Avoiding Distractions, Anxiety, and Predictable Problems

To begin with, I absolutely loved the chapter concerning managing predictable distractions that are sure to arise in the writing workshop. This is due to the fact that, while I have gradually taken more and more of a fancy to the idea of writing workshop as I have learned about it each week, one reoccurring concern which I have had is this: How do I still manage the classroom during writing workshop so as to prevent off task behaviors? This chapter dealt with exactly that and as such, I was grateful for the chance to be able to read about some suggestions which I can use in the future. I found the section concerning space to be particularly useful. Within this section, I was specifically drawn by the authors' suggestion to use a rotating system which dictates who can utilize the coveted spots of the sofa, chairs, or bean bags. This is because, within my field experience classroom, I have seen my students constantly fight over who can use the pillow, sit on the bean bag, etc. and as a result, to avoid this conflict, my mentor teacher simply does not allow anyone to take such items from the reading corner and bring them to the carpet. I find this such a shame since the entire point of having these items is so that the students can use them and feel more comfortable during instruction.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter, while I was reading, I began to wonder about a number of things:

1. While I agree that a strong teaching presence is a key component to writing workshop management, I wonder if there is any other way to establish a strong teaching presence besides just circulating around the room and conferring with individual writers at their seats.

2. So as to accommodate the students who will want more quiet than others during their independent writing time, how many quiet zones should you designate within the classroom?

Whereas I found the chapter concerning managing predictable distractions to be very informative and helpful, I found the chapter concerning understanding the slightly out-of-hand feeling in the workshop to be overwhelming. Even though the chapter helped me to understand why I might feel anxious and intimidated during the workshop, I feel that the authors made this "slightly out-of-hand feeling" seem very extreme and almost unmanageable through their choice of description-more extreme then I think it will actually be in the classroom on most days.

Suggestions from this week's readings which I plan to use in my future classroom:
1. Have a system for where students sit.
2. Have some designated quiet zones through out the room.
3. Put some quiet music on or dim the lights to signal to students that the independent writing time is coming to a close.
4. Make a number of different writing tools, paper, and writing support available and easily accessible to the students.
5. Provide students with a school-year calender with publication dates marked on it on the first day which you introduce 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.