Summary of Chapter 4 In Pictures and in Words

Chapter 4: Teaching an Essential Habit of Mind


What It Means to Read Like a Writer: A Metaphor

Katie Wood Ray likens the way she thinks about the writing when reads to the way she thought about houses when she and her husband were building their home. When building her home she became acutely aware of every aspect of how a house was designed. She calls this a habit of the mind. She writes, “Because I write myself, I can’t help it, when I read other peoples writing, I tend to notice how it is written. I think about what it is about too, but often also I am struck by a particular decisions the writer has made about the craft of it.”

Reading Like a Writer on Purpose

When Katie Ray Wood is asked to write an article or book. She reads as many examples of that particular form of writing as possible. She wants to discover what is expected of her as a writer. She writes, “I read as an insider and, without a doubt, every act of reading deepens my understanding of the craft (or lack of craft) of writing, whether I’m conscious of it or not.” She believes it is important to develop this ability in our students. It fosters independence in students, because whether the teacher is present or not a student can think about the writer of whatever text they are reading.

Demonstrating an Important Habit of Mind

The teaching context of Writer Workshop should be designed so that children see themselves as the same kind of people that write and illustrate the books they are surrounded by in their classrooms.

Noticing

In order for students to begin to see the decisions writers and illustrators use when designing their craft a teacher needs to notice these as a story is being read. Katie Ray Wood wants to show children two things about the illustrations in a text: the kind of things they might notice about illustrations and that those things that are a result of the illustrators decision making.

Becoming Articulate About What We Notice

When noticing a illustrators craft we need to pay particular attention to the words we use. We need to articulate why an illustrator used a certain technique to draw the readers attention to the illustration.

New Possibilities

Katie Ray Wood writes, “The purpose of thinking aloud about possibilities in this way is simply to show children how everything they notice about illustrations can easily become something they imagine themselves doing”