Writing Workshop: Chapters 14,15, 17 Reflection

Conferring sounds like a great idea. I've heard about the effectiveness of having conferences with students on a regular basis, writing related or not. It will be extremely important in my classroom that I follow up with students not only on their individual work, but their lives and how my class is affecting them. I think it is important to meet with students and to show that you care and are concerned with the rate of progress and understanding of material. Students should know that their teacher is supportive and genuninely interested in each student. I have no doubt that conferring could play a large roll in improving students' writing.

Should students be required to share? In the past few years at UGA, on many occasions I have become very frustrated with professors that have participation grades, in which to get full credit a student must speak aloud in class and share in discussion. I feel like student sharing of their writing is similar. I absolutely do not feel that I should be required to speak aloud in class and state my opinion in order to obtain a grade. Personalities vary, and so do confidence levels. In my case, I just choose to weigh the opinions and voices of others and compare with my own silently. I see the potential benefits from participatin in group discussion, as I can see what could good can come from sharing their writing. I just don't know if I would require students to share. I'm sure there are many methods to use to increase students' confidence for sharing.

My mentor teacher seems to have no problems planning writer's workshop. I have seen her use the standards combined with the framwork to create a drawn out tentative plan for the year. All of the standards are covered, but there is room for additions and flexibility with topics and ideas.