Start with celebration, doesn't that usually come at the end? That is what I was thinking when I read the title of this chapter. As I read, I realized that to start with celebration is to praise and celebrate the student at every step of the writing process. If we, as teachers, are excited about writing and are carrying our toolbox of writing strategies, we will be more prepared to start with celebration rather than put it off until the end.
Routeman says to "Celebrate your students' risk taking." She suggests asking questions like "Who tried something new?, Who rewrote a part that didn't work?, Who has a great lead?". When we celebrate a student's bravery in taking a chance with their writing, it encourages other students to try the same.
Routeman also said to try writing poetry. There are so many different kinds of poetry out there that it would be fun to try different kids of poems. One type of poetry I tried were shape poems. I had third grade students pick an object and write several lines about it. Then they drew the outline of the object they wrote about and wrote the lines of their poem along the edges of the object. They had a lot of fun with it. Some students even wrote their poem again so that the drawing of the object was not visible and the words were making the shape.
I think that teaching the kids about different kinds of writing outside of stories and poems is useful and falls in line with writing for a real audience and specific purpose.
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