The Workshop

"If it is a workshop, then all kinds of things need to be in that "shop" that students can work with as they go about their writing" (Ray, 2001, p. 98).

What I particularly love about the idea of a writing workshop is that it redefines what it means to teach. Too often, individuals often believe that if a teacher is not standing at the front of the class delivering a message or lecture to students, then teaching is not occurring. However, this is not the case and the writing workshop is a prime example of this fact. In writing workshop, direct instruction for the whole class only occurs for about five to ten minutes and yet, teaching still continues to occur once this direct instruction has ended as students gain experience from writing every single day. Many might interpret this to mean that during writing workshop, the teacher can just sit in the corner and disregard what his or her students are doing. Once again, however, this is not teaching. As Ray and Laminack state, the teacher's role during this time should be to help create and enforce daily routines and to constantly sustain a classroom community which is supportive and accepting in which students would feel willing and comfortable to share their pieces. I think I am drawn to the concept of writing workshop because I believe that the student-teacher dynamic which characterizes the workshop should be one that characterizes the teaching and learning which should occur in the classroom the entire day everyday. Just as in writing workshop, I feel that students should be in charge and be active in their own learning and investigations for all eight hours of the day, no matter what subject, and teachers should teach through guiding students through these investigations and through setting up activities which will let students learn through engagement. The classroom should be a workshop in which students should be the ones in charge of the products which they work on and produce.

One issue in which I have an interest in is in relation to conferences. Ray and Laminack contend that the teacher should be conferring with students as students move on to their independent writing work for the day. But, I do not know whether or not I would want to hold conferences during this time of independent writing in fear of such conferences distracting or disturbing other writers. Because I would want to hold conferences at some point with my students, would there be any other possible time which I could use to hold such conferences during the day or during writing workshop?

Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.    

Just Writing

As Ray and Laminack state in the text, I believe that daily including writing workshop into the classroom is essential in that it gives students space in their day to just write. Being given such an opportunity will allow students to fall in love with writing and to see that writing is not just a means to accomplish tasks or assignments but also a means for both enriching and maintaining their lives. I feel that, similar to reading, students must constantly be given opportunities to explore and experience writing on a personal level so that they may be fostered into lifelong writers. Through a writing workshop, students will be able to see that writing can be a very individual, very valuable practice. When I was an elementary school student, from kindergarten to third grade, I loved writing and I loved the idea of being a writer. This was due in large part to the fact that my elementary school teachers implemented writing instruction in the form of writing workshops where the focus was on the students as writers as opposed to just the writing process.  But, once I entered the fourth grade, all my teachers began placing the focus on the process and pieces of writing as opposed to the students as writers. As such, I began to see writing as just a series of tedious steps and I eventually began to feel apathetic towards writing and the writing process. I do not want any of my future students to ever feel indifference or hatred towards writing because I did not help to foster or encourage their identities as writers.  

Though I am not entirely sure how I may want to execute the writing workshop in my future classroom, I am particularly intrigued by the idea of utilizing genre studies and having students write pieces in these genres. Not only might such an activity allow students to better understand what characteristics typify each genre through actually writing pieces for each genre, but presenting such tasks would also give students a chance to explore their own specific interests through writing and through the workshop. While I am quite sure that I want to use genre studies as part of my writing workshop in my future classroom and I know that I will allow students to decide what they personally want to write about for each genre, I am curious as to how I would exactly conduct such genre studies.

The following statement really caught my eye while I was reading:

Writers need to mind their spelling, and their subject-verb agreement, and all those other conventions because certain audiences in the world expect them to, and for their writing to have power with those audiences, it should be conventional. (Ray, 2001, p. 38)

I would definitely use this quote in my future classroom and would possibly post this quote on a wall in my future classroom. Too often students are told that they need to learn to spell correctly and that they must use correct grammar and syntax but they are never told why it is essential that they attain and apply such knowledge in their writing. As such, students frequently do not want or do not care about learning about such items because they do not see any point. For this very reason, I am drawn to this quote. It beautifully articulates why writers need to mind such items and conventions in a way that would make sense to students and motivate students.

Ray, K.W. with Laminack, L.L. (2001). The writing workshop: Working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.