Literacy II: Week Two

I think what struck me most when reading Routman's Reading Essentials was when she was speaking of publishing students' work and valuing that work in order to bond with them:  "When we celebrate the stories of children's lives, we blur the lines between home and school and let students know that their lives matter" (Routman, 18).  Here is why that quote resonated with me:

I was never a struggling reader-- in fact, in kindergarten I was reading at a fourth grade level and devouring all the books I could get my hands on!  I was Roald Dahl's Matilda but with a happy homelife and loving every minute.  For me, publishing my great works such as "Bear on a Hair," and "Where's Mystery," was the penultimate of my young writing career!  The day we got to write a story that was to be bound in book format for all to read was when my life as an author really started to bloom-- suddenly, it wasn't my work for just the teacher or my mom to read, it was a "real" story!  Someone had enough interest in it to read my works!  From then on, nothing I wrote was hand-written.  I would pound out short stories and poems on my mom's typewriter old-school style, relentlessly banging out each word key by clicking key.  Eventually, I was published and won the Young Authors Award in fourth grade, where I got to go on a small trip to another school and meet a real-life published author whose name escapes me now, in my old age.  But, at the time, it was amazing and uplifiting to be celebrated for being a published writer.

And it doesn't just work for celebrated writers or advanced writers.   Routman also states that she publishes the works of struggling writers first to boost self-esteem and faith in their writing skills.   My brother, who had always struggled in school from kindergarten until 10th grade (where he ultimately dropped out and got his GED instead), ended up a published writer, as well.  The difference was, he was published in the National Anthology of Young Americans, a book that is a Library of Congress book!  I cannot tell you how that made him feel--that he, a struggling student who didn't always have a great attitude at school, was chosen by his teacher for this great honor of being "good" enough a poet to publish his poem, "Green," in a national publication.  I really think that this was a huge boon to his academic career.  He could have given up; he could have reached 10th grade and not gotten any sort of degree.  But deep-down, he cared about his academic life, and he could always reach back to that one spot where he, Ben Martin, was a published author and poet.

I know that as a teacher, I will value every child's written work.  I think Routman is spot-on when she says to celebrate a child's work is to bond with them.  Not only does it instill trust and pride within the student, it creates a safe and encouraging classroom environment for the entire classroom, including the teacher.