I think it's the fault of the trainer. I would be leery of any trainer who says something like this as an absolute. Now, I wasn't there. But, with something like this where the absolutes will not impede the progress of the students, it really depends on your context. You need to consider the following before making a hard and fast decision. 1. How much experience have your students had with writing workshop? 2. What is the context of this particular class? How well do they work together? Are there any students who it seems like others won't work with? 3. What is the age and developmental level of your students?
Once you have considered this, you decide whether you want to assign groups or have students choose them. Then, you act as a researcher. After several weeks, either in conferences or small groups, ask the students, "How is this working? What is good about your partners? What could be improved?" If appropriate, you can do this in a group meeting. Observe the groups and note problems and successes. Then, you may decide to change your groups. There are absolutes that need to be followed: regular writing, regular mini lessons, regular conferring with students and providing tme for students to confer. But partnerships need to be done with what helps the students move forward as writers. Carol > > Why would you have partners at all for turn and talk? Why not turn to > whomever is next to you, which will hopefully be someone different most of > the time? > > On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 8:10 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Yesterday the grade 3-8 teachers in my district met together to have >> training on workshop. >> >> Our trainer said that partners for turn and talk should be kept the same >> all year. The trainer also said that students should pick their only >> partners. >> _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
