out your poems and let’s talk about the two questions. • Twos and threes • As a whole group

Let’s List Them Question 1: what did you think about before, during, and after your writing?

Let’s List Them • Question 2: What did you do as you wrote and prepared to share?

Writing: Using Your Own Experiences to Build Curriculum