In Chapter 4, Atwell really takes us step-by-step through the “getting ready” phase of starting a workshop, and I found it completely overwhelming! I think this chapter is definitely one that is meant to be referenced again and again because there is no way I can remember all of these details! It was really great to read about her process though, and to see that there is a great deal of structure surrounding the workshop. It’s not just showing up for class and letting the students read and write aimlessly. I laughed at the part when she mentions how her principal saw her unusual teaching methods and told her, “I’ll come back when you’re teaching” (p. 95). Like I’ve said before, her ideas seem to contradict every other English class I’ve been in as a student, or observed as part of this program. She is molding students to be reflective readers and writers, and that’s not something you witness very often, especially in a middle school classroom. I love, too, that she expects her students to attempt professional publication. How awesome is that? I wish I could have had a teacher like this to make me work at my full potential!
Chapter 7 focused on the interaction between students and teacher in the writing workshop. She informs us that she is in control of the conferences with students – she is the one to move from desk to desk and keeps the conversation within a certain timeframe so that she can address as many young writers as possible. She said something that really stuck out to me: “After-the-fact response from a teacher comes too late” (p. 230). I think, especially in today’s world, students need immediate feedback on their work, so I love that her workshop provides that. The students receive help as they need it, not only once they’ve completed a first draft. Atwell also reminds us that these conferences aren’t for revisions, but rather, to help the students think about their writing and where they want it to say. I also found it interesting that she doesn’t seem to teach a particular grammar skill to the class at once; instead, she helps each writer focus on the conventions that he/she is struggling with. The individualized instruction in her classroom seems to be amazing!
For me, these chapters left me with no questions. She is so detailed in her writing, even supplying appendixes for us to reference, that I can’t even come up with one question. Maybe I’m just still overwhelmed right now by all the information! I do know that I want to start looking at the comprehensive curriculum for EBR and start getting ideas of how to incorporate her workshop ideas into a high school English classroom here. Maybe if I start planning now, I’ll be able to implement it by the time I start teaching!
Hi! I enjoyed reading Chapter 10 in which Atwell explains how she teaches her students to write with feeling, with a purpose, etc. Atwell does this not by acting as a teacher that orders students how to this and how to do that, but by showing her students her writing process and all the mistakes and discoveries that occur along that process. I think this is a very successful way of teaching because collaboration beats out the traditional style of teaching: “Teacher stands and teach, students sit and listen (not learn).” Students, including I, believe that good writers write effortlessly and beautifully, even on first drafts. This is what intimidates them when writing for a writing teacher, who all would assume to be a good writer (I hope! LOL). Just as Atwell said, “…his writing process was ordinary hard work. I never saw anything come to Murray on the wings of a dove, and I found this very encouraging.” The students would also be very encouraged when they witness the trials of their teacher’s writing process and share the tribulations of her writing piece after collaborating together to make it a better writing work. Also, I admire Atwell’s students, and will admire my own, for opening teachers’ eyes on what they (teachers) unconsciously do as writers, and teachers. =) For example, Atwell has explained the nine techniques in writing a narrative, on pgs 333-34. That was one of my favorite parts of the chapter! Overall, I love how Atwell supplies us with juicy details of teaching and learning as a teacher in her classroom, which she does throughout her whole book.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Kristen didn’t have a question in her previous blog for me to answer! =/