Oct. 29, 2011
To Whom It May Concern:
I had the pleasure of welcoming writing teacher Lynn Bowmaster into my classroom of fifth and sixth graders at The Common School last year, not once, but twice. The first series of workshops was held in late winter as one of several “academic choice” periods. The students loved what she did so much that we raised money to bring Lynn back again to work with the whole class. I recommend Lynn whole-heartedly!
A little bit of background about me is in order to strengthen my recommendation of Lynn. I have been teaching for 30 years. I’ve seen the field of writing education go through many trends and competing philosophies about what constitutes best practice. I’ve attended Lucy Calkins workshops, read Nancy Atwell’s work, and completed a week-long course with the folks from New Zealand. For many years I lugged students’ free writing notebooks home, spent hours reading them, and wrote back encouraging and guiding notes. I held conferences, workshops, and modeled creative writing. Despite my efforts, I saw that some students naturally wrote well, but many others seemed so stuck. My colleagues who worked equally hard to help students write well were meeting with the same mixed results regarding creative writing. Meanwhile, I pursued a deeper understanding of teaching expository writing with great results. I had pretty much given up on a workshop style approach to creative writing until Lynn came along.
Simply put, Lynn’s approach to creative writing is highly effective for a wide range of children. This is best practice at its best. Students who write well naturally dove in further and stretched farther. Reluctant writers began to open up and write with a new conviction and even enthusiasm. Students were asking to work on their writing when they finished other assignments. Every single student in the class wanted to share their work by the time the workshops had to wrap up at the end of the school year. Over the summer, I used some of my professional development money to work with Lynn so I could understand her approach more fully, and now I am holding my own Lynn-inspired creative writing workshops with great effect! I still teach expository writing in a step-wise, explicit manner, and this has proven a highly effective approach. Including creative writing workshops has opened my writers in other ways, however; their voices are developing and students are becoming more fluid in their writing. Hearing them read stories of their imagination with such conviction and pride is exciting!
Clearly I would recommend Lynn to join your school as you strive to help students develop fluency and confidence in writing from their hearts. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have regarding Lynn’s work.
Sincerely,
Linda Donnelly
Head teacher, Elementary Two Class
[email protected]
413-256-8989
To Whom It May Concern:
I had the pleasure of welcoming writing teacher Lynn Bowmaster into my classroom of fifth and sixth graders at The Common School last year, not once, but twice. The first series of workshops was held in late winter as one of several “academic choice” periods. The students loved what she did so much that we raised money to bring Lynn back again to work with the whole class. I recommend Lynn whole-heartedly!
A little bit of background about me is in order to strengthen my recommendation of Lynn. I have been teaching for 30 years. I’ve seen the field of writing education go through many trends and competing philosophies about what constitutes best practice. I’ve attended Lucy Calkins workshops, read Nancy Atwell’s work, and completed a week-long course with the folks from New Zealand. For many years I lugged students’ free writing notebooks home, spent hours reading them, and wrote back encouraging and guiding notes. I held conferences, workshops, and modeled creative writing. Despite my efforts, I saw that some students naturally wrote well, but many others seemed so stuck. My colleagues who worked equally hard to help students write well were meeting with the same mixed results regarding creative writing. Meanwhile, I pursued a deeper understanding of teaching expository writing with great results. I had pretty much given up on a workshop style approach to creative writing until Lynn came along.
Simply put, Lynn’s approach to creative writing is highly effective for a wide range of children. This is best practice at its best. Students who write well naturally dove in further and stretched farther. Reluctant writers began to open up and write with a new conviction and even enthusiasm. Students were asking to work on their writing when they finished other assignments. Every single student in the class wanted to share their work by the time the workshops had to wrap up at the end of the school year. Over the summer, I used some of my professional development money to work with Lynn so I could understand her approach more fully, and now I am holding my own Lynn-inspired creative writing workshops with great effect! I still teach expository writing in a step-wise, explicit manner, and this has proven a highly effective approach. Including creative writing workshops has opened my writers in other ways, however; their voices are developing and students are becoming more fluid in their writing. Hearing them read stories of their imagination with such conviction and pride is exciting!
Clearly I would recommend Lynn to join your school as you strive to help students develop fluency and confidence in writing from their hearts. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have regarding Lynn’s work.
Sincerely,
Linda Donnelly
Head teacher, Elementary Two Class
[email protected]
413-256-8989
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