Teaching Writing

Managing a writer's workshop has been one of my biggest concerns and one of the
main reasons I have not incorporated such an experience into my second grade
classroom.  However, after reading this chapter, Katie Wood Ray provides many
suggestions that will be helpful as I begin planning for a writer's workshop. 
Her point regarding a strong presence makes a lot of sense.  From personal
experience, students tend to behave better and remain on-task for longer periods
of time when they know someone is 'watching' them by walking around.  Certain
times during the day I do find myself at my desk trying to finish something that
needs to be sent home at the end of the day or brought to a coworker.  During
these times my students seem more anxious, display more off-task behaviors, and
require many more reminders about appropriate behavior and expectations. 
Students especially at second grade need continuous monitoring to enforce
on-task behaviors.  Not only does presence affect their behaviors, but setting
out expectations from the very start is essential.  If students know what is
expected from day one and are provided modeling as well as practice time of the
expectations, they can do it.  Routine is important as well and when combined
with consistent expectations, students will have no reason to question what
their job(s) is/are during the time.  I find myself following this when teaching
classroom rules, routines, etc. at the beginning of the year, and now I will
have to implement it into the workshop experience as well.  Students can be
trained if they are provided with proper training!



Thinking about space and supplies are also important components of the workshop
experience.  As I think about organizing and arranging my classroom for next
year, I hope to make my room more applicable to a writer's workshop with more
independent, quiet areas for students to work at rather than at their groups of
desks.  Some of my students need a quieter area where there are less
distractions. As the supplies were discussed, I am thinking it might work better
to have a central supply basket for each group.  I find that many of my students
have difficulty keeping track of their highlighters, sticky notes, pens, etc. 
With a basket of supplies for each group, students would not have to take the
time to find their things at the start of each workshop.  It would also make
organization easy as all of the supplies could be stored in a covered container
and taken out at the start of each session and the put away at the completion. 
Students who bring supplies will add their things to a community basket from
which group baskets of supplies can be made.  Of course the abuse of supplies
was brought up, but hopefully that can be discussed prior and will not be a
problem.  I feel fortunate that my school does provide each classroom with
numerous supplies from glue sticks and scissors to pens and sticky notes to help
accommodate those students who do not bring the necessary supplies.