After reading chapter seven in Ray’s book, I realized how crucial preparing for writing workshop is for the teacher and students. Time and planning goes into everything, all lessons, all activities, and even writer’s workshop. I found the discussions about space in the classroom for the focus lessons and independent writing time to be most helpful. Based on my past experiences in the classroom, I have never seen a teacher allow students to spread out and find a space to work that works best for them. I feel that allowing students to work all around the classroom allows them to feel comfortable and keeps them from being distracted by others or distracting others themselves. I especially liked the idea of having quiet zones throughout the classroom for students who work well in a quiet place. I know I get distracted very easily by listening to conversations, talking, etc.. Therefore, a quiet zone would be helpful for me and I know for some students in order to be as productive as they can be!
As I read chapter seven, I found one comment that I was not sure how to take. Ray stated that when students talk too much, “they will be penalized in evaluation for not producing enough in writing workshop” (p. 77). I realize that students can become distracted talking with others, however, there may be an underlying reason why the student isn’t “getting enough done.” Should there by a specified amount of writing that should be produced in a given workshop? I believe that some students may begin talking because they are trying to get ideas about what to write; they need help, or may need time to think about how to start a paper or add in different aspects of writing that they are learning about. This is when I believe the teacher needs to be paying attention to students; maybe the majority of this could be brought up during conferencing.
In Ray’s chapter eight, at first I was not sure I liked the term she used “do writers do.” However as I read the chapter I learned what she meant and I agree that students should choose their topics, their actions during writing workshop, how they develop their writing, and how they write. Students can learn and explore writing while they “do what writers do.” Out of this chapter, my only concern/question is when children are able to freely write on the topic and content of their choice; there will be children in your career that may write about inappropriate things for school. Do you allow this? If and when do you tell children they cannot write about something they chose?
Lastly, publishing in writer’s workshop is extremely beneficial. Based on Ray’s chapter nineteen and my experience in the classroom, publishing gives students a feeling of accomplishment. They can see their writing as art; a piece they have worked on and worked on drafting and revising. In my field experience classroom, students just published their own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Their work was displayed in the hallway and my mentor teacher emailed all the teachers in the school and asked them to stop by, read, and comment on the student’s stories. Students had opportunities to read what others had written and they loved it! I believe that their excitement for the “end product” drives them to write and want to publish their writing often or as often as they can.
Ray, K. (2001). The writing workshop: working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.
I like how you push back on Ray a bit with her presumptions about talking. You are smart to stand back and ask questions about why something might be happening instead of just penalizing them. Conferencing through a situation like this makes a lot of sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've seen some good publishing experiences. It takes a lot of stamina to get to the end of the process, but knowing that there is an audience waiting is so motivating.
As for difficult topics...well, it is inevitable that these will come up. You will learn things about students that will surprise you, perhaps worry you. There may occasionally be a situation where, by law, you have to contact a counselor, etc. In many cases (I guess it really depends on the topic) you can just support them through it, and ask classmates to support them too. And with certain topics, I guess I would also stand back a bit and ask myself what might be going on. It does depend on the topic. This is also a time where it is good to have a network of trusted mentors and teachers to lean on for advice.