Teaching Writing

As the school year winds down, I am starting to get excited for next year
already!  The changes that I intend to make along with the new additions make me
believe that I will be a better teacher next year than I have been.  One of the
things I am most excited about is the incorporation of Writer's Workshop.  This
class along with Nancy Wood Ray and Regie Routman have provided my with many
aspiring new ideas and have fostered my new drive to help my students want to
write, to love to write!  Chapter 5: Time in the Workshop as a Predictable Event
reminded me of how perfect my schedule is to accommodate a workable writer's
workshop with my second graders.  I have an open, uninterrupted block of 3 ½
hours in the morning to be used for language arts.  I have no excuse!  Writer's
workshop can be as predictable as lunch, and hopefully will be starting next
year.  According to Ray, "We need lots of time and we need regular time for
students to grow as writers" (57), something I can successfully offer and
incorporate into my schedule.  I know that if my excitement continues, my kids'
excitement will follow.  Even though it's at the end of the school year, I have
tried mini writer's workshops this year and my students have loved it.  They are
excited to write, and are asking when they get to do it again - if only I would
have started it earlier.  I appreciated reading Ray's recommendation for time
management and how to schedule the writing events.  I know with second graders,
independence can be hard, but not impossible.  With structure and schedule from
day one, independent writing time can be done and done well even at the younger
grades.  I am hopeful that Katie Wood Ray's book, About the Authors will provide
extra suggestions that I will find helpful and useful as I try to incorporate
Writer's Workshop into a second grade classroom.