Originally published in NAIS Independent Teacher Magazine in the Spring 2018 issue.
The study of rich, compelling literature is at the heart of the middle school English classroom. Reading is a communal experience, and teachers lead by example. Through read-alouds, think-alouds, book talks, and discussion, we model strategies that support reading through best practices.
Modeling writing is equally important, but it doesn’t often happen in the same active or continuous way that reading does. “It helps motivate me to write well,” says one student when asked about the value of teachers writing with students. As teachers, many of us provide models for writing assignment that students may reference when beginning a paper, or we draft topic sentences or other parts of an essay with students to support writing skills. That is a strong start, but it is not quite the same immersive modeling that is often part of reading instruction. In whole novel classrooms, we read the novels we teach with our classes, but how often do we write the same assignments we ask of our students?
Modeling writing is equally important, but it doesn’t often happen in the same active or continuous way that reading does. “It helps motivate me to write well,” says one student when asked about the value of teachers writing with students. As teachers, many of us provide models for writing assignment that students may reference when beginning a paper, or we draft topic sentences or other parts of an essay with students to support writing skills. That is a strong start, but it is not quite the same immersive modeling that is often part of reading instruction. In whole novel classrooms, we read the novels we teach with our classes, but how often do we write the same assignments we ask of our students?