Reflection to Graves Chapters 15-17

In chapters fifteen to seventeen of his book, Writing: Teachers and Children at Work, Donald Graves talks about helping children revise for meaning, bring out their voice, and work on their handwriting. He talks about how necessary it is for a writer’s work to have a sense of order to it before they can even think of revising for meaning. Once the order is determined then authors can begin to decide on whether the amount of information they have is enough, too little, or too much. From there they will be on the right track to adding more meaning to their pieces. Graves tells teachers that they need to learn how to listen for their students’ voices in their pieces. A voice, like in a speech, is what helps the readers to know who wrote the piece they are reading. It is a teacher’s job to bring out that voice in the students’ works. Graves completes this section with a chapter on handwriting. He talks about the different aspects that make up handwriting. Through this chapter one can also pick up ways in which to correct certain handwriting problems.

I like the way that Graves encourages students to have a voice in their pieces and purpose for them. In my school I see so many students who write just because their teacher tells them to. Because of this they do not really care about what they are writing. As long as the piece is good enough to get an ME it is good enough for them. Some students aim even lower than an ME and if they get what they want it is good enough for them. I find this very sad and I hope that someday more students in elementary school will be inspired to actually care about what they are writing because they value it and not just because they want a good grade.