Hello again! I must say I found the reading this week to be much easier and it contained a lot of important information. I think I mentioned this in the previous blog, but I really do like how the author of our textbook, Katie Wood Ray, words things and has written the chapters as if she is really talking to us....it makes it less boring and easier to understand! With that being said, I want to touch on a few different points from the assigned chapters that resonated with me.
I enjoyed the section in Chapter 9 about Structures and Routines because I myself am a very organized person who likes to be on a specific schedule and routine. A daily routine in a school classroom and more specifically, a writing workshop, is very important because it "helps maintain a supportive classroom environment where students are willing to share" (Ray, p. 95) Something that Ray went on to discuss was how the long term goal of structures and routines is for students to be able to work on their own inside the classroom and learn from this routine without the teacher even having to be inside the classroom. This came as surprising to me because typically I never think of children learning inside a classroom without the teacher in there! There were a couple examples of structures and routines that Ray gave that I decided I want to use in my writing workshop one day: 1. a table in the room where students may sign up to teach small groups some strategy or technique they have been using as writers 2. a bulletin board that is changed every two weeks where various groups of students may display pieces of writing I like the first example because it allows the students to teach their peers, and it requires them to have to fully understand strategies/techniques in order to teach them to their classmates. The second example to me is a good way to give students the option of sharing their hard work with others. I know that I personally was proud of writing and projects I completed in school and it was nice to get to show people my finished "masterpiece." I think it allows students to have an audience to write to and maybe they will truly put forth a lot of effort in their writing if they know it will be shown.
Another big point in the reading that stuck out to me was how it is important for teachers of a writing workshop to share their own writing with their students. I liked how it said the teacher is to talk "across" to the students and act as a fellow writer, and not talk "down" to the students. The thing I worry about though is that I do not write much as all as far as a personal journal or notebook unless assigned. I also do not think I'm a very good writer myself. I guess my question is, what on earth will I share with my students in a writing workshop?! Ray says to carry around a notebook and encourage students to do so also, so I guess I should start doing that so I will have writings to share with my future class. She says to share past writings so that you will make students feel comfortable about you being a fellow writer, and you will also have physical examples to show the students. I wish I had had the experience of a writing workshop growing up because then I would have past writings to share, AND I think I would be a much better writer and enjoy it more.
I truly do look forward to implementing a writing workshop in my future classroom because I have already learned so many benefits of it. Although I did not have the experience of writing workshops when I was growing up as a student K-12, at least I will be able to open doors and opportunities for my students and teach them about writing, which will be something that they use for the rest of their lives. After reading about focus lessons this past week, now I am anxious to see if I will be able to write an effective one. I have looked at a few examples online but hope to understand better after class tomorrow! :)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sooooo....what exactly is a Writing Workshop? (chapters 1-5)
Wow, that took me a while to read! I enjoyed the content of the chapters and what the author had to say, but that was overwhelmingly a lot to read! I cannot say I'm looking forward to reading that much this whole semester, along with all the other stuff we have to read for other classes. Oh well, I guess I will just have to get used to it. ;)
Prior to reading these chapters, I had honestly not taken much thought to the concept of a writing workshop in elementary school. I guess this is because I cannot remember having time just to write in those younger grades when I was growing up. Most of the writing we did involved another subject areas that we were instructed to write about. It was interesting to read the author's statements about how this is NOT a good way for writing to be taught in the classroom because writing during other curriculum areas causes content to be the focus instead of the "doing" of writing. This made so much sense to me and I was angry that my elementary school teachers did not give us the opportunities to just write. The author tells us how important a writing workshop is because students are choosing what to write about and they are gaining significant experience as writers. I personally am terrible at coming up with things to write about, and I actually wrote in my notebook for this class that I have never enjoyed free writing. However, I do see the benefits of students deciding themselves what they will write about in the writing workshop. Maybe if I had the opportunity of a daily writing workshop in elementary school, then I would have had more experience with free writing and would enjoy developing my own topic.
"Writing is something you do, not something you know." This quote from the textbook resonated with me because I have never heard writing described that way before. As I mentioned earlier, it was hard to read so much before writing this blog, but I do like how the author wrote this textbook and talks about the writing workshop conversationally because it is easy to read. I must admit that in Chapter 3 when it talks about the misunderstood definition of a writer, I was one of the people who thought this way: "It is someone who writes really well for audiences made up of lots and lots of people." I hate that that is the view that I've had about writing, but I am glad I will be learning more from this course and textbook. Writing workshops seem like they have so many benefits for helping children develop as writers, and I look forward to learning more ways throughout the textbook of how to successfully have a daily writing workshop. :)
Prior to reading these chapters, I had honestly not taken much thought to the concept of a writing workshop in elementary school. I guess this is because I cannot remember having time just to write in those younger grades when I was growing up. Most of the writing we did involved another subject areas that we were instructed to write about. It was interesting to read the author's statements about how this is NOT a good way for writing to be taught in the classroom because writing during other curriculum areas causes content to be the focus instead of the "doing" of writing. This made so much sense to me and I was angry that my elementary school teachers did not give us the opportunities to just write. The author tells us how important a writing workshop is because students are choosing what to write about and they are gaining significant experience as writers. I personally am terrible at coming up with things to write about, and I actually wrote in my notebook for this class that I have never enjoyed free writing. However, I do see the benefits of students deciding themselves what they will write about in the writing workshop. Maybe if I had the opportunity of a daily writing workshop in elementary school, then I would have had more experience with free writing and would enjoy developing my own topic.
"Writing is something you do, not something you know." This quote from the textbook resonated with me because I have never heard writing described that way before. As I mentioned earlier, it was hard to read so much before writing this blog, but I do like how the author wrote this textbook and talks about the writing workshop conversationally because it is easy to read. I must admit that in Chapter 3 when it talks about the misunderstood definition of a writer, I was one of the people who thought this way: "It is someone who writes really well for audiences made up of lots and lots of people." I hate that that is the view that I've had about writing, but I am glad I will be learning more from this course and textbook. Writing workshops seem like they have so many benefits for helping children develop as writers, and I look forward to learning more ways throughout the textbook of how to successfully have a daily writing workshop. :)
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