Beg, Borrow, and Steal

Aren't those words synonymous with educational great Harry Wong? He preaches that a good educator begs, borrows, and steals good educational/classroom management practices. That the study of these good practices will only lead to higher student achievement. Harry Wong also believes that a classroom with practiced procedure and ritual is a classroom where a student feels comfortable and knows what to expect. Thus the routine and procedure of the establishment of a community of writers through the format of a writer's workshop should in turn create a classroom of high expectations and clear routine. This should directly impact student achievement. Throughout the past two days I have spent my time beg, borrowing, and stealing ideas from some of the top writing teachers in the country through intense research on the topics of classroom management and building a community of writers. Many of these educators say the same thing: conversations are crucial, respect is imperative, and writing should be done daily. I found a great set of writing tips from former pro baseball player turned author turned teacher educator on writing instruction, Larry Colton, that I just had to share. He accumulated these tips for teachers through his research on the topic of writing instruction in our schools today. I leave you with his findings: 

1. Did you ever see any of your teachers revise anything? Probably not. In fact, most of us never saw a teacher write anything other than lesson plans, brief notes, and comments on students’ work. We never saw them write or revise a report, story, poem, research paper, editorial or persuasive essay. So don’t be like those teachers.
2. Writing is about discipline.
3. A writing teacher’s job is to find any way for a student to dig deeper into their writing, to want to make it better.
4. Revisioning is not finishing what you get wrong. Revision is using your power as a writer.
5. Learning to write is not linear. It is not A-B-C. We learn writing by doing it, not by reading books or taking classes. It’s like losing weight…you don’t do it by reading a book, you exercise.
6. If the noun is good and the verb is strong, you almost never need an adjective.
7. An athletic team or musical group practices for months, sometimes going over the same play or piece hundreds of times. Writing should be no different.
8. Writing is a solitary endeavor, but it should be communal. Borrow. Steal. Share.
9. The secret to teaching revision? Model as much as you demand. Show them how it works. You may be surprised how many will want to try what they have seen you do.
10. Copy editing and reviewing first drafts is not the best use of a teacher’s time. Burnout and insanity are the consequences.
11. It is important that the editing system in our classrooms does not put extraordinary demands on writers who have learning problems. If these children know they must find every single misspelled word in a dictionary, they will write with safer words, choosing big when they wanted to say enormous
12. Simply correcting spelling and punctuation isn’t rewriting.
13. A teacher must first convey to students that their ideas are valid. Then they must convince them that what they wrote can be changed, and more specifically, improved.
14. Let the creator loose and put aside that voice in you that says to be proper, conventional, rational. Don’t be some in a tweed suit from a snooty college with a doctorate in literature who is critical of everything. Don’t let your ego try to control and manipulate things.