Chapter 7, 8 and 19

There are a few things I enjoyed reading about in this weeks readings.  In Chapter 7, Katie Wood Ray talked distractions in the workshop and how you need to plan ahead in order to solve them quickly.  I liked how she talked about teachers not allowing students to talk during writers workshop, and I have since this many times in the classroom.  Students should be allowed to talk as long as they are not screaming to each other across the room.  Talking to your peers about their work and getting feedback is a great way for students to improve their writing and sitting in their seats quietly is not going to benefit them. 

I also liked how she talked about spaces for students to go.  Too many times are students forced to sit at their desks to read, write, or do any other types of activities. To me that is not fair to students and I can see how some might get distracted.  I know for myself i like to curl up in a chair when I read or write, or lay down on the floor.  I do not like having to sit at an uncomfortable desk, I have trouble concentrating and I'm sure many students do as well.  I like the idea of "quiet spaces" for students who do not like noise around them.  I also never thought of allowing students to rotate spaces so that students aren't fighting for one.  I know in the first grade classroom I'm in now the student of the week gets a special chair to sit in during carpet time, and that way every student will  get a turn.

I liked the chapter on publications, I think this is a great way for students to see that their work is important.  I know that deadlines are sometimes scary for students, but having deadlines in the classroom will help students work towards their finished product.  By that deadline they will have a finished piece of work to share with their classmates, family, and peers.  I know for my classroom I am interested in creating a monthly newsletter.  At the beginning of the year the class will come up with the name for their newspaper and the content of it.  Every month students will get a chance to do something different (Write a story, make a comic, do a book review) anything that they would like to do and are able to come up with it themselves.  Each month they will have come together to publish their very own newspaper to bring home.  I think this is a different take on writers workshop, my only question is figuring out how to make sure students are still choosing what they want to write about but still having the different components of a newspaper.

Chapters 14, 15 and 17

I liked the chapter about conferencing with students, as I would never have thought about doing that during writing workshop.  Instead I would have maybe walked around and glanced at student's work and wait for them to raise their hands for help.  I liked how Katie Wood Ray talk about the four parts of conferencing: research, decide, teach, make a record.  It is a way to figure out what each student is succeeding at and what they are struggling with.  From there the teacher can help the student with what they are struggling with and help them become better writers. This also helps make sure that you are having an equal time with all the students in the class instead of just spending the most time with a certain couple of students.  The problem I am worried about is that some students are going to need more help than others so wouldn't they need conferences more often? 

I really like shared reading in the classroom, I think it is a great way for students to share with each other what they have written and helped them become more comfortable talking in front of an audience.  There are four kinds of sharing: simple response share, survey share, focused share, and student-as-teacher share.  The students in the first grade classroom I observe in do simple response share.  They will sit in a circle and read their writing and talk about things they can improve on for their final copy.  The teacher will ask them questions if they get stuck but she tries to make it a student led activity.  Lately however I have seen that the students have been doing more centers instead of the writing workshop that they were doing when I first started my observations.  The teacher had told me she was getting back on track from the snow days and therefore was implementing the centers.  The students still do some writing workshop however they do not share with each other anymore, at least during the days I am in the classroom.