"Writing is the life of the composition party!"

Anderson is probably my favorite grammarian that we are learning from at this point in the semester. He takes a somewhat casual approach, but implements strategies that are usually quite agreeable. I like how he talks about the writer's journal as the staple of teaching effective writing. His "mini-process" of writing seems to be effective because it gives students a space to write freely and express themselves on issues that are relevant to them. If I had to take one quote away from this lesson, it would be this: "It's important for students to see how puncuation works to hold and connect larger texts together." (33) Examples come from the writing of authors, the teacher and of course, the students. The writer's eye (I) activity made me think of the students as poets for some reason. Being a fan of poetry, I think this genre would provide some great nontraditional examples of creative writing for students. In fact, I believe I will look at some poetry for my next sentence stalking! The student-led writing individualizes their approach to writing and conventions - it makes the experience relatable and interesting. Anderson even gives guidelines on specific ways to make these methods work, which is really helpful. But what exactly makes his "Editor's Checklist" different from the others? Is it simply the way in which he is using these tools?

In the beginning of Chapter 4, Weaver provides an example of an almost successful writing lesson. She says what is missing from this mini-lesson is consistency, meaning and a strong follow-up. However, I think the dreaded grammar worksheet is what did it in! Weaver includes a passage saying how we don't teach kids to learn all the gears and parts of a car before teaching them to drive, so why try to teach them every part of speech? It is parallel to Anderson's "Express Line" editing sessions - just getting the items you need. I really loved the student's sentence: "I felt the wind going through the trees like ice cream melting in the summer." The teacher noticed that the student was using -ing verbs, but I noticed that she used a simile! It shows the extent to which our language is learned, not taught. Again, I am eating up these specific strategies that are provided (research and experience included!). However, I again wish to challenge their effectiveness in the name of Murphy's Law... for example, the focus lesson. Weaver says that all it takes "is a general invitation: '...I'm going to teach more about this at our writers' table in about five minutes" (66) and she assumes that you will get some takers. What if this isn't enough? Also, Anderson and Weaver both bespeak their concerns about teacher conferences due to the sheer lack of time to talk with each student. But Weaver discusses some solutions for this problem too; like, try to keep it short, sweet and to the point. The subsequent activity, called demonstrations, showed to me a principle that I think we learned in Ad Lit: sometimes your students will respect you more if you do the assignments along with them. It puts you down to earth on their level and shows that you're not too busy to focus on the task as well (even if you are!).