In Chapter 4, Atwell addresses the underlying methods of how to create a writing workshop in her classroom in terms of space, time, resources, control, etc. In the very beginning, she explained how Donald Graves noted her organization as key to her being a good writing teacher. At first, I’ve always associated organization with neatness. ALWAYS. I was taken aback when I realized that Graves’ term of organization means “discovering what writers and readers need and providing plenty of it in a predictable setting.” Now that’s an area I’ll need to work on. Getting neat is the fun part for me; getting ready is the part I dread the most possibly because I feel that I don’t have the skills or experience yet to predict what I need to prepare myself for. In the next couple of pages in Chapter 4, I noted Atwell’s explanation that “growth in writing is slow. “ I always thought that writing a lot makes you a noticeably better writer in each paper you write (with the exception of me). I made myself to be an outcast in my writing activities because each time I wrote, and write still, there was always a specific basic writing tool or skill that I needed to master. Atwell’s book targets current and prospective teachers who want to be successful with their students; nevertheless it also targets me as a writer (and reader) by making me aware of my personal issues. Further along in the chapter, I have posed several questions, which include:
-p.97 Option 1, the student does an hour’s worth of writing as homework at his own discretion. How does Atwell know to trust that her students are doing that? Does she assign homework assignments that she predicts will take one hour to complete?
-p.101, What is a general statement for her objection to series novels? I read Christopher Pike’s The Last Vampire (every single episode) and loved it. Yes, I was disappointed when I read the very last one because it just doesn’t produce the same ending effect as a complete novel. Regardless, I was addicted to that series.
-And last, p. 104, do teachers ever complain about classroom space? I’m curious to know because of how Atwell described her classroom or shall I say, writing-reading workshop, creativity. While it all sounds so creative and fun, I’m left thinking will I have room for my students to get around each other, their resources, and have personal space? For instance, Atwell said her solution to silencing the students’ conferences was to set up a space for each conference in separate areas of the room. How is that possible? Is it possible in a regular classroom or is it just possible in her own school, the Center for Teaching and Learning?
Andrea =)
Well, I did some digging and I think I found the answer to some of your questions! Regarding the first one, apparently Atwell confers with each of her students on Thursday and the students tell her what writing they will be working on over the weekend. On Mondays, she checks to see if they completed their goal or not. That’s probably the best way to make certain that they are staying on task. I like that the students get to choose what they will work on for homework.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Atwell’s dislike for serial novels, I think that she doesn’t think they are the best literature that her students could be reading. Additionally, I don’t think she likes the idea of a student getting stuck in a series, only reading one author and being exposed to the same characters time and time again.
I like the question about classroom space, and I also wonder how we will manage to make room for everything. The classroom I’m currently observing in is not very large; in fact, I don’t think its intended use is a classroom. It’s a room off to the side of the gym with access to the restrooms in it! I think it must have been a meeting room or something. And last semester, the class I was observing was in a T-building. There’s not much space. I’m betting that since Atwell created her own school, she probably made the classrooms with adequate space. Even still, I think her conference areas must be pretty small, and she only has 2 to 3 of them. Maybe you could just designate a corner or two of the room for conferences and remind the students to use their inside voices.
In the next chapter we read, Ch. 10, we move away from assessment and the details of the workshop, into more about how she teaches. In this chapter, Atwell focuses on how she teaches writing; more specifically, she talks about how she learned to push beyond just modeling for her students and move into demonstrating the writing process to them. I think that is a pretty incredible thing to do. I mean, my writing process can be all over the place at times so I couldn’t imagine trying to teach how I write. But, at the same time, I think that is Atwell’s point. She wants her students to see how real writers write. They don’t need to read about some formula for writing, but they need to see how they can deal with the real problems that can occur when you try to write something.
I also like that she incorporates the idea of imitation into her workshop. As she demonstrates her writing, sometimes students will “copy” her style. This stands out to me because last semester in my composition theory class we learned about imitation as a tool for learning to write better. Apparently it doesn’t really exist much today (probably because of all the plagiarism issues) but students used to spend time actually imitating a certain writer’s style. In doing this, they were exposed to so many different genres, techniques, and styles, and they actually got to compose their imitations of the works. It’s supposed to be really useful for learning how to write better. So, my point is, I think it’s great that she allows her students to borrow her style in their own writing.
The final thing I’ll say concerns Atwell’s use of real-life writing in her demonstrations. She says, “Everything I wrote in front of my kids was true, it all mattered to me in my life, and none of it was an exercise done for their benefit. Because of that, I’m convinced, it benefited them enormously” (p. 368). It’s just so interesting to me that she doesn’t really use structured lesson plans; instead she uses what is relevant in her life at the time. I agree with her that the students probably learn more from that than doing some worksheet about writing. I think that being part of something that really matters means so much more to students.