Jigsawing the Writing Workshop

Cunningham, P. & Allington, R. (2007). Classrooms that work: They can all read and write. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Fletcher, R. & Portalupi, J. (2001). Writing workshop: The essential guide. Portsmouth: Heinemann.


Now this is more like it.

I'll admit, I was not exactly in the best mindset when it came to breaking down the readings from yesterday. Perhaps I was a little hasty in assuming the researchers' stance on homework was automatically questionable if it was lumped in with all the positive qualities about effective schools. But you seemed to understand that I was not disagreeing with the potential for homework to be effective when it is used as an organic extension of the learning taking place in the classroom, not purely for the sake of keeping the students occupied.

But chapters 4-5 of Writing Workshop gave me more of what I needed to see: actual examples of how to use these techniques in the classroom. Granted, it still didn't branch out and offer up potential roadblocks:

- What if students need more time to decide what they want to write about (p. 38)?
- What if it's clear students are not struggling for ideas, but merely don't want to write? How can we motivate them to action?
- Can sharing time work as well when there isn't room in your classroom for a true "meeting area" (i.e., it's all surrounded by rows and rows of desks) (p. 41)?
- Should writing still be shared by students if they prefer that other students read it aloud for them (p. 43)?
- What happens to the familiar ritual of writing workshop when extracurricular activities and assemblies interrupt the flow of class on a daily/weekly basis (p. 43)?
- Is the timeline meant only as a suggestion, or is the implication that "effective" writing conferences should have students make timelines? Isn't this imposing upon students one specific prewriting activity instead of letting students choose for themselves what strategy works best for them (p. 55)?
- What happens when students tell you they can't find any problems with their drafts no matter how often you prompt them (p. 57)?

That said, I found these chapters more helpful because I could envision the format of my writing workshop from last year and start thinking of ways to implement these ideas to improve it. I know I need to expand the focus of my mini-lessons; last year I made them too much about the form and technique of their writing. That's good in moderation, but it shouldn't dominate the lessons to the extent that mine did. It's time to make it more about what the students can produce with guided writing prompts.

Obviously, time to write should take up most of the class time; I suppose the main obstacle is how much time. I think I need to define it at clearly as possible and as early as possible in the year, but it wouldn't hurt to be upfront about the changing nature of a workshop. Inevitably, things will come up or won't go according to plan, so they should be prepared for the amount of writing time to change (but I will try my best to let them write for much of the class).

Share time...I had my students share both their daily warm-up journal entries and rough/final drafts last year. Many of them were uncomfortable with the idea; I may end up dropping the mandatory aspect of sharing journals; they need to become more personal for students. If I make it clear that I wrote my own journal for me, that no one critiqued or judged me on what I wrote, that philosophy should be modeled for their own sake as writers.

I empathized greatly with the "I can't do it!" claim that kicked off chapter 13 of CTW. That was my students' most often-used excuse for not doing their work or being tardy or inconsistent with their efforts - in other words, failing to perform at a high level. Teaching for improvement and growth is backwards to most every teaching strategy I've seen and experienced as a student (and sadly, I've even been guilty of doing it myself) - viewing mistakes as flaws rather than teaching points. Students should feel free to make mistakes - moreover, they should feel they have the freedom to learn from them for the practical purpose of growing themselves, not so they can feel inferior to their classmates or view their work as incompetent. If we foster an attitude of mistakes as competitive benchmarks (i.e., more mistakes means you're not as good as so-and-so, less mistakes means you're top of the heap), we remove all the joy from learning. We don't learn to avoid mistakes - we make mistakes TO learn! To strive for perfection is nothing more than an exercise in futility, and it will inevitably lead to frustration on the part of the teacher and disdain from the students.