Critics--who needs 'em?

Love, love love, the quote on page 142 of Lamott: "A critic is someone who comes onto the battlefield after the battle is over and shoots the wounded."  Not many people love criticism, and if we're not careful, we can crush the spirit of the kids we teach.  Who wants to be told that they are a bad writer?  When reading anyone's work, especially kids, we need to be sure to emphasize the positive aspects, and choose our comments for improvement carefully.

Upon receiving criticism from a friend, Lamott writes, "My first thought is, 'Well, I'm, sorry, but I can't be friends with you anymore, because you have too many problems.  And you have a bad personality.  And a bad character.'  Sometimes I can't get words to come out of my mouth because I am so disappointed, as if they had said that Sam [her son] is ugly and boring and spoiled and I should let him go.  If we are barraging a child with criticism, they will no longer want to write.  They will put up a wall, tune us out, and the trust that they previously gave us would be lost.  

Routman also discusses criticism in her chapter about conferences.  She emphasizes that we should "always focus first on what the wrtier has done well.  Beginning with celebration affirms the writer and makes it more likely that she will be open to suggestions... Whatever you say to the child, be sure it encourages her to continue writing" (Routman, 2005).  In my dyad classroom, we spend a lot of time moving through the room doing just this.  We make sure that we compliment the student on what they are doing well, such as writing more than they did last time.  Our teacher emphasizes that she doesn't want just the children who had errors in their writing to receive helpful suggestions.  She wants them all to receive information on what they can do to improve their writing, so they know that no one is perfect and that everyone can improve their writing.