Living a Reading and Writing Life
At Long-View, learners are daily entangled in words, obsessed with writing, and bewitched by books. During literacy block, learners across age and experience grow to feel and understand that writing and reading are essential to who we are as individuals and as a learning community. We are not just people who do the acts of reading and writing; we are readers and writers. Literacy block is serious work, but it is seriously fun.
What do we mean by the reading life and the writing life?
We fundamentally believe that reading and writing are inextricably linked to who we are. We read and write every day - to learn and grow, to be entertained and transported, to communicate our ideas, and to understand the world around us. That idea is at the heart of the work we do in reading and writing workshops. Learners develop in literacy along a sometimes non-linear developmental continuum, but we reject the idea that reading and writing are superficial or external to who we are as humans and as lifelong learners.
Our learners returned to school in August with a variety of tales from a summer well spent. We traveled geographically far and wide - on planes, trains, bikes, boats, and automobiles; many of those adventures have begun to be captured in personal narrative writing. We traveled even farther and wider in the pages of our books. Through reading, learners went to Alaska, Hogwarts, Medieval Europe, Camp Halfblood, Paris, and so many other real and imagined lands. We grew through our literary travels just as we grew when we visited new places. Some of us kept journals, wrote letters to family, or composed poetry as we moved through the summer months; others among us composed novels and screenplays in our minds.
We have continued these expeditions since returning to Long-View, each day challenging ourselves to build upon our past experiences as readers and writers. During Literacy Block, we continually practice the habits and characteristics of readers and writers. We share literacy experiences, develop a reading and writing community, and spend a lot of time reading and writing. Adults in the community curate literacy experiences, attend to the experiences of every unique learner, and cultivate the reading and writing life of the whole community.
Reading and writing are, indeed, who we are in addition to what we do. As we begin this wonderful journey, we are all excited by the places we will go and the ways we will grow.