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Lessons from a Child

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The book "Lessons From A Child" by Lucy McCormick Calkins is a book about research done on the process children go through when they write.

The book follows one particular student in Mrs. Howard's classroom, Susie, through her writing. As you read, you can see the changes that take place in Susie's writing. It is simply amazing to see the changes that children go through when they write.

When the author started her research at Susie's elementary school in Atkinson, New Hampshire, Susie was a third grader and did not like to write. Content did not matter to Susie, but the format did. Susie also did not understand the process of revision. Her revisions consisted of just simply rewriting her first draft. As the research continued, Susie started to enjoy writing. By the end of fourth grade, Susie became more confident in her writing and learned that revisions were a good thing and that it was o.k. to have a messy, marked-up first draft.

Through her research, Calkin came to realize that Susie and the other children in the classroom were teaching her and she was learning from them.

This book gives a lot of good ideas for teachers to teach writing, in creative ways, to their students. One thing that I found to be very interesting was the fact that children should be able to pick their own topics they write about. By allowing this, children will become more interested in writing. I believe that students begin to feel like what they have to say and their interests are unimportant if the chance is not there for them to be able to choose what they want to write about.

An important thing to remember for educators is that to encourage writing, you need to have a classroom that encourages writing. Not only that, but you, the educator, needs to model the behavior.

One thing that I have learned from this book is that the writing process is very complex. There are many components to the writing process. It is not as cut and dry as it may seem to some. By reading this book, I have gained new insights on how to approach and teach the writing process to my future classes. Things such as ways to arrange the classroom, lessons to give to the children on the writing process, also working with students in small groups, and peer and teacher conferences. All of these things can help children in their writing.

This book shows you how children think through the process of writing. It shows you things to look for in their writing and ways to support a writer as they begin the journey of their writing process.

Lucy McCormick Calkins, learns that her previous teachng experience is no help, when doing reaearch on children learning to write. Her true life experience as a researcher also becomes a learning experience that we all could use as teachers. She focuses specifically on a third grade classroom and ends up following one student by the name of Susie. Susie is a perfectionist and as we all have seen some giffted and talented students are perfectionist in their own way. She prides herself through out the beginning of this study on her spelling and neatness, of her writing. Susie also finds no problem on finding a subject to write about. This enjoyable and learning process takes place in Atkinson Elementary School, located in New Hampshire. Mrs. Howard's third grade class was selected for this study lasting approximately two years. Through the third and fourth grade, students learned to feel safe and begin to express themselves through writing. This process is not always successful. Being a future teacher, I have already seen the mistakes in a classroom and I am also proud to have been asked to read this book as part of my class. Through out Susie experience we see the transformation of a student learn to enjoy her reading and writing and the steps needed do accomplish this successfully. With the help of Mrs. Howard, Lucy Calkins learns to understand and write an account that we can learn from. Patience is a big issue here and we need this as teachers in order to help the students in our classes feel safe enough to write the experiences and stories in such a way that they are successful writers. Exploration and the freedom to explore it are needed to be successful in teaching writing and from here, our story proceeds futher. Mrs. Howard also learned during this research that children need to have ownership of thier learning or they will not be successful students. This research teaches not owning the students but the teachers', that learning is a give and take process. At the end of this book, I was kind of sad and happy. It was over and a success for future teachers. This type of research has never been documented in such a way, that we could understand the process and steps of children learning and how to succeed at it. I hope that everyone that reads my review, can receive the enjoyment of such an excellent research and reading material as this.

