LLED 401 Reading Response 4

In chpater 1 and 2 of Fletcher and Portalupi we learned the importance and the thought that goes into writing workshops.  A workshop should be a time where children can be creative.  The reason children love cooking or wood shop is because it is a workshop that they are able to create on their own and do the activity more than just talk about it. "Writing workshop is a generative time of day, with kids actively involved in creating their own texts.  This is important.  Most kids experience schools as a seriers of tasks, dittos, assignments, test-things that are administered to them.  Writing workshop turns the tables and puts the kids in charge." (pg. 2). This quote explains the whole idea behind the authors beliefs.  I agree with this statement.  Most teachers and students get stuck in the motions of assign work, grade work, give homework, and then test.  By adding in a writing workshop or any kind of workshop it allows a time to be creative where the unknown could occur.   A writing workshop has a lot of elements that need to be considered when deciding the lesson.  One aspect is time.  The teacher needs to consider how much time children are being allowed to work alone and creatively rather than just on a teacher assigned assignment.  When thinking about writing the teacher needs to think about the space as well.  They need to figure out the desk arrangement that allow children to be creative along with having supplies for children to easily acce


In chapter 1 and 2 of Routman's Writing Essentials it states that teachers focus on everything that goes into writing instead of just letting the students write and have fun with their writing. When it comes to standards and testing, we as teachers can't solely focus on that. We need to focus more on the different elements that go into writing. In the reading, there are some good points that Routman emphasis on. For example, she talks about how the teachers can do different things to help their students become better writers. The main point that stood out in chapter 2 was all about stories. Dealing with stories helps students with both listening and writing. Stories teach a lot more than what we would think they would. Something else that was mentioned that I would have never thought about was modeling writing in front of the class, because it allows the students to observe someone else writing. A key point that stood out was that children who write at home tend to write better, because they are writing in their spare time and it is for their own enjoyment. When given a writing assignment that students can relate to and that is personal to them, it is easier for them because it is not necessarily a job, it is a fun assignment. Writing can be fun, if presented the right way.

I feel as though this video does a good job at describing what a day is like in their writing workshop and it gives good insight on what they do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRM2ZXyrS0
I also feel like this quote from a seventh grader says a lot about them. "I didn't mean to write four and a half pages, but I couldn't stop..." I think that says a lot about the teacher and the student. The teacher has done their job in wanting their students to go above and beyond and the student shows that they wanted to go above and beyond and exceed their teachers expectations.