The Writing Workshop: Response to Ch. 9 & 13

The first thing that caught my attention is that all of the classes we're taking are syncing up. I LOVE it when that happens. It just makes it easier to think deeply about a topic when you've had the opportunity to look at it from plenty of different angles. When you get to take time in multiple classes to look at one important topic, such as curriculum in the classroom, you get the amount of time that you need to really explore it. We've been discussing curriculum's place in the classroom for the past few weeks, and we always seem to come to the same answer: While curriculum undoubtably belongs in the classroom, it makes up only part of what teachers should teach and what learners should learn. Chapter 9 begins to explore the other ways that teachers teach during writing workshops.

The first part of a teacher's job in a writing workshop classroom that lies outside the curriculum is creating a space where good writing work can occur. Students need the time to allow their writing to develop as well as the materials to allow them to explore their writing. I definitely see this component in place in my practicum classroom. While the students are in their "work stations," which are essentially unsupervised centers, they spend one station working on writing of their choice. These students do this without any instruction or guidance from their teacher. She simply provides them with the time and materials that they need to do their work. Also falling under maintaining a good classroom environment, in my opinion, teachers need to make sure that their classroom is a safe space where students can learn from one another.

While the entire writing workshop time is filled with direct instruction of some kind, the only traditional type of direct instruction is during the focus lesson, which takes up a minimal amount of the workshop time. Focus lessons are short to maximize the amount of time that students can spend writing, but they need to use every second of the short amount of time that they are given to draw students in and give them a point to work on in their writing. From what I have read and seen, it is important that the focus lesson is designed to inspire students, and a teacher will need to know his or her students well to achieve this. That being said, even though there will not be much room for student input in the focus lesson, the lessons need to be created with the students in mind. Although the teacher is expected to do most of the talking, focus lessons are still very student-centered.