Lessons from a Child, provides phenomonal research into the development and achievement of a student's writing. Lucy McCormick Calkins, the author of this book and former elementary education teacher, conducts a research project at Atkinson Elemtary School in Atkinson, New Hamphire. She begins her study in a third grade classroom with her focus on one particular student. The student's name is Susie. Mrs. Calkins finishes her research after following her through the fourth grade. Mrs. Calkins finds that there can be many barriers blocking students creativity when learning to write. Susie was not born with a special talent to write. However, when she was given room to express herself in her writing by using her own ideas and topics and was also, given the freedom from "correctness" when working on her drafts, she became a "craftsman" in her own right. As Mrs Calkins continued to oberve Susie into the fourth grade, she noticed a huge difference from third to fourth grade. Writing had become second nature for Susie. She was practicing new operations of writing and her writing was fluent. Susie had become comfortable with the revolution of her writing. She didn't worry anymore if it looked good or sounded perfect. Susie, also began to think, not only in the here and now, but in the future and past. This was a result of her third and fourth grade teachers allowing their classsroom to become a student-centered classroom. The children were allowed to explore their own ideas to become more confident in their writing, as Susie did. The students became motivated, because of this and the meaning of writing changed forever in Mrs. Howard's third grade classroom and Mrs. Currier's fourth grade classroom. The book, also gives a few support devices for students to become more confident with their writing skill. The first one was student-peer conferences, The students were allowed to help each other. Susie did this, with her best friend, Diane when Diane didn't know what to write about. Susie problem solved with her and as a result, Diane came up with a topic that she was excited to write about. Also, this can be helpful when the student needs some feedback and peer support. The student can read what he or she wrote to one of his peers and then ask what the he or she thinks about it. In addition, the book suggests to giving students guideline questions to ask each other so that this process can be constructive. Questions like, "What is the most important thing you are trying to say?" and "Why did you choose that topic?" and "Do you think you have two stories or one?" The second one is a conference with self. Children are encouraged to read out loud to themselves to hear for themselves, what they wrote. Thirdly, conferences between the student and teacher are conducted in intervals. The book encourages teachers to not let the students become "welfare writers" by becoming dependent on the teachers ideas. An example of allowing the student to become dependant would be saying something like, "The beginning needs work, doesn't it?" The book encourages teachers not to tell students what to do, but to guide the students and allow them to think for themselves. I really enjoyed this book. It was a great insight into student's special needs to becoming great writers. I know this information will benefit me in my future teaching of writing classes.

Lessons From A Child by Lucy Calkins is a book about Calkins research about writing in an elementary school classroom. She attends Atkinson elementary school and observes Mrs. Howard and her third grade classroom. She primarily focuses on the writing of a third grader named Susie. Mrs. Howard and Calkins main goal is to discover new ways to read the children's writing , seeing the printed words as the top of the iceberg and speculating what might be under the surface. They follow a third grader named Susie through her learning of the steps and procedures of the writing process. During Calkins observations she looks for many things in Susie's writing. Calkins asks what is Susie trying to do when she writes. What are her goals and her concepts of good writing. What is the environment like that Susie is writing in. What does she do as she writes and how these behaviors change over time. In November of the third grade Calkins describes Susie's growth in three areas. Susie developed an executive function, she began internalize concrete physical strategies and she developed a wider and more flexible field of concerns. By the fourth grade, new words describes Susie's writing process: tentative, anticipatory, flexible, interactive, and responsive embodied. Writing leaves the realm of her mind and moves into her hands, her eyes, and her ears. This book includes a section focusing on how to make a classroom a more effective writing environment. It suggests different ways to arrange the rooms. And also lessons that should be given to the students on the writing process and working in peer or teacher writing conferences. Calkins gives examples and tips on how to encourage the students to be good listeners, how to ask good conference questions and how to warn children against taking control away from the writer. This book is a great reference not only for teachers but also for anyone who is interested in the steps of writing. This book helps one see what children think and do during the steps of writing. It gives one things to look for in children's writing and also some knowledge and support that a person can give to a beginning writer.

"LESSONS FROM A CHILD"

