Writer's Workshop: Space, Challenging, Publishing..

When discussing writer’s workshop, there are many factors that get discussed such as what to write and how to facilitate writing. However, the actual make up of the classroom is something that needs to be discussed too!

            I think it is very important to have a classroom that is set up to help students. One thing that stuck out in the chapter was the fact that the teacher needs to be interacting with students all over the classroom. Sometimes I have seen that teachers take on the role of the typical teacher that sits at her desk and interacts with students from one place. However, I really enjoyed the idea of the teacher walking around and having meetings with individual students at their desks or where they are in the classroom. This way, the teacher takes on the role of being active in the workshop, not just sitting back watching the students work.

            Another idea that I really liked was the fact that the classroom needs to be utilized when doing writer’s workshop. By this, I envisioned my future classroom having station type places where students could move around the classroom in order to gain the most out of writing time. A lot that I have seen is done by students sitting at their desks not talking. I believe that this does not facilitate good writing because students need to be interacting with each other, conferencing and gaining ideas from each other. By having a quiet time place as well, students can get away from the talking and be by themselves.

            Writing workshops are challenging. I definitely agree. There are many factors that create a positive writer’s workshop, and I believe that creating this positive feeling takes a while to create and a lot of work and effort by the teacher, and the students. I am excited to work hard and see my hard work pay off when my students create a piece of work that they are proud of and want to present.

            Publishing is a topic that I never really visited when I was in school. I would work on one piece of writing, fix a little while I was going through, but I would just say I was finished. I never really understood going back through and editing and revising. However, I now see the importance of this, and I now see that I need to help students see the importance from the beginning of the school year. By having students publish many pieces, I am assisting the students in learning the best way of how to publish and be proud of their work. Sharing their published pieces will also assist in their development of becoming writers and will increase their motivation and self-confidence.