Nikki Meyer

Emergent Literacy
Professor McKool

Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons For Our Youngest Writers

“Come along with us as we observe children in classrooms, listen to their stories,

study the work they put on paper and use what we learn to inform our teaching” (Horn

and Giacobbe 1). The book, Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons For Our Youngest

Writers, by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe is an informational book for aspiring

or seasoned teachers to help shed some light on the benefits talking, drawing and writing

have on students academic progression. This book talks about everything ranging from

storytelling to drawing and writing a book, the craft of drawing, assessment, introducing

booklets to students and how to forward students in their writing, talking and drawing

careers. Through this book, teachers can view real lesson plans and read about classroom

situations where an effective mini lesson, interactive read aloud or drawing and writing

workshop took place.

The first chapter starts off by explaining an example all teachers can relate to; the

task of asking students to tell stories through words and pictures. It’s important for

teachers to encourage students to write and draw based off of what they know. It is also

crucial that teachers, look and listen to their students so that they develop a better

understanding of their students, which in return will help the teacher help the student. I

enjoyed the personal aspect of this book because it gave a lot of examples and scenarios

in which teachers often find themselves and it gives educators ideas on how to advance a

lesson plan and get students excited about the lesson. For example, in chapter one, we
find a kindergarten teacher, Ms. Danita, introducing a story to her students about planting

a garden of Chinese vegetables.

Danita goes on to say that the author and illustrator, Grace Lin wrote about

planting Chinese vegetables because it’s what she knows and that all good authors and

illustrators write and draw what they know. Ms. Danita starts explaining a personal

experience of her own that was triggered by reading Grace Lin’s story, “Danita is

teaching writing. She is teaching her kindergartners that we all have stories to tell, that

we tell stories about what we know, and that the most engaging stories are often about

ordinary, everyday things” (Horn and Giacobbe 8). Since everyone has stories to tell and

children love to tell stories, any child can produce a successful story in their classroom.

Telling stories also acknowledges talk and helps children orally learn about elements of

craft before they even start writing on paper. In my classroom experience, I have used

this strategy to gives examples for a mini lesson and ask students to share their own

personal stories. Usually when a student tells their story, it triggers other students to

want to share their experiences making the lesson more engaging and exciting.

Through telling stories, children learn that writers are specific in their

information, order and organization is important, the audience matters, talking helps

students talk their way through a story, and composing involves revising. I believe that

story telling and listening to others tell stories is an effective jump start for children when

it comes to creating stories of their own because the students are able to gather ideas and

learn new strategies about writing that they can apply to their own narratives. When I

become a teacher, I will make sure that my students have an abundant amount of

examples of stories so that my students understand plots, setting, and themes so they can
apply them to their own writings. I will use interactive read aloud and mini lessons that

demonstrate the importance of structure and organization in writing and how important

composition is so the students get a better understanding of what is expected of them.

In each chapter, after introducing the purpose of the chapter, the text includes the

full copy of a lesson plan performed by a teacher, which is extremely helpful for teachers

because they can use that lesson plan as a guide for their own lessons and introductions

about reading, writing, drawing and talking. In the second chapter, I appreciated that the

authors gave scripted text on how to introduce the drawing and writing book to the

students. It gave me some useful ideas on how to approach a similar lesson with my

students. I believe that teachers should use a “drawing and writing” book because the

format is inviting, appropriate, organized and manageable, this will allow students to

establish routines, expectations, and procedures. In the first grade classroom I observed

this semester, I witnessed the students use pieces of paper with a space to write and draw

narratives and illustrations. When the students collaborated a “How To” narrative, they

stapled their pieces of paper together to create a book, this is similar to the drawing and

writing book described in the chapter.

In chapters three and four, the author helps teachers understand the craft of

drawing and how they can approach a lesson to introduce their students to proper drawing

techniques to really bring their story to life. For instance, when children draw, they learn

about objects and as their understanding for the object increases, their drawing becomes

more accurate or detailed. Drawing helps students gain awareness about their thinking

which is important because drawing is the beginning stages to demonstrate that children

understand meaning of words, and drawing is a way in which children develop language.
I especially appreciate this component of the book because being an art major, I

understand the importance of drawing and the power and influence it has when it comes

to teaching children how to write. Not only does drawing help illustrate a story, but

children get excited about their drawings and are eager to share them with their teachers,

and when they describe their drawings to others, they are strengthening their oral

language ability.