Lucy McCormick Calkins personal teaching techniques and her background experience as a teacher, took on a whole different role when she was asked to become a full-time researcher for the National Institute of Education. The main objective of the study was to depict, "how to bridge theory and practice" (p.6), while studying how children gain growth in their writing. Ironically, this research study proved to be a valuable lesson for teachers to learn how to teach writing. Lucy states, "the title of the book was chosen because after many drafts, I discovered that it is not the story of the child learning to write, it is the story of a researcher learning to teach" (p.8). Lucy was to observe students for two years beginning of third grade until the end of fourth. At the beginning of her research, she felt, "foolish holding the clipboard" (p.9) and being the spectator. The new school year had begun and she wasn't sure she liked having the clipboard instead of the classroom! The main focus of this book is centered around a young girl named Susie. As the study began, Lucy saw how conventional Susie's writing was and how neatness was more important than content. As the days turned to weeks and weeks to months, and months to years, the change was phenomenal. Mrs. Howard (the teacher) was also learning how to be a better teacher of writing. For example, she began to understand the importance of ownership by having the students write about personal topics of interest, not predetermined ones. The line in the book put it best, "when teachers dole out topics, children become dependent on them" (p.25). Students need to be interested in a topic to be motivated to write about it and take pride and ownership of their work. Having students develop socially in a cooperative manner is extremely helpful in the progression of their own writing skills. This study showed that a lot of time was spent establishing routine steps (writing min-lessons) to create a well-done finished product. Susie learns how to revise, use writing strategies, develop leads, these are just a few examples that lead Susie to become an exceptional writer. I would like to thank Lucy for participating in such a unique study of the wring process of children. I have gained valuable insight into a area that I may only have learned through actual experience.

Lesson From a Child: On the Teaching and Learning of Writing Lucy McCormick Calkins in her book, Lessons From a Child, interprets her findings in a 2 year long research study, which centered on the development of elementary school aged students' writing skills. This research study involved 16 students and 7 classrooms at Atkinson Academy in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Calkins' passionate involvement in this project is reflected in her choice of title for her books. She writes, "I have named this book Lesson From a Child because after many drafts I discovered that it is not the story of a child learning to write. It is the story of a researcher learning to teach" (p. 8). Armed with a clipboard and a vision, Calkins step into the third grade classroom of Pat Howard prepared to document the changes that occurred in the students writing process. Lesson From a Child is a journal account, which highlights the writing progress of Susie and her interaction with classmates, teachers and her learning environment. Susie, the focal point of Calkins journal, is introduced to the reader as a soft-spoken third grader with simple tastes who, in the words of her classmates "thinks up good adventures" (p. 17). As readers, we listen as Calkins recounts how Susie's writing transforms from wanting to please her teacher with perfect form and perfect penmanship, to conveying her thoughts to her audience, keeping her adventurous style of writing. Each developmental step is well illustrated and compared to the progress of other students. As readers, we "watch" as Susie grows in confidence and becomes a "master" at her craft. The support of this research project by the involved classroom teachers Pat Howard and Carolyn Currier, and their eagerness to learn how to help their students, also contributes to the success of the students writing experience. Pat Howard willingly abandons her structured 15-minute writing period and created a writer learning environment filled with mini-lessons, discussions groups, and celebrations. Carolyn Currier, the fourth grade teacher, wanting to continue the success of the students, became involved in the research project even before the students finished third grade. Her nurturing style of teaching brings a new dimension to students' writing style as they learn to articulate with a "softer voice". The ability to effectively communicate ideas and emotions in written form is a difficult task. Calkins explanation on the development of the writing process offers insight in creating an environment where students can blossom as writers. When students write about subjects that are personal, teachers model expectations and all writing is celebrated, written communication becomes and art form. Each artist has his or her own style and technique that needs to be recognized and celebrated. Calkins uses a quote Writing with Power (Elbow, P. 1981) on page 111 that I believe summarize the essences of Lessons from a Child, "The essential human act at the heart of writing is the act of giving". It is through her 2-year research study Calkins shares with her readers how the students of Atkinson Academy learned to share their gift of writing.

