Surprisingly Helpful

Like most people, I do not enjoy textbook reading.  Even if it is on a subject I'm interested in and genuinely want to know more about, I can't get over the fact that I'm reading a textbook.  Usually  I skip all extra boxes or articles or examples.  However, I did look at some of the "Quick Tip" boxes in this chapter and found them surprisingly helpful.  Not only do they give ideas of what to do for openers or mini-lessons, but there are also which texts to use with these activities.  In addition this chapter includes writing topics, genres to cover and an outline for teacher conferencing.  Usually, I find examples like this to be vague and uninteresting but I actually could see myself using some of these. 

b&b: writing workshops

I think this chapter gives a lot of good ideas and advice for implementing a Writing Workshop into the classroom. Maybe because I often get writer's block, I enjoyed the amount of suggestions it gives for getting writers started. Having the teacher demonstrate their own list of "writing territories" is a good example. Amy did this with us in class when we made our lists of significant places. It may help spark a memory or idea for students that would not have considered writing on that particular topic. It opens up the freedom to write about anything...they can be as open as they want. Coming up with a "library of provocative prompts" is another way to get students thinking about something a little deeper and more introspectively. Maybe no one else has asked them questions like "What is one thing you would like to change about your life if you could?" I think we would find that behind the exterior they present most of the time, high schoolers have some interesting and surprising answers to these kinds of questions.

I'm glad that this chapter spent quite a bit of time discussing conferences. Just because I did peer conferencing in high school, I kind of assumed most people have or know how. The chart on page 57 presents key components of a well-written paper that would be a good guideline for students to follow while analyzing each other's papers. Spending time on the mini-lessons the author suggests would also be very useful. How are students supposed to look for a skill in someone's paper when they can't do it themselves? So, I think covering these kinds of topics beforehand and throughout the writing process would benefit them over time. Focusing on revision and not necessarily editing was another good point. I find it easier sometimes to check a paper for misspelled words and grammatical mistakes than to look at how it's working as an entire piece. I am just curious as to how teachers set up a timeline for a writing workshop. How much time should be spent and how often should the different kinds of conferencing take place?

Chapter Three of B&B

I liked this chapter of B&B because it was very practical; if you wanted to set up a writing workshop in your classroom, this is pretty much a step-by-step approach. One thing I seemed to do, however, while reading, was imagine how a writer's workshop would take place in my field. And I am not sure that's possible. I suppose teachers who are going to use workshops have to set their rooms up this way from the beginning of the year - and set up their behavior management accordingly too. My field students can barely stay on-task enough to type papers in the Media Center, much less critique each other's work. But this is a little off-topic...these are thoughts for my field journal.

I feel like students probably need a LOT of direction for something like writing or peer conferences. In high school, I think when we had to share work, most pairs ended up with really vague "praise" (Wow, that was good. You are a good writer.) or really unhelpful criticism. I would like to see a writer's workshop in action. In our TDP class, when we use elements of workshops, they work well, but everyone in our class - or most people, anyway - are self-possessed enough to really work, and to do quality work, not just keep busy. However, can most high school students do this? I assume writer's workshops are to be used with any class, not only upper-level or honors classes, but at the same time, I seem to see really struggling writers getting lost in a writer's workshop. Students in my field who have trouble writing a complete sentence with a subject and a verb seem like they would be a little lost in the hubub of such a workshop.

I really like the list of "Modes and Genres in Writing Workshops." Some of them are really interesting and creative: the billboard, bumper sticker, and letters to past and future people would be really fun to work on. This would hold my attention a lot better than simply being assigned a research paper or report.

Reading & Writing Workshop

In response to Bethany's question...yes, you can have both. For five years, we had a Reading/Writing Workshop that inspired kids to not only read but write and also write about their reading. It is a glorious combination when done correctly!

Decisions, decisions...

OK, just like the reader's workshop, I would LOVE to structure my classroom as a writer's workshop.  (Can one do both?  A question to save for later).  So, just like with the reader's workshop, how would you grade students?  Would it be OK if one student was cranking out paper after paper, while another spent all semester (or year) on just a few really good essays?  Would I even have time to keep up with everyone's projects?  I feel like it could take me a whole week to go through and do some good conferencing, so by the time it came around again, they could be so far off from where they were the last time we talked.  I remember in high school I had a teacher for creative writing that tried a workshop-style kind of set up, but it seemed a lot more structured than what Blasingame and Bushman suggest.  The semester was devoted to writing a short story for four genres:  romance, mystery, science-fiction, and action.  She conferenced with us and everything, but all I remember about the class was hating it.  I didn't like any one of the genres we had to do, and I didn't really feel like I had creative freedom.  How do I avoid this kind of workshop.  And, back to the question above, how would one go about creating a reader and writer workshop classroom?  Is both possible, or is it doing too much?

After the End Response to my Memoir

For anyone who is reading this today, I read the chapters from ATE and a lot of the exercises was for partners or groups. So I thought, "Hey, we have a blog, that works." My memoir is here. I hope that works. Anyways, the exercise I would like you guys to try is a spinoff found on page 17. Please either write some questions for things you would like to know more about, or ask some questions about my end so I can keep going. I'll tell you know, my ending sucks. I got kind of lost with how I should keep going, and your questions would be a great help! Thanks!

Introduction in two ways

When I taught, I used two introductions: one is verbal; the other is written. Always on the first class, I introduced myself first informally and let students themselves. I encouraged them to talk about their favorite food, books, movies, songs and their interests so that I constantly try to connect their interests with mine or with class curriculum or others. But it's not easy to remember students' introduction at one time so I asked them to write their introduction as the first assignment: they can put their photos or draw or glue whatever they like to show their interest area. During the semester, I keep reading those while thinking how to incorporate student's interests into class curriculum somehow. And I adjust my curriculum according to it. It was joyful to see some quiet students' shining eyes when I used their favorite ideas and artifacts for the class. It also takes time to understand students fully throughout the semester.