Reading Like a Writer

How many of you looked at other blogs before writing your own? I did! I wanted to "notice" the kinds of writing that this new genre (for me) was all about. That is reading like a writer. In my elementary classroom, after spending several days immersed in reading the genre we would be writing, I selected a piece or page from one of the texts and asked students what they noticed about the writing. In the beginning comments like "they used periods at the end of their sentences" or "they told what happened" were common but soon students' noticings about structure and craft in writing were showing up in their own writing! The chapters in Crafting Writers K-6 reminded me of the personal power to improve writing that learning to read like a writer affords to authors of all ages.