Every Mark on the Page

Reading: Every Mark on the Page by Kate Foley Cusumano

“I wanted these family members to believe in their children’s ability to succeed at writing.”

            As I sit here in Bloomingfoods reading this article, one of the kids from Harmony [an elementary school I work at] runs around the corner.  The entire time I read this, I thought about how I see writing develop in their classroom.  In Every Mark on the Page, Cusumano acknowledges the fact that family and community members need to highlight the strengths of a developing young writer’s work.  They should look for and value the meaning of the piece and the effort put into the writing.  The child may not be spelling the word correctly or using punctuation in the right ways but there is always something in a child’s work that implies that they are on the right track to becoming a successful writer.

            For the most part, my time at Harmony is spent playing games, building things, drawing masterpieces, and writing stories with the kids.  Just as Cusumano encourages—these children are given all the time, materials, and space to create something, anything.  When they make a mistake or see a flaw in their creations, they think about a solution and then fix it.  I see this in their writing.

            Last week, a 6 year-old boy and I wrote a sequel to a story we wrote the previous week.  First, he drew a picture of the main character.  This was his topic of choice and he was able to think about where he wanted his story to go.  As he continued, the storyline didn’t really make sense but I could tell he was aware that there should be a beginning, middle, and end of a story.  He used his knowledge of letters and the sounds they make to form words—not to say he had perfect spelling but he was using what he knows.  I believe it’s important to encourage their efforts.  I used to ask the kids if they wanted to write and they always said no.  I’ve also come across the kids who will write but they become frustrated and quit.  So I’ve been letting them come to me when they want to write.  If you force a child to do anything, they’ll lose interest and they’ll be less willing to do it.

            One idea that Cusumano shared in her article was a newsletter.  I think I only had a few teachers do newsletters when I was in elementary school.  I like the thought of giving parents ideas of how to encourage and practice educating their own children in an effective way.  As a teacher, I want everyone to be on the same page—what we’re learning, activities we are doing, and what’s going on in the classroom.  I think that contributes to creating a positive and encouraging classroom environment appropriate for children’s learning.