Katie Bethel

Teaching Philosophy for Writing

As an elementary teacher it is my goal to teach my students the best practices in writing

to help give them the skills they need to succeed as writers. I believe that before students can

begin to learn any of the best practices and skills in writing it is essential that a positive

classroom environment is established both with writing and just as a class in general. I think the

most important aspect to a positive classroom environment is establishing strong relationships

with my students. From the minute my students walk into my classroom I want to start to

create relationships with each and every one of them. When students feel they have a strong

relationship with me, they are going to be much more likely to be motivated to learn. I want my

students to know that they each have the ability to learn, are special and can and will succeed

in school. To do this I will engage in activities at the beginning of the year to allow my students

to get to know me and each other and for me to get to know them and what each one of them

needs. After these relationships are created, I can begin creating a supportive writing

environment, teach to write for different purposes and teach the essential aspects of writing.

Before I can begin teaching the specifics and best practices of writing, I will need to

establish a supportive writing environment. I plan in my future class to have writer’s workshop.

This will be the time when we practice writing skills. In order for this time to benefit students to

the greatest potential, I want to make sure everyone feels that their writing is valued and

important. I want each student to know that they themselves are authors. Every piece of

writing is something they should be proud of and something others can learn from.

Furthermore, they can learn a lot from their peer’s writing too. I want peer editing to be a huge
part of my classroom. This helps students not only feel that their writing is valued and worthy

of being shared, but it also helps them improve their own writing by learning from their peers.

Another element that I think is important to incorporate in my classroom during writing time is

brain breaks. Writing is a complex process and breaks are going to be essential to let their

minds rest and reset. After this positive writing environment is set more of the specifics of

writing can be taught.

In my future classroom I want to teach my students the many different purposes for

writing such as narrative, persuasive, informative, opinionated, and also different genres and

types of writing such as poetry. This will allow students to realize that writing takes many

different forms and there is a multitude of reasons that people write. I think one of the best

practices to teach these types of writing is to incorporate mentor texts into the classroom.

Students are then able to physically see what different types of writing look like. Although there

are certain “rules” in writing, I believe the most essential rule to writing is that your information

is conveyed in a way that makes sense to readers and in a way they can learn from. I also want

to teach these types of writing in a variety of ways as to keep my students motivated and

engaged in writing. I will ensure that throughout the year I take time during writer’s workshop

to teach all different types of writing so that my students have a diverse array of writing and

knowledge of each type of writing.

Writing is a very complex process, and many components go into creating a writing

piece. So, in my class I want to have an i-chart or something similar that displays the writing

process: prewriting/planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. I think making it

apparent that writing is a process will help my students to stay engaged and motivated to write
because they will know that they don’t have to sit down in one sitting and create a perfect

piece of writing. Instead, they just need to complete one step of writing at a time and slowly,

the final copy will be created and finally published. Throughout this process it is essential that I

highlight what my students have done well, not just what they need to work on or fix.

A lot of the elements that I will be helping my students improve on in their compositions

of writing are syntax, spelling, and vocabulary. When I teach these things, I want to teach them

in a way that is interesting and fun for kids. These “rules” of writing are complex and can often

push students away from writing. In order to avoid this, I will create fun activities and games to

help my students learn. With syntax I want to help my students understand that these rules are

set in place to make writing make sense and more interesting. With spelling I want to focus on

helping my students just trying their best to spell new words. At the end of the day the most

important thing is that readers can understand the whole message of the writing. It is more

important to me that students just practice their spelling as this also gives them time to

practice handwriting skills. Furthermore, I want to teach my students a wide range of

vocabulary to help them really expand and strengthen their writing. So overall, I want to teach

all these “rules” of writing in a way that is engaging and motivating to students. I want them to

also realize that these are complex skills, and the correct use will come and all I expect of them

is to try their best and through practice, their writing will improve.

In conclusion, in order for my students to become successful writers, they first need to

feel valued and have a relationship with me and their peers. Then through writer’s workshop

and mentor texts, my students will be able to learn all different types of writing and the best
practices of writing. My overall goal is for my students to realize that writing is a complex

process and to just help them grow as authors overall.