ch 13: Writing and Reading

In this chapter, Graves discusses the process and purpose of reading and writing. 

One statement that stood out to me was that, writing and reading "are two sides of the same coin." (Cullinan, 1993.) I think this is a great sentiment because writing and reading are completely intertwined. Much like two sides of a coin- you can't have one without the other. Traditionally, writing and reading have been taught as two independent subjects in school. Today, most agree that the subjects should be taught in conjunction with the other. They compare the process of writing and reading to that of speaking and listening, it is practical for them to be taught together. 

One of the little subsections in this chapter was titled “Using Photographs as Prompts for Writing.” To be honest, I typically don’t read these figures and activities but this one sounded interesting. This discussed how often times students who have difficulty reading also struggle with writing. It is important for activities to incorporate both skills in order to maximize benefit. The activity suggested that students are to take pictures of things they find important in their lives such as their family, friends, pets, favorite things, etc. After doing this the picture should be printed off and each one used as a writing prompt. The student then compiles all their pictures and stories and makes it into an “About Me” book and shares with their classmates. 

I love this idea because students who struggle with reading and writing would have a prompt of their choosing, making it more meaningful to them and motivating them to do well. I think this would be great practice for students writing their books but also for the classmates reading each other’s. I would probably implement this activity at the beginning of the year so the students can have practice reading and writing, as well as getting to know each other’s interests. 

Some other activities suggested for combining reading and writing skills were semantic mapping and creating venn diagrams, journals, reading logs, learning logs, letters, bio and autobiographies, reports, and poetry. These different activities cover many genres of writing from writing to learn, to communicate, and imaginative writing. One thing I really began to value this quarter was journaling. Typically we read children’s books at the beginning of class and though this is fun and entertaining, it is clearly not challenging for college students. To take it a step further, we are then asked to write in our journals from a prompt stemming from the book. I sometimes find this to be very difficult, but it challenges me to apply the reading to a writing activity which gives me a deeper understanding of the material.