Chapters 7, 8, and 19

The Writing Workshop

Ch 7, 8, and 19

2/20/11

According to Katie Ray, “the three main things to think about when planning for good writing workshop management are presence, space, and supplies” (WW, 74).  After observing a few different writing workshops, I would have to agree with her. I am very lucky this semester because my mentor teacher does a fantastic job with her writing workshops.  She brings them all together in front of her rocking chair and talks about the assignment and then she allows for the students to grab a clipboard and spread out around the room or they can stay at their desks.  It is all about choices for the students, which is great in my opinion.  The students know that it is up to them to chose where they will work best and they know to go to that spot.  So far, I have noticed that they all tend to sit in the same spot every time.  Since writing workshop has not changed over the year, I think they all got accustom to one spot and decided that they feel most comfortable there. The next great thing my teacher does is writing workshops! It was amazing, we learned about these in class last Tuesday and then I got to participate in them on Friday. My students are writing a persuasive essay about homework and my teacher wanted me to sit down with them and go over their stores. It was great to see their progress from the week before.  I will definitely be using this strategy when I have a class of my own because not only does it help the students, but they seemed to actually enjoy it. She also keeps a stack of writing paper in the same place all year long, so they never have the excuse of not having any paper.

I enjoy the thought of having my future students publish their work.  I think it is a great way for them to see their artwork and let them know that they are actually capable of completing a finished piece of writing.  However, I disagree with setting a date and it becoming mythical proportions. Do not get my wrong, I love to-do lists and love having due dates in advance, so I can pace myself. However, the idea of giving a list of papers to a classroom of 8 or 10 year olds, seems overwhelming for them and for me. For example, “This year, you will publish, and your first publication is due September 15th. Your next, October 7th. Your next, October 23rd. Your next, an informational article, November 28th...” (WW, 252). This is to much information all at once, in my opinion. Maybe inform the students of what you expect and give them tentative dates or just let them know of the first two.  Also, I think publication can be more than just a paper.  I like the idea of incorporating art into the writing workshop. It is more fun for everyone if the students are given a choice of presenting their paper with a poster or drawing.  Of coarse, they do not have to do this, but it is nice giving them the option of expressing their creativity through pictures and not just words. 

Recipe for a Great Writer

Recipe for Conferencing:

Serving: 2, student and teacher

Ingredients:

 Heaps of paper

1 Pencil

1 classroom of open, creative minds

1 student

1 Teacher

¼ cup research

¼ cup decision

¼ cup teaching

¼ cup making a record

Directions:

Preheat the classroom to a comfortable setting.  Get a large mixing bowl. Mix first 3 ingredients until well-blended.  Pour in one student.  This should yield a writing student.  Add in one supportive teacher.  In a smaller bowl, add in ¼ cup of research and mix.  Slowly stir in ¼ cup of decision.  Sprinkle in ¼ cup of teaching.  Immediately whisk in ¼ of making a record.  Combine the two mixing bowls into one conference.   Place in the oven for 2-7 minutes or until writing has improved.  ENJOY your writing student!

Chapters 14, 15, and 17

The Writing Workshop

Chapters 14, 15, 17

2/13/11

I never really experience conferring as a student. The only think I can think of is back in Kindergarten when our teachers reread our sentences out loud to us while they wrote the correct word below. The only thing that helped was for other people to actually be able to understand what I was saying.  Looking back, I feel like conferring would have been helpful. I am terrible with grammar and spelling and I wonder if conferring could have helped that. Obviously it would have helped with my thought process. Even in high school, I never had a conference about a paper. It was always structured the same: student turned in draft, teacher wrote comments and handed it back to student, student corrected mistakes. No learning really took place. It was all just for a grade. I am determined to change that process with my future students.

My mentor teacher does a great job with conferencing. The students write graphic organizers and then meet with her to talk about their organizer and correct mistakes or encourage their good ideas. Then they go write a paper based off of the organizer. After their draft is written, she encourages them to edit and revise before turning it in to be checked. She spends at least a week on each paper.

My favorite sharing time idea was the survey share. This is where they each stand up and read one line from their paper that they are proud of. This is a great was to get everybody to share and to keep the conversation light and entertaining.  The book was right about simple response share, it is boring and it ruins the excitement for the student who shared because everyone already knows what happens in her story before she has corrected it. I never thought about that until this book. I also liked the part where they mentioned learning communities. This is a time “where we learning together and where we support each other in that learning in important ways” (WW, 175).  I liked this because it is important to create a time where students feel comfortable with themselves and with their peers.  That way they are more willing to work and share their thoughts and experiences. 

Chapter seventeen was interesting to me. It provided me with a new way of thinking because I have never realize that 'questions' can be separated into genres: history, action, and process. For example, a history question is, "out of all the writing you've ever done, how is this piece similar or different?" (WW, 214). It makes sense because teachers do ask a lot of questions. I just never thought to actually "think" about the types of questions I'm asking students and why. This chapter also reminded me of another book I've read, Choice Words. It talked about developing students identities. The different genres of questions and the different ways teachers approach these question, help develop identities. We need to be careful in the way we word these questions.  We want to make sure we are encouraging and boosting their motivation, instead of hindering it. Lastly, I liked the idea of writing evaluations because it allows for a student to look back on his work and see if he is improving. I think it will promote motivation because they will probably want to keep improving from the last evaluation. I would have liked this see my improvement as a student.

