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In the midst of completing all the field work, I have spent time looking at the pages specified for tomorrows class. Maybe it is because I am so overwhelmed with all that I have to do, but as I looked at the units, in particular, I doubt my ability to be able to develop anything like that. When do you have the time? Where do all the ideas come from? I want to be successful at differentiating and I know that it takes more work-I just hope I will eventually develop the "know-how." We have learned so much in these few semesters and to apply it all is a daunting task.
My cooperating teacher in field just took a class last summer on Writer's Workshop. She is trying to implement it in her classroom. I had several questions that I needed validated. You talked last semester about not marking up students writing. But it is appropriate to mark what has been taught (capitals, high frequency words, punctuation, etc)-right?!! And it is okay to display work that is not all spelled correctly-right!? Is there a balance between letting the students write what they want and giving them prompts or topics to write about? Sorry for the tangent but this has been on my mind.
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Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to blogging responses. I don't think I can answer all of your questions because there isn't a DEFINITIVE way to create writers, and not everyone shares my opinion. However, since you've asked, I MUST tell you what I believe is the BEST truth about this. You do what is in the best interest of this child and the kind of writer he or she has the chance to become. That's complicated, because it means that not only should writing instruction be differentiated, it means that more of the time, it should probably be INDIVIDUALIZED. And teachers just don't have the time for that. If a teacher NEVER takes ownership of a child's writing (NOT marking on his paper, NOT demanding he write a certain way or about a certain topic, etc., will the child become a good writer who spells well and loves to write? MAYBE. Not every child will. Some won't, no matter what the teacher does and doesn't do. THAT'S why I believe the teacher shouldn't mark on the child's paper. When corrections have to be made because something has been taught, the child should fix his paper, under the guidance of the teacher who taught him... in conferences, in peer editing activities... But for a teacher to just mark the paper, especially when the child is NOT present... I just believe 1) it doesn't teach him any better than he "knew" it before, and 2) it MAY give him the message that the MESSAGE doesn't matter, only the conventions, and that he's not measuring up. I would rather the message to ALL kids be that this is THEIR writing, THEIR skill to develop, and THEIRS to control... just in case a few of them MIGHT, therefore, become WRITERS. The others probably won't get much better at it, no matter what the teacher does. So why risk KILLING the writer inside the child who WOULD be? Teachers will say this is impossible to manage in the classroom. However, there ARE teachers out there proving them wrong. The real purpose for having writing workshop is to manage child-ownership of the process, and to guide, coach, and mentor... not force, evaluate, and mark up.
I think I say it nicer in my book, which I'd be happy to loan to you (it's out of print... not a big seller!). But, I believe in this stuff pretty passionately, if you couldn't tell.
Now, when you are student-teaching in someone else's classroom, the best thing for you to do is what she asks you to do... and if there's a way to introduce correcting papers when they are in the child's hands with you teaching them what to fix... you go, girl! You can certainly change the world when you get to your own classroom! You will!
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