Important Things to me...

Ok, so Wow, lot’s of information in these three chapters that we read for this week. I’m kind of unsure of where to start, so I’ll just dive in and see what comes to me. Most of what I found are good teaching strategies (to me) or things that I noticed throughout the book that I feel are pretty important when it comes to writer’s workshop.

                One thing that I have noticed throughout the readings over the past two weeks (and from what we have discussed in class) is letting our students get to know us (teachers) as writers. I kind of really like this idea. I think it is a great way to allow students to see that we were once in their shoes—and still are. We still struggle with coming up with things to write, we still have “writer’s block”, and we are still writing. I think that is important for students to see. I remember thinking when I was little that part of the reason my teachers became teachers was because they were one of those people that was good at everything. They never had “writer’s block”, they always made good grades, and they always knew just what to write, and how to perfectly execute it. How wrong I was. Over and over again I see in the readings that by bringing our writer’s notebook(s) to our classrooms it will show students our struggles and successes with writing. I really love that. It lets students get to know us better—it kind of humanizes us a little bit to our students. If they see how we have struggled or succeeded I think it will allow students to feel more confident about their successes and their struggles with writing too! I think this is a great reference tool for our students and ourselves. I definitely plan on using this in my classroom. It’s just another resource we teachers can have!

                A second thing I liked about this week’s readings, (I’ve also read it elsewhere in the book) that we, as teachers, need to pay attention to the sound of our voices during our lessons. Mainly it is talking about focus lessons here but I think this could go along with most other subject areas as well. But, for the sake of space, I will limit my ramblings to just focus lessons. I really think that paying attention to our classroom community as writers is a great and beneficial things. Students do not like to be talked “down” too. Personally, I’d rather have a conversation with a student about their writing and what they are experiencing with their writing then have a conversation where I am just talking “at” the student and what they should be writing about. I think that contradicts the purpose of writer’s workshop. We want students to see themselves as writers. I want to go on a “writing journey” with my students. During writer’s workshop, I want to be able to sit down and discuss with my students what our “focus” lesson will be on for that day. By doing this, I think my students will feel respected; they would be more willing to pay attention and participate in the focus lesson and in their independent writing afterwards. I feel like they would care about what they write more than if I just stood up there and talked at my students. I think the book worded it well, “We need to listen to the sound of our voices in our lessons. We want to make sure that our tone sounds as if we are talking to other writers, not to children…” (The Writing Workshop: Working through the Hard Parts (And They’re All Hard Parts),p. 146).

                One last thing that I will discuss about the readings was the strategies (was to do things). I enjoyed reading about the “does this make sense?” part. It made sense. Why would you ask someone if what you wrote made sense to them? Most of the time, they will say yes, but they might not get the ‘sense’ that you want them to get. In other words, they might not understand what you were trying to portray through your writing. A better way would be to ask the person to read your writing, and then have them give an oral retelling of your writing. By doing this, you can check their comprehension of your writing to see if the audience will get what you want them to get out of it. I thought this strategy was awesome! Most of the time I just ask “does this make sense?” and most of the time the person says yes. Now that I read this, it seems like common sense to ask someone to retell your writing back to you as they read it, that way you can make sure you are covering all the ground in your writing that you want to cover. I think this is pretty cool, and is definitely a ‘strategy’ that I want to use in my classroom! J

Dog Days are Over

Ok, so maybe it's the fact that college is pretty much finished for me, besides this semester (I don't count the upcoming fall semester because it's student teaching), but I am really stoked about things. I'm ready for summer and I'm ready to go back home and see my family! I'm super stoked about all my friends getting married soon! :) Anyway, I just wanted to write this because I just felt great and I wanted to share it :)

Harbor Town, Hilton Head, South Carolina

Introduction to Writer's Workshop

        Reading about writer’s workshop was actually pretty informative and interesting. Based on the book’s description of a writer’s workshop, I had never actually participated in one (besides the first day we had class). I think it’s pretty safe to say that in my school we were taught the writing process rather than the art of actual writing. If we had been given a writer’s workshop as the book describes it, I think me, as well as my former classmates, would have enjoyed writing a whole lot more. I remember thinking of writing as a boring job rather than something that could ever be considered an enjoyable activity. It was not until I got older (probably around college) that I appreciated writing more, but even then it was only writing for myself that I enjoyed doing. This kind of goes along with the book saying that student choice is really important when it comes to writing. I remember reading that part and highlighting the heck out of it. We hear a lot in our classes about student choice and how to incorporate students’ interests in the lesson plan activities and I think this is a good way to do it. I mean, the students should have the opportunity to write about whatever interests them, that way, they are more inclined to produce quality writing. I know that when I write for myself or about something that interests me, my writing quality is a lot better. I’m also more proud of what I write for myself than, say, a essay for class or something.

        While reading about writer’s workshop, there were a couple of things that surprised me and kind of made me nervous as well. While I think it is great to have a large chunk of time devoted to writing I am concerned with how much time that actually is. With so much focus on standardized tests in our schools, do we have time in the week to set aside 2 ½ hours completely devoted to writing? I really like to think that we can make the time. There has to be a way we can teach our students everything that we are supposed to cover in a day or week and still have time laid aside for them to produce something for themselves that they actually care about. There has got to be a way that we can do this. Which, kind of, leads me to the question of, how often are we supposed to have a writer’s workshop? Every day? Two times a week? Three times a week? Once a week? The book mentioned that once a week was probably not enough—and I agree with that, but how often are we supposed to have one? I think if I knew an approximation then I would better see how I could fit a true writer’s workshop into my future classroom (which I totally want to do).

        A second thing that I was curious about was how to introduce a writer’s workshop? While reading I kept thinking how great all of this sounded and how I would really like to have this in my classroom but I couldn’t think of how to start it. I completely agree with the book when it states that our students are going to come into our classroom not knowing how to participate in a true writer’s workshop (unless their teacher the year before did it, which would be fantastic J ). How do we teach/show our students how do to this? I’m kind of scared to just tell them what I hope for them to do and have a focus lesson on something and then just let them go. Also, what age group does a writer’s workshop actually start? I was in a Kindergarten classroom last semester and they had “writer’s workshop” but it was more like getting down the basics of how to write (capital letters, moving from L to R—concepts about print type of stuff). Is that still concerned a writer’s workshop? Or is a writer’s workshop more for older students (3-5)? How can we modify a writer’s workshop to fit younger grades that might not be able to focus for large chunks of time on writing?

First attempt!

Ok, so this is my first real attempt at blogging. We'll see how it goes...I'm kinda excited in a way to be a blogger (is that what I am now??) cause I've never done this before, but it's not so bad so far :) Anyway, it's a new year and I'm pretty stoked about it! I'm not sure what will happen but I always try to enter each new year with a good, positive attitude about the things to come :) Anyway, I suppose that's it for now! :)