Chapters five and six discuss writing words and assessments. Students can learn

words just by labels in the classroom; teachers should label words around the classroom

like the clock, desks, bookshelves and much more so students can start to gain an

awareness of objects and how to pronounce their written name. In Mrs. Miller’s first

grade classroom, she has labels all around the room; she has labeled the clock, colors,

numbers, alphabet, shapes, calendar, desks, bathroom and the sink station so her students

can learn word recognition and help broaden their vocabulary. It is also important for

teachers to encourage students to put words to their pictures to describe what’s going on

in the picture and not only encourage them to produce words but this is a great way for

teachers to document their students writings.

Teachers can create a running record of their students to understand how they’re

advancing with writing. For example, “The goal in looking at children’s writing is for us

to be informed and instructed by our students: who they are as writers, what they know,

and what they need to learn” (Horn and Giacobbe 130). The purpose of chapter six is for

teachers to understand the importance of assessing their student’s work. Every time

teachers talk and reflect with students individually, it gives the teacher a better

understanding of their thinking process. Assessing student’s work is extremely

important, when I become a teacher, I will perform running records and takes notes on

my students so that I can witness their progress throughout the year, be able to see their

strengths and weaknesses and use the notes I gathered in conferences.

Chapters seven and eight introduces booklets to students, discusses how to move

students along as writers and how to engage students in the classroom. Introducing

booklets, blank sheets of paper that are used for drawing and writing, are important

because its familiar to the students, booklets invite playfulness, it has a built in

expectation that you have a lot to say on a topic, it offers a logical structure for teaching

elements of craft, it makes revision easy, and it lends itself to writing sentences and

paragraphs. Having a piece of paper that allows for structure invites students to explore

the page and create stories and powerful pieces of writing. After students have been

introduced to the booklets, they need help being motivated and encouraged to write and it

is important to observe students writing to make sure that their stories make sense, to see

if they are writing about what’s important, to see if they’re writing about a time and place

and being specific with their stories. Booklets are important to the classroom and I plan

on using them in mine because it’s personal to the students, it’s something that they can

write in, make mistakes, correct them and creates a comfortable outlet for them to learn.

Chapter nine discusses the importance of mini lessons that focus on the craft of

writing and reading and how teachers should be enthusiastic while teaching students

about narratives. Its important for teachers to educate students on the important parts of

narratives so the students gain an understanding of how narratives are written. The

important parts of the story should be important to the author, events that affected them in

a negative or positive way; those are the events that should be focused on in detail. In
order to understand this concept, the teacher should use an abundant amount of examples

to ensure that every student grasps the point of the lesson. Teachers can do an interactive

read aloud, stopping at certain points in the story to demonstrate the language the author

used to convey the importance of the story. I believe mini lessons are extremely

important and I will personally use them a lot in my classroom because it’s an effective

way to enforce a concept of the lesson in a short amount of time so that the student grasp

the point of the lesson. I know the importance of mini lessons and appreciate them; I

have also performed them in my first grade classroom. When introducing a book, I asked

the students questions about the cover and had them make predications. Like the author

explains in the chapter, I understand the importance of stopping at certain points in a

story to confirm predictions and have students ask questions. I do this with every story I

read to the students to keep them engaged and active in the lesson.

The book, Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lesson For Our Youngest Writers, is an

amazing book for upcoming teachers and even seasoned teachers. It explains the

importance of reading, writing and drawing, and gives lesson plans and examples to

reinforce the purpose of the chapter. The book gives a copious amount of teacher’s

experiences and stories for the reader to engage and relate and in addition to the

experiences and lesson plans, the book also shows examples of students work to show

how effective the lesson was. I would recommend this book to any teacher or aspiring

teacher for it’s in depth content and examples of effective lesson plans to demonstrate

proper teachings of reading, writing and talking.