Lucy McCormick Calkins, author of Lessons From A Child, provides an account of her journey into Atkinson Academy, an elementary school in Atkinson, New Hampshire. A former teacher, Ms. Calkins, enters Atkinson Academy as a full-time researcher. Her research focuses on the writing processes of students in a third grade classroom and follows them through fourth grade. During her two years of research, Ms. Calkins is researcher, teacher, but most of all student, learning the stories of the children she is following. Ms. Calkins becomes particularly interested in the writing process of third grader, Susie. It is the lessons learned from Susie that she writes about in this book. Susie a bright-eyed, somewhat shy third grader evolves from a writer focused on penmanship, grammar and punctuation, into a creative, competent writer. Meet Susie and follow her transformation. Find out how Susie began to internalize the writing process, blossoming into a creative imaginative writer, free from the bounds of form and function. Meet and learn how Susie's teachers also transformed from teaching writing to teaching writers. Mrs. Howard, Susie's third grade teacher, is a traditional teacher, focused on the conventions of language. Follow her as she journeys through the difficult task of creating student writers. Mrs. Currier, Susie's fourth grade teacher, observes the progress of Mrs. Howard's students. As she anticipates their arrival into her classroom, she begins to observe and collaborate with Mrs. Howard and Ms. Calkins. Follow the continued progress of Susie and her classmates as they further their writing skills in Mrs. Currier's class. Lessons From A Child, provides an in-depth account of teaching writing to elementary students. Teachers will gain insight and knowledge and find the answers to the many questions about teaching writing. How does the classroom structure and environment affect writing? How do children select topics? How do we train teachers and students about the revision and editing process? How do we help children to develop and inspire their creativity? You will find the answers to all these questions in Ms. Calkins book. It is a must read for all students in an Elementary Education program as well as current teachers. It has certainly changed my perspective on the writing process and how it should be taught to children. As I continue my journey down the road to becoming an elementary teacher, I will be sure to reference this book time and time again.

My first reaction to the book Lessons From a Child was that the author Lucy McCormick Calkins showed incredible favoritism toward the little girl named Susie. She made one comment to the affect that she had special feelings for Susie because she reminded her of herself as a child. It was quite obvious to me as a reader that she gave Susie more attention, and thought Susie was basically smarter than the other students. This makes it difficult for me to believe that some if not all of the other children in the class didn't sense the extra attention being given to Susie by the reseacher. I also find it difficult to believe that Lucy Calkins would have been able to keep her "special feelings" for Susie out of the classroom. I have no problem at all with the fact that a story was focused on one child and her development, I simply don't believe that the classroom with so many other children is the place to choose one particular favorite. In having this initial feeling of unfairness and bias, I had a difficult time giving the rest of the book a chance. I am happy to say that I read on and gained a lot of information from other aspects of the book.

My highest praise goes to the entire transformation of the children's writing in the classroom as a result of much hard work, time, and patience from both the teacher Mrs. Howard, and the researcher Lucy Calkins. In addition all of the children in the class had to be willing to change, and go along with new ways of doing things in regard to writing. I didn't get the idea that any of them had a problem with the new ways of both teaching and learning.

I was really amazed at the progress the children made not only in their quality of writing, but also in their ability to assist each other throughout the entire process of learning to write to the best of their ability. I strongly believe that these types of practices make for a stronger network of students in every aspect of their school lives. The book truly showed how children can boost each others self esteem, and their general feelings of worth in the classroom. Also the feel of the classroom during the writing time sounded significantly different than the rest of the day when the cooperative methods weren't used.

The final aspect of the procedures discussed in Lessons From a Child I would like to comment on is the idea of not doing corrections until the piece of writing is done. I think this is ultimately important because it puts the emphasis in the right place: on the writing. When correcting spelling and grammar is the main focus of writing students are immediately told that what they are writing about is insignificant. Waiting until the end and making it a final step after they are satisfied with their work shows that corrections must be done, but also that they are secondary to the writing itself.

Overall the message I received from this book is a very important one that I will carry with me as I begin teaching myself. I learned that children can learn a respect for an art such as writing while learning a respect for their classmates as well.

