Lindsey's Writing Process

     For this blog post, I interviewed Lindsey Jackson, a kindergarten teacher in South Lyon.  Her students writing process is much different from the writing process we use as freshman in college, as you would expect.  Lindsey shares how she gets her students ready for a writing assignment, "We start with the students meeting me at the carpet for a mini-lesson. I will teach a particular topic and then I will send them back to their seats with their writing journals where they will work for 10-15 minutes independently. Then the students will either meet with their writing partners to share what they worked on or they would meet at the carpet to share as a whole class."  Lindsey also has a different writing process.  "I like to write about the exciting things that are going on in my classroom! Sometimes the day or week goes by so fast you do not realize what you just did, but if you sit down and reflect about it in a newsletter, then you realize all the great things that are happening in the classroom!" Unlike her students, where they just write about what they just learned, Lindsey likes to reflect on her week and be reminded of all the things that were accomplished.  
     I then asked Lindsey what kind of writing is expected of a kindergarten teacher.  She replied saying, "I write lesson plans, plans for a substitute teacher to look over, emails to staff & parents, newsletters and letters to parents of my students, and reflections on my students academic growth."  These are all things that require a writing process, just like each project in WRA requires a writing process.  
     Reflecting on personal experiences is a good way to start your writing process for any project.  When brainstorming ideas, you reflect on past experiences for inspiration.  Lindsey's way of sitting down and thinking about all the things that had happened that week, or month is a good way to think about what you can improve, or change about your writing process.  Being able to learn from others is also a good way.  Being given a subject or topic like her kindergartners is a simple way to brainstorm ideas and that's also what we get in class.  We get a prompt, or something to go off of and that makes it easier to starta project.

Source:
Lindsey Jackson, Kindergarten teacher in South Lyon