Ch. 2 Start with Celebration

"Enjoyment and writing have not coexisted, and they must do so if all our students are to become proficient writers." This quote hung in my mind throughout the whole chapter. I do believe that most children start out with an enjoyment of writing but it's stifled at such an early age. As teachers we need to somehow keep the writers' spirit up. I believe in having students write about topics of their choice however, I have also seen the need to sometimes help narrow the topic. For many students, asking them to write about "whatever" can become scary and too overwhelming. We need to be cognisant of celebrating a student's risk taking in writing. This chapter has helped me become more aware of the need to acknowledge students' success at writing.