Thanks Heather! That sounds a lot like my writing workshop. I think tying writing to literature and ongoing discussions may be key to supporting student motivation. Delicate classroom dynamics probably plays a big role in motivation as well.
I also required that my students write within certain genres, but they did choose the specific and at what point during the year they wanted to write in that genre. Thanks for the advice! - Cristy W "Je réponds ordinairement à ceux qui me demandent raison de mes voyages: que je sais bien ce que je fuis, mais non pas ce que je cherche." - Montaigne, Essais ----- Original Message ---- From: Heather Poland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades. <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:52:12 PM Subject: Re: [LIT] Workshop Approach I teach middle school, and I agree, the writing was the hard part. What I did was select (or actually the district had selected for me based on the standards) specific genres of writing they had to complete. I tied that into the reading workshop. For example, they had to write a response to lit, so I tied that into reading short stories. We started out the unit focused on the reading, then slowly mixed in the writing, so by the end they were writing only. On writing days I would have a writing lesson and then they wrote while I conferenced. It took me awhile to get the conferencing down because I did have 4 English classes and only 50 min. But I did it. I had a list and I met with 2-3 students a day, and it worked! Now, there was less choice in my approach, but the students had to write in specific genres and I just didn't have the time to let it be completely their choice. But I did give them choice within parameters- which I think works better anyway. On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Cristy Weggelaar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello! I am new to this board and am excited about all the discussions that > are going on here. I am a fairly new teacher who has absolutely fallen in > love with Atwell's approach. I taught high school and middle school English > at a small private school, so I had free reign to experiment with it. > > Reading workshop: I can't imagine an approach that garners as much > enthusiasm and motivation among students for reading. The results of my > workshop were truly amazing and the difference in student motivation as a > result of the workshop approach were visible almost immediately. I attempted > the new approach in the second semester of the last school year and in that > semester I had several middle school students who read close to 40 books > each. Although I did not calculate it, I would guess my class average to > hover around 20 books in one semester. If I'd had another semester of > workshop with that group, I would expect the semester average to increase > slightly. My whole-group lessons using short stories and poems to study > literature on a deeper level were not nearly as effective as the individual > reading component of the class, so that's something I need to work on. Also, > I had a hard time finding response activities that excited the class. > Reading > workshop was not quite as popular at the high school level, although I > would still consider it a success. I am currently scouting for books that > describe what reading workshop might look like at the high school level, if > anyone has any suggestions! > > Warm success story. I had a student who never read and had a hard time > completing regular assignments. He much preferred video games to school > work, so I guess you could say that he is your typical middle school boy. A > few weeks into the workshop, he discovered the Artemis Fowl series and we > literally could not pull him away from books from that moment on. I think > he read close to 40 books last semester and he even told me - seriously - > that books are actually BETTER than video games!! He got in trouble for > reading under his desk in other classes!! I can't imagine that happening in > any other class situation and I had similar results with other students. > > Writing workshop: This was also successful, but not nearly as successful as > the reading workshop. For writing, choice is not enough. Students NEED to > know how to write essays, but for the workshop to be successful, the teacher > needs to form a community of inquiry in which the students are motivated to > write essays about their own interests. That was the hard part for me. My > students had a hard time producing work in bulk and I had a hard time > getting them to produce even two pieces in a quarter - I would love some > advice on how to get them writing more prolifically. > > Laura - I would LOVE to hear more about your experience at CTL!! > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 "DIBELS is the worst thing to happen to the teaching of reading since the development of flash cards." - P. David Pearson" "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 _______________________________________________ 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
