Lucy Calkins

Today I had the pleasure to see Lucy Calkins speak about her new writing units.  I can't tell you how amazing she is.  She is a wealth of knowledge.  I could not believe the stories she told from memory and the experiences she has to share. 

The big thing I walked away with was the Bill of Rights of Writing.  The basic concept is that you need to make writing a prior in your classroom.  If you don't make it a priority students will not excel in writing.  

Here is what Lucy considers Bill of Rights for Writing...

1. Writing is a subject and taught as a subject. Everyone teaches math. It would not be ok for a teacher to say, "I don't teach math in such and such a grade." Writing has to be
2.  During writing time the children actually write. During reading time the children actually read. They are not doing other things (workbooks, or other things).
3. They are writing in genres.
4. We are explicitly teaching them skills and strategies.
5. We teach editing explicitly so our children use their editing skills and punctuation skills.
6. Children will publish at least monthly.

It is not the same but here is a webinar that she gave on her Units of Study in Writing. 

Happy Writing :-)