Every Mark on the Page

Sources:
"Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children's Writing" by Kate Foley Cusumano

This article focuses on the importance of educating family and community members about children's writing. Educating people outside of the school environment about children's writing can allow for a more effective experience for the children when learning how to write. Family members need to learn what techniques and strategies work for their kids and what doesn't work so they can help them as much as possible outside of the classroom. Additionally, parents and teachers need to be consistent about teaching the kids the same materials and techniques; otherwise, they could get very confused.

One idea that the article discussed that I really liked was the writing workshop for family and community members. I had never really thought of this, but I think it could be very effective for both the children and the family and community members. Writing workshops teach everyone the same strategies and allows for everyone to be on the same page. The teacher can teach the family and community members how to effectively and efficiently teach the children how to write, and the teacher can also tell them what not to do to avoid making it more difficult for the children. However, in order for the writing workshop to be successful, the article discussed a few things that need to be incorporated while organizing the workshop. Some of these things include: defining writing, talking about the school's goals for each grade level in regards to writing, showing examples of children's writing, providing rubrics and having the audience participate in grading different pieces of writing, and discussing the risks of too much intervention. I think these are all very beneficial elements to the writing workshop, and I also think this is something that family and community members would really appreciate from the teacher. I want to try this out in my future classroom!