Parent Realizations and Phonemic Awareness

I really enjoyed the article about educating family and community members about elementary children's writing. It brought up a lot of points that I have unknowingly experienced in the past. It also made me realize that I may have been guilty of being frustrated with children because of small errors that the article discussed.
One point that really caught my attention was the fact that "learning can progress rapidly if the child discovers and tests out the rules themselves instead of having them imposed without." (Cusumano 10) This made me realize that it is important to let children make mistakes, and, at times, not correct them. At this early stage in children's education, it is so important to fuel the love for literacy that they so badly need to succeed. By encouraging their ideas instead of pointing out their grammatical or spelling errors, they will see that we, as teachers and parents, have an appreciation for literacy and that we recognize their hard work. In this kind of nurturing setting, students are much more likely to enjoy writing and keep writing. The errors can be worked on later, and in many cases, will work themselves out simply with practice.
As an elementary teacher we are much more knowledgable about the stages that must be taken, by students, in order for them to get to a higher level of writing. We must inform parents who may not be aware in order to receive their support with our methods at home. It is just as, if not more, important for parents to support the idea of "writing is about making meaning" rather than correcting mistakes. I think a newsletter, or in these days of technology, a blog, could be really effective in giving pointers to parents and calming their fears about having dyslexic or struggling children. I think a bi-weekly or monthly blog with the suggestions discussed in the article would be a good amount, not overly invasive, and would really help parents to better understand the learning processes of their children.
This week's articles have really opened some doors for me. I will never again jump to correcting mistakes. Instead, I will make sure to look for the positive points and try to make meaning of students' writing first. I will foster the creativity of children and help them to learn while loving literacy at the same time.