The Writing Workshop, Chapters 7, 8, 19

Simply reading the section about the kinds of supplies a teacher should provide for students in writing workshop made me so excited to one day teach writing. I know even to this day I LOVE getting to create things using different mediums and different styles of papers. I feel like this alone will encourage and get many students excited about writing. I also thought it was interesting to note the way the book encourages you to arrange your classroom. In the current classroom I’m in, there is no extra room for a specific class meeting area and no extra tables for students to spread out all of their work. The book describes the ideal situation, but as a teacher if you really put your mind to it you could utilize space inside and outside your classroom for writing.

I really loved the last paragraph at the end of Chapter 8 where the author describes many of the rewards of having a writing workshop. This really gives you optimism that even when days may appear crazy and unbearable to simply look at the big picture and know that your students are benefiting and they are the ones you are letting go of control for.

I thought it was interesting that the author went into so much detail on publishing and how it should not be a “party” every time where students’ parents are encouraged to come in and snacks and refreshments are provided. Publishing should be a common thing that happens often throughout the year and not all published works have to be made into a big commotion. I loved the part about the deadlines and providing students with a calendar of expectations at the beginning. I thrive on things like this and would honestly not survive in this early childhood program without syllabus’s and calendars with deadlines. So often we think elementary children can’t handle deadlines and are more lenient but they are actually a great way to show expectations and keep children on track with their writing.

The Writing Workshop Chapters 14, 15, 17

The section on conferencing really made me feel a lot more comfortable about individual conferences with students after I read it. I liked how it provided all of those essential questions to think about when deciding what to teach such as “what would help most at this time?” and “what is not likely to come up in whole-class instruction?” I felt the section on making a record of your conference with a student was very important. I will make sure to always write everything down because that makes it so easy to go back and see a child’s progress and what you have individually discussed.

I really found the section on survey sharing interesting. I like the fact that each student is expected to share, but not a whole piece, just a small segment. I know growing up and even now I am hesitant to share my work in front of the whole class, but if everyone else is sharing a small portion too it makes it less intimidating. These surveys can be very flexible and the teacher can choose them to go in any direction based on what she asks students to share. I also believe, as the book states that over time students can begin to notice patterns about the discussions and share and learn a lot from the discussion of that.

When questioning our students about their writing, it really is beneficial to treat them as adults and ask them questions that make them feel like experts of their own writing. I think it’s interesting to use these questions as a form of self assessment that a student can use for their writing. Writing is one of those subjects that is in the eye of the beholder, there is not one right answer or one right thing to do things. I think as long as students give logical reasons for why they did something or what effort they put in then they should be allowed to self assess their work.

The Writing Workshop Chapters 9, 10 and 13

The section on homework that should be used to enhance the writing workshop was very interesting to me. All the writing homework I used to receive was exactly the kind that the book mentions, worksheets with many examples of compound, run-on and various other types of sentence structures that you must identify. I never thought to use homework as a time to gather topics and ideas to write about at school. This is genius because in school sometimes students get stuck and don’t know what to write about because they are confined to the four walls of the classroom and a desk. I know I’ve been there. However, if they have taken down many interesting ideas and conversations that happen in everyday life and in their own world then they have a multitude of resources to pull from, which also makes their writing time during class more productive.

The section on teaching conventions (ways to expect things) was very interesting. The author explains that these should normally be taught in small group and individual student conferences and not in whole class discussions if students already know them. I can understand this but how can you check for student understanding? For example, if a student uses correct subject verb agreement in a piece how can you be sure they actually know it and need no further instruction on it or if it was just a lucky guess? I personally think that even if students are familiar with a convention they could always use the extra practice. Maybe a teacher could provide time in a whole group lesson on a certain convention for students that know the convention well to help explain it to groups of classmates so everyone gets practice with it instead of just a chosen few.

The last thing I would like to comment on in this post is how helpful this book really is. It goes into such detail things that most books would vaguely comment on assuming a teacher knows how to teach it. For example, in chapter 10 when it goes through each of the kinds of things the author finds important in a writing workshop, it gives specific examples of ways to teach each of these and also the main points of importance. I plan to keep this book after this class because it will be such a useful resource when I am planning my writing workshop curriculum.  This book is also very inspirational, which I like. It encourages a general love for writing and gives much helpful insight to help your students view it that way too. After reading these three chapters this week I feel like I have a much better idea of how to fully conduct a writing workshop on a day to day basis.   

The Writing Workshop Chapters 1-5

I don’t believe that I have ever had the experience of observing a real “writing workshop.” I have seen writing instruction in classes as focusing on learning the writing process and practicing through the steps. I have experienced very little creative writing and student choice for topics throughout school. After reading the first couple chapters of this book I have definitely noticed that writing is something that was put on the back-burner in my schooling and the trend continues today.

This book brought up many interesting points as to why that way of teaching can be less effective for students. Students view writing as taking each piece “down the line” of the steps and never really get that involved into the process of actual writing. That is how I viewed this subject throughout school. This book encourages teachers to view their children as actual writers and to motivate them to achieve. This is so important to me and I hope to be that teacher that embodies those qualities. So often teachers don’t believe their students are capable and their students easily pick up on that attitude. The quote at the beginning of chapter 3 sums up that negative behavior and was kind of disheartening “And the plain truth is, not everyone can be a writer.” My spirits were then lifted when the author talked about how even if my classroom is the only real “writing workshop” children experience it will still make a huge impact of how they view themselves as a writer.

In my placement this semester I have already gotten to view some creative writing time from students. The teacher provided a book called “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg that provides strange pictures and asks the children to create their own stories. The children were so excited about this activity and were very eager for me to read their writing as I walked around the room. Their enthusiasm really made me excited to learn new ways to teach writing this semester and practice it with these enthusiastic 4^th graders! However I have also seen the downside to teaching writing in this classroom. My teacher is extremely stretched for time and writing was squeezed into whatever time slot they could find and often was very short. How important is it to have writing at the same time everyday as the book states? Also, is it really realistic to allow that much time for writing workshop and independent writing time when so many other things have to be accomplished and taught in one year?