I used workshops and I used Interactive Notebooks with my classes. Last year I used the hard back comp book (just 1) and didn't like it. This year (until I switched positions) I used a 3 subject spiral w/ 3 sections and loved it. But, if you don't like it, then you have to find something that works for you. I just liked having a record of everything we've done in 1 place. Also, to grade, I did lug the notebooks around. I just graded them at school. I also didn't spend very long grading them. My goal this year was to have the students assess their notebooks themselves, but I changed positions before I could do this.
As for RW and WW, what I ended up doing was starting the unit with mostly reading. We would still write responses, but every day would be RW. Then, I would slowly introduce the workshop, and we would have a process piece to complete. By mid-unit, we had equal number of reading and writing days, then it the reading would slowly decrease, and the writing would increase. By the end we were just working on writing. I tried splitting the days, 2 RW and 3 WW; then the next week 2WW and 3 RW, but it didn't work for me. Really the way I explained above is the only way that worked for me. I also had a 55 min. period. On 2/19/07, kimberlee hannan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi all, > I teach seventh grade and have about 120 kids. I also use journals with > my > kids, something like an interactive notebook. Everything is in one > notebook. But I am not so sure I will put everything in one notebook > again > next year. We use the three subject notebooks with the plastic covers > right > now. They keep a table of contents and have the pages numbered. I have > them tape in handouts and poems. I do most organizers in the notebooks, > too. I still find that it is very confusing to them to find things when > they need them. I have 49 minutes a day with each of them, so I can only > do > Writer's Workshop three days a week and Reader's Workshop two days a week, > so they have to do their responses at home as well as a lot of their > reading. They have to haul the notebooks back and forth. They are also > really big for me to haul and grade. > > I think next year I am going to have them get three or four hardback > composition books. One for Reader's Workshop Notes and Responses, > Writer's > Conventions and Word Work, and Writing Notebook. They can leave them in > crates in my room and take home only what they need for that evening. It > still sound cumbersome, but I haven't worked out the details yet. How do > you organize your kids' work? > > Do any of you teach in a middle school setting and use workshops to teach? > If you, I would like to talk time management with you. I hate the way my > weeks are laid out now. I have the week split into three days WW and two > days RW. I would like to try something else next year, but unsure what. > > -- > Kimberlee Hannan > Department Chair > Sequoia Middle School > Fresno, CA > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > -- - Heather "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." --Clarence Day "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little good evidence exists that there's any educational substance behind the accountability and testing movement." —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase funding. " —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