Chapters 6 and 11

The Writing Workshop

Chapters 6 and 11

2/8/11

Chapter 6 gave a lot of great examples of topics and ideas that students can write about during writers workshop.  I liked reading all of the ideas because the majority of them were new ideas to me. I liked the writing exercises on page 65, “write for ten minutes without stopping.. fill in the phrases, “I remember..”; or having “walking daydreams” where she writes in first person, present tense “I am..” about something she dreams of being.” I also liked that the authors pointed out that if a student is staring off in space, it doesn’t mean that they are not focused.  The student could just be thinking about what to write. Teachers are so quick to think that students are not paying attention. I know I have already told multiple students to focus quietly while walking around the room. 

I also liked the idea of keeping a notebook and writing in it whenever possible. They gave examples of things that a student might try in their notebook. Some of the ideas I liked where: “quotations from music, movies, books, magazines, and so on that interest you; writing about photographs or pictures that interest you; and family stories you know orally.”

A passage I liked was ‘In the writing workshop, we don’t teach students what to write. We teach them how to write. If the content of our lessons isn’t big enough to serve students across many, many different writing topics, then it’s not good writing curriculum” (127, WW). This is a good passage for teachers to refer back to from time to time because it reminds us of the real point of writing workshop. 

WW Chapters 9, 10, 13

The Writing Workshop

Chapters 9, 10, 13

1/31/11

“If I locked my students in my classroom and stuff outside the door, what could they learn about writing without me being in there?” (94, WW). I think this is a great questions for teachers to ask themselves because it is a great way to keep them in check with what they are teaching their students and what is on their walls. I have been in countless classrooms where I feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on the walls. However, when the information on the walls is actually useful, I feel less overwhelmed.  The students learn at an early age to look around the room and use the information they see. So, teachers should stop and check their walls to make sure it is information that is actually useful and not just space fillers.  

Another good point from chapter 9 is about structures and routines.  It is very important for a teacher to start a routine at the beginning of the semester. It helps the students become prepared, organized, and it establishes a time that they know they have to write. If the teacher changes the routine, it becomes less structured which can make the students think that it is not a very important topic. This is not the case. Students need to realize the importance of a stable writing environment early on in life.

Chapter 10 harps on the fact that students need to learn about strategies (ways to do things); techniques (ways to fashion things); questions (ways to think about things); relationships (ways to connect things); and conventions (ways to expect things). Looking back on my years in a class room, I wish my teachers had stressed more about these topics instead of just having me pick a topic, write facts about it, and connect them together. That process was boring to me. I wish I had had more free time to write about things I cared about in a more structured environment involving the five categories listed above. 

I LOVE the concept of “show and tell” in chapter 13 of Writings Workshop.  The section states, “Explanations need to be accompanied by something that “shows” students what we are talking about, something that gives the lesson a concreteness” (147, WW).  This gives students a sense of pride in their work. They will most likely spend more quality time on these assignments because they know they will have the chance to share it with the class. Often times teachers hush students throughout the day. This gives them a time to speak freely and explain a creation they made in their own words. 

Chapters 1 through 5

The Writing Workshop

Chapters 1-5

1/24/11

To be honest, this class intimidated me at first. I do not feel very confident when it comes to teaching writing because grammar and spelling are not my strong points. Therefore, I feel like I will not be very good at teaching this subject. However, after reading these five chapters, my confidence has improved. I realize that writing is not just about grammar and spelling, it is about so much more. I'm excited to continue to read this book and learn more throughout the

semester.

The first part that really caught my attention was on page 4 about the writing process versus writing workshops. Writing workshop to me was always the writing process. I didn’t realize that there was a difference. She explained that doing the writing process is moving the idea down the line through prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and publication.

Now I see that we have been using writing workshop to get things done instead of learning about writing. It needs to be the other way around. The students need to learn about the process of writing and why we right.  They also should be encouraged to learn to reflect on issues and be inspired by their work during this time.

A quote that I really liked was "And the plain truth is, not everyone can be a writer" on page 29. It is a bold statement, but after just two days in the classroom with my teacher, I have heard her say "you have to chose your battles" about a dozen times. This quote reminded me of my mentor teacher because sometimes there will be a student that just is not able to do certain tasks throughout the day.  This quote help me see my teachers point of view. A teacher needs to remember that each student is different in their own way and that we need to approach them as an individuals and not as a whole class. 

I really liked the section about writers versus readers in chapter three. Katie Ray stated, "It's interesting to me that many, many adults will define themselves as "readers" but not as "writers." This made me reflect on my opinions of myself. Now I would have to say that I agree with her. I have never classified myself as a writer, but I do identify myself as a reader. After reading these chapters, I realize that I am a writer. I do not plan on writing for a living, but I do depend on writing everyday. I write lists, reminders, emails, notes, and text messages everyday; therefore, I am essentially a writer. I'm kind of excited about this realization! So far, I have enjoyed reading this book. It is not hard to read and the chapters are short, so it is able to hold my teacher.

Why I blog...

Hey!
My name is Christy and I am a senior at UGA.  This blog is for LLED 4120! I am new to blogging, hence the name, so bare with me.  This semester I will be at Hull-Sanford Elementary in third grade!
Christy