I found Lucy McCormick Calkins book, "Lessons From A Child", to be very interesting because it offers a lot of great ideas about how to teach writing to children. The author was teaching at an alternative school when she was asked to become a full-time researcher at Atkinson Elementary School in New Hampshire. The focus of the study was on the daily writing and revision development of 16 students in seven classrooms between the 1st and 4th grade along with their classmates and teachers. The main focus of this book is on a girl named Susie Sible and her growth in writing from the beginning of her 3rd to the end of her 4th grade year. In the beginning Susie rarely wrote and was more concerned about the format than the content of her writing. She also lacked the understanding of the role revision plays in the writing process because she would completely rewrite the next draft without looking at the previous one. Throughout those two years, Susie learned a lot about writing and really seemed to enjoy it. She became more relaxed and confident and finally accepted that she could have messy drafts. Her stories became more focused with greater detail. Her penmanship changed to a very neat cursive, her revision strategies improved and she was able to analyse and put sentences into categories. The teacher, the classroom, and the students themselves are what made Susie and her 25 classmates more experienced writers. Calkins' believes that "when Mrs. Howard (3rd grade teacher) began to feel responsibility and ownership for her classroom, she began to look after it, to invest herself in it"(p.23). She was then able to give her students her time, support, and materials to help them grow. She changed the classroom to create a better environment for the children. She arranged the students desks into clusters and made the room more colorful and personal. Mrs. Howard also changed the structure of her writing workshop from a 15 minute writing block to a longer scheduled block of time consisting of specific workshops. Impletmenting a schedule allowed students more time and freedom to write and work at their own pace. The children also put a lot of time and effort into their writings, some improved more than others but they all learned a great deal about the entire writing process. The children's 4th grade teacher, Carolyn Currier patterned her writing workshops after Mrs. Howard's with an added gentler approach. There were many ideas in this book that I found out to be essential in teaching the writing process. Two important ideas are share writing and reading out loud. Peter Elbow says in his book "Writing With Power", that "to write with clarity and power requires an essential act of taking full responsisbility for your words"(p.97). Mini-lessons are a good way to teach writing skils and strategies. Children also need to select their own topics because the more interest they have, the more detail they will offer. By sharing your writing and reading it out loud you are held accountable for your words. The teacher also needs to have the students teach, learn, respect and help each other. As kids learn more about writing, they are more able to help each other. It is also important to remember that writing involves reading and children need to be experienced in both of these areas. This book concluded by talking about what topics some of the children in Mrs. Currier's 4th grade class were working on. Calkins hope in writing this book is "that by understanding the pathways one child has taken in learning to write, we may be able to descern and trust the pathways other children will take"(p.7). This book is excellent for the parent or teacher who is interested in the steps and strategies of a child's writing development.

How assumptive was I to think this book a quick read, when it demands much more from the unsuspecting reader! As I sift through one, and then yet another remarkable insight, the recipe unfolds on how to create the space for the developing writer. Fast and furious, I am jotting down notes in otherwise-forbidden margins. How could you NOT, with such a book! I think to myself, can LESSONS FROM A CHILD possibly get any better? "You need to have all the time you want for a piece of writing," exclaims Susie (the third-grader in this text). I find it true that writing well sets a unique pace of its own. Carefully I choose my words. I am fully responsible for the meaning I wish to convey. Intuitively I seek a rhythm that flows with my own sense of Being. At this sitting, I am without a word processor with just pencil and paper in hand to edit, delete and revise to my heart's content. How perfectly ironic! Harold Rosen quotes, "Every child has a story to tell, the question is, will they tell it to us?" For the pre-service teacher or current educators looking to provide growth in their writing development curriculum, this autobiography is a valuable resource. With inspiration, Lucy McCormick Calkins has modeled effective methods of organizing writing classrooms. I was surprised to learn that the "creative" classroom environment does not always provide children with consistent expectations to support the complex, ever-changing craft of writing. As with the artist or scholar's library, the environment is kep predictable, so that the unpredictable may happen. It is NOT about forcing a subject to write on. Rather, the writer or artist allows the subject to "come to them." Susie said it best, "I know my bird's nest isn't too big a thing, but sometimes I think the little things that are close to you are the most important of all." Susie, you were so right! Writing is a gift that must be shared and celebrated. The essence of one's self is freely given to the listeners, and in doing so, provides the author with an intimate sense of ownership. The sheer delight at being "heard" profoundly affects the child's image as a writer and author. Lucy McCormick Calkins reminds us that more care should be given to incorporate the celebrating rather than only for giving feedback! I wholeheartedly agree! How exciting to watch Susie and her classmates grow from the novice writers they once were, to the skilled writers they are today. They began by writing for an audience and now write for themselves. We, as readers, are able to participate in this process. I was delighted to read how often the students in this study surpassed their supposed developmental expectations. Educators, we must interact with a child's development and continue to change with the needs of the child. Ms. Calkins' research provides us with an excellent example of doing just that! And THAT, is what teaching is to me; I thank Lucy McCormick Calkins for her inspirational study.