Reflection to Graves Chapter 6-7

In the sixth and seventh chapters of his book, Writing: Teachers and Children At Work, Donald Graves talks about the importance of publishing children’s work and surrounding them with literature in the classroom. He states how important children feel when their work is published and how much it develops them as a writer. He also says that every child should get to publish something within the first three weeks of working with writing. Graves goes on to talk about surrounding children with literature, by children and professions, so that the children will have access to more information and topics. He also states how important it is to treat all writings the same, no matter who wrote them, because if teachers do not do this then the students will feel like their writing is not worth as much.

Graves brings up some interesting observations from his experience in the classroom. I remember when I was in elementary school publishing a book with laminated pages was only for those who were fast enough to finish on time. Once the books were finished each student got a single opportunity to read his or her book to the class and then the teacher told everyone to bring home their books and never bring it back again. The things that my elementary teachers did are almost the opposite of what Graves teaches. I hope that as more people read this book they will begin to offer the students of the future more than my generation received in elementary school.