Thank God for Lucy Calkins

I have always, or at least since second grade, enjoyed writing. It pleases me to mix words, imagine stories, parse together sentences on a page. So when I started to teach I assumed that writing instruction would be my strength. I remember even telling someone once that it was my "strength" and that was why I was choosing to focus on improving my math instruction (which I hate).

I have never been able to teach kids to write.

I have used organizers, FCAs, "Six Traits," "the painted essay," journals and loosely organized workshop formats. I have attended multiple professional workshops on how to manage the overwhelming amount of paper and editing that is generated by writing, and how to help kids generate ideas and organize their thoughts and craft complex sentences. But nothing has made sense to me. And I have never seen any progress in my students' writing.

This year I have started off following Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop series. It provides an outline and script for each lesson. I generally detest scripts, but these are magical. I had to admit that I had no idea what I was doing, and would rather follow someone else's plan that muddle through my own best guess for another year. The results have been lovely so far. Many students are obviously strong writers to start. But even those who struggle I have been able to influence with a few well placed instructions, metaphors, and examples. We are ready to start the first draft of our narrative, and the leads that the kids came up with today brought tears to my eyes.

Some day these techniques will be my own. But for now, Thank God for Lucy Calkins!