Kennedy Robinson

ENGL 3690

Mrs. Barbera Meeusen

2 February 2023

These two chapters were very enlightening for me, as I learned a lot about the issues of

writing. At the beginning of chapter 1, facts were given about the percentages of people who can

read or write. To sum those up, United States citizens struggle to both read and write. These

numbers have decreased since 2003, and are still decreasing. Now that I think about it, it is crazy

to me that these rates have been steadily decreasing for the last 20 years. Because of this, the

author then gave solutions to how to fix this issue. Culham discussed the 4 W’s of writing. These

include the writing process, writing traits, a writing workshop, and writing modes. The writing

process includes 6 essential steps: prewriting, drafting, feedback, revision, editing, and

finishing/publishing. In my opinion, these steps are very helpful and I will make sure to

incorporate them into my writing classroom. Culham defines writing traits as “the nuts and bolts

of how writing works.” The writing traits mentioned are ideas, organization, voice, word choice,

sentence fluency, conventions, and presentations. A writing workshop is the organizational

routine of the writing classroom. Writing workshops “emphasize the social and collaborative

nature of writing and are built on the writing process model. The book also mentions ways that

teachers can incorporate writing workshops in their classrooms. The role of the teacher in this

situation is to confer, nudge, and support students whenever it is needed. A discussion is also

mentioned that the author feels would be important when displaying a writing workshop. The

last W that was mentioned was writing modes. Writing modes are described as the purposes of

writing. The next chapter discussed the importance of mentor texts. Culham describes mentor
texts as “any text, print or digital, that you can read with a writer’s eye.” The chapter described

exactly how to pick the right mentor texts, and when to use them. I appreciated these chapters

because they gave me great insight into the world of writing in the classroom, and also gave me

plenty of helpful tips on how to improve these skills.