Children Want to Write: Donald Graves and the Revolution in Children's Writing

by Penny Kittle, Thomas Newkirk (Editor)

Children Want to Write is a collection of Donald Graves most significant writings paired with recovered video-tapes that illuminate his research and his inspiring work with teachers. See the earliest documented use of invented spelling, the earliest attempts to guide young children through a writing process, the earliest conferences. This collection allows you to see this revolutionary shift in writing instruction-with its emphasis on observation, reflection, and approaching children as writers .
Read Chapter 3: Follow the Child

Genres: Professional Development, Teaching, Writing, Nonfiction, Education

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2013

About the author

Penny Kittle teaches writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is the author of Micro Mentor Texts (2022), 4 Essential Studies &180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love (2013), Write Beside Them (2008), The Greatest Catch: a life in teaching (2005), and Public Teaching: one kid at a time (2003); she co-authored Inside Writing (2005) with Donald Graves and edited a collection of Graves' work with Tom Newkirk, Children Want to Write. She presents at writing conferences throughout the United States and Canada and sometimes much farther.

But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.

Reviews

[Karli Eller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a fantastic job explaining the teachings of renowned writing researcher Donald Graves. This book explores Graves early years as a teacher and how his work with his mentor, the esteemed Donald Murray, helped shape his views on writing instruction. Using these beliefs he took part in a two year research study at Atkinson Academy in New Hampshire, in which he and his research assistants, Lucy Calkins and Susan Sowers, observed a group of students while a responsive teaching workshop model was implemented by a series of teachers at the school. This book details many of the findings he discovered through this study, including the need for teachers to write with their students, the benefits of implementing a process-conference approach to writing, the importance of allowing students to be in control of their own writing, the necessity of children writing every day and the importance of demonstration and modeling in our daily teaching. Graves made it known through his writings how important it is for teachers to help students become independent writers so that no student is dependent on the teacher. He felt there was no better way to achieve this than through the use of frequent writing conferences, where teachers ask questions to aid the writer instead of telling the writer what to do. He felt that writing conventions were important and needed to be taught through mini-lessons, but that the meaning of the text, the content, always took precedent over the mechanics. Later on in the book he made his feelings concerning standardized testing clearly known, and instead encouraged teachers to collect their own data, evaluating student work and utilizing this data to drive instruction through mini-lessons and small group conferences. Above all else Graves thought the three pillars of writing instruction were: choice, time and response. Students needed to be able to make their own choices about what they wanted to write, they needed to be given ample time to spend formulating their thoughts, and the response from teachers was extremely important in order to provide the support needed to help students become independent writers who “want to write”.

There are many of Graves’ teachings that should and will be implemented in my classroom this coming fall. Graves said, “Teachers need to write. What is not valued by teachers in their personal lives will not be introduced into the lives of children.” I need to begin writing with my students this year. They need to see me struggle to find the right words, attempt to get my thoughts on paper only to go back and revise time and again. I need to model for them how every writer stumbles and experiences frustration, but then demonstrate where one goes from there. I am also excited to implement the type of conferencing Graves talked about throughout this book. Instead of serving as “the expert”, telling my students what to fix and what needs work, I need to ask them questions and help them determine what needs work and what they want to make better. Like Graves emphasized, I need to help my students become more independent writers. Huge strides can be made in achieving this by looking at how I conference with my writers. One final aspect I want to work on this year involves my writing mini-lessons. Graves encouraged the use of modeling and demonstration during these mini-lessons. He also encouraged conducting mini-lessons on concepts students were struggling with in their own writing. At times in the past I have tried to plan too far in advance and have not utilized writing data to drive my instruction. Through my conferences with my writers I need to identify areas of weakness and provide instruction on those specific areas. Creating pointed mini-lessons that are authentic will help my students grow as writers.

“Children Want to Write” is a fantastic collection of some of the most noteworthy writings of Donald Graves, a pioneer in writing instruction, and one who shaped the process/workshop method still used in classrooms across the nation today. Edited by Thomas Newkirk and Penny Kittle, this book serves as a compilation of his published work, detailing some of his strongest held beliefs on writing instruction, such as his thoughts on the importance of students identifying as a writer, the importance of daily writing for students and teachers, and the benefits of implementing a responsive teaching format within the writing framework. The teachings and pedagogical beliefs of Graves were groundbreaking in the field of writing instruction and are still extremely pertinent in today’s classroom. This book is a must read for all aspiring teachers, current teachers and administrators. Don said, “Children want to write-if we let them”. This book will show you how to do just that!

[Diana Pettis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to share this book with teachers at my school. In the Spring, an introduction to Writer's Workshop will happen and from reading this text, I think that sharing Donald Graves work would have a huge impact on starting Writer's workshop on a good note. I especially enjoyed watching the video that accompanies this book which shows Donald Graves teaching.

[Emily Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great ideas about writing found in here! I’m concerned about the author’s stance on Lucy Calkins. He seemed like she was a research colleague and bright her up a few times. I am one of Alfie Kohn’s biggest fans and was overcome with joy when he brought up his name and highly controversial stance on testing.


- [ ] I loved his point of asking students what they think about their writing first before I begin sharing. I feel I monitor the room and give feedback because I know what they need to improve. Very few questions are asked of the student during writing besides the prompt.
- [ ] Writing should take place 4/5 days of the week. How could that look in my classroom? We use Benchmark Advance which has daily writing lessons. They didn’t seem effective. They would have lessons on narrative writing but the unit test would be on opinion without any third grade instruction on opinion. The lessons were long and the reading block is already so crammed. We started moving writing instruction to one day in attempt to give higher quality writing where we didn’t have to rush to it every day as a crumby compliance piece. This has made the writing process rushed into one day. Would it be better to have daily mini lessons on analyzing the prompt to determine the writing type, writing an introduction, finding evidence from the text, explaining how that evidence connects, and the conclusion? Like I said, we’re already so tight on time….
- [ ] Observe children and ask them to walk you throw it. You are seeking their version of events. “Okay, let me see if I have this right, you do this, this, and this. Is that right?” You could ask them to show you if they cannot verbalize. Showing is easier than telling. This would be easy to transfer to math, in my opinion.
- [ ] How can we improve the limited body of research on writing? Why don’t more teachers conduct research on writing?
- [ ] How can we teachers change the atmosphere? Placing students on similar ability groups of 4 to conference vaguely with a group? What about small groups? Would I want to spend valuable small group time on writing when I could be doing RL/RI small groups? How can I encourage students more instead of only telling them what I think is wrong?
- [ ] How can I apply this to tested writing with a precise formula?

[Kaycee Monnens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic way to continue my research on teaching the subject of writing. It was all so easily absorbed and well written. I appreciated the practical suggestions for use in the classroom. I was very curious about the structure of the class, how to run workshop, and how to coordinate conferences, so I was very pleased with my findings. I'd recommend Don Graves to any teacher of English.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend that anyone who teaches literacy should read this book.
It covers what Donald Graves work accomplished and gives inspiration for teachers to better themselves and as a result see their students develop a love of writing.
If you teach workshop or want to start, this is a great insight into why and how it works.

[Rebecca Caufman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice overview of Donald Graves thinking about teaching writing.

[Jean-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I homeschool and am always looking for good teaching books to help me do a better job of leading my young, creative minds. I almost abandoned this book after the first few chapters and videos because they focused on children much younger than mine. At Chapter 4: Common Characteristics of Writing Workshop, however, things started to heat up.

This book offers lots of big-thinking insight, as well as many detailed ideas! Here is a handful of golden nuggets of wisdom:

-- pg. 24: "Our distrust of children is most evident when we insist that they always be receivers rather than senders."

-- pg. 60: "To make it more challenging and increase the dramatic tension, I would suddenly release the catch on the map, which would roll up to reveal the topic for the week. My students had no chance to read, interview, or gather material, to do what professional writers do before writing. I invited poor writing -- and got it. I should have realized how confused my students were when one asked, "Does this mean we capitalize everything?""

-- pg. 62: "But as a professional, he knew that dishonest writing is not good writing. How easy it is to teach our students to write dishonestly to fulfill curriculum requirements. Indeed, a student's entire diet from first grade through high school can be a series of one dishonest piece after another. Sadly, the student can even graduate without learning that writing is the medium through which our most intimate thoughts and feeling can be expressed."

-- pg. 64: "Writing is a craft. It needs to be demonstrated to your students in your classroom, which is a studio, from choosing a topic to finishing a final draft. They need to see you struggle to match your intentions with the words that reach the page."

-- pg.99: "Technically, voice is not a process component or step in the journey from choice-rehearsal to final revision. Rather, it underlies every part of the process. To ignore voice is to present the process as a lifeless, mechanical act.

"Voice is the imprint of ourselves on our writing."

-- pg. 100: "I've found that some teachers have misunderstood the writing process. They deliberately take children through phases of making a choice, rehearsing, composing, and then rewriting. Of course these processes do exist, but each child uses them differently. We simply cannot legislate their precise timing."

-- pg. 130: "Writing is a social act. Writers write for audiences. Teachers work to provide a forum for authors to share their work, as well as to help their authors learn how to be good readers and listeners to the texts of others."

-- pg. 213: "About 20 percent of a writer's diet ought to be assigned. But an assigned topic requires preparation; it requires the writer to read, interview, find the voice of opinion and concern in wrestling with the facts.

Assigned topics means that the teacher participates in the process of gathering data. students see the teacher go through the process of doing the assignment with them. Modeling is never more important than in assigned writing, particularly writing in the content areas. Modeling means that the teacher demonstrates topic discovery, brainstorming, reading and note-taking, drafting and final copy."
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So, now the book is mine, filled with underlines, marginalia and notes. I look forward to bringing those ideas to life in the new school year.

[Sarah Zerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for any teacher of writing. Graves' words from the 1970s to 2000s are poignant and relevant to the process of teaching students to be writers. I love that Kittle and Newkirk put all of these works together in one book.

[Donalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique work of teaching art. I enjoyed revisiting the ground-breaking work of Graves, Calkins, Atwell and other thought-leaders who've shaped the work and lives of so many teachers.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the DVD in concert with the text, so this took longer than I expected. It was worth it! There are many things to chew on as I head into the dimmer break!

[Jennifer Sakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heinemann

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandatory for all teachers